SEBASTIAN’S HANKY HIGH JINKS HARD TO SWALLOW
SEBASTIAN the King Charles cavalier has certainly been up to some mischief with handkerchiefs, with the 12-year-old dog’s hankering for hankies almost leading to his untimely end.
Swallowing them has become a dangerous habit that has required two surgeries in the past month and caused some anxious moments for owner Corrine Muir.
Ms Muir recently found a handkerchief ripped up and another one that had passed through Sebastian.
“He’s always had a thing for handkerchiefs,” she said
But it was third time unlucky for the adorable pooch last month.
Ms Muir called Bannockburn Veterinary Clinic after the dog had vomited his breakfast and wasn’t interested in eating.
While Ms Muir found part of a handkerchief, she feared Sebastian had swallowed the rest and was paying the price.
Rushed off to the vet, it was decided to take X-rays to see what was going on.
“X-rays are a fantastic diagnostic tool for assessing the abdomen. We can often see the location and size of organs and in the case of foreign bodies we can clearly identify them,” a clinic spokesman said.
“In the case of fabrics we can use clues, such as gas building up or a clumping look to the intestines which can indicate the presence of something that doesn’t belong.”
In Sebastian’s case it was the latter.
It was decided to perform surgery on Sebastian and three pieces of handkerchief were removed from different sections of the dog’s intestine.
Sebastian recovered well from the ordeal but didn’t learn his lesson.
His new trick was eating a couple of knee-high stockings along with another handkerchief last weekend. So it was back to the vet on Saturday, before Sebastian once again went under the knife last Sunday for another successful retrieval.
While it’s been an expensive couple of weeks for Ms Muir, she said Sebastian was worth every dollar.
“But handkerchiefs are out and tissues are in from now on,” she said.