Warning after dog swallows fish hook
DOG owners across Bristol are being warned to look out for their pets near water after a greyhound called Sean had to undergo an emergency operation because he swallowed a discarded fish hook.
Angela Reed-Fox was walking Sean with her husband on an evening stroll down at Portishead Marina when she realised her normally lively and inquisitive pooch was not acting quite right.
The 40-year-old nurse said when Sean returned to them, they realised something was seriously wrong.
“As Sean returned to us, he was making a strange gulping noise,” she said.
“He got closer and we noticed a long orange wire sticking out of his
mouth. My husband jumped up to take a closer look, then we drove to the vets immediately.”
By the time they got to the vets, the orange wire coming out of his mouth had got shorter – which meant whatever was on the end of it had gone further down.
And their worst fears were confirmed when an X-ray revealed the thing he’d swallowed was a big crabbing hook.
He was whisked into surgery to get it out of his stomach, and the operation was declared a ‘tremendous success’, and Sean was back home to recover the next day.
“I’m so relieved that everything aligned and it all went well,” said Angela. “The hook could have caused fatal internal bleeding. Not only that – had we not known what had happened at the time, the hook could have caused sepsis, which could have killed him.”