Dogs are always excited to go out and play fetch with their human companions.
If there is no ball or other toy available, a stick is always a great choice.
But a veterinarian has now warned people about the sticks dog owners choose after one pooch was rushed to the Animal Referral Hospital.
A two-year-old Border Collie named Dash was taken to the ARH as his owners were worried sick about him.
Vets immediately realized that the pooch had accidentally swallowed a stick and shared images of it on Facebook. The photos show how far the stick had been stuck down the dog’s throat.
The Animal Referral Hospital wrote on Facebook: “We’ve probably all done it… picked up a stick for our dog to chase it then return? And playing fetch can be a lot of fun for dogs too. But sticks are not the safest ‘toy’ to play with as you’ll discover in Dash’s story.”
It added: “We’re told he was having a lot of fun with the family fetching a fairly large stick when suddenly it seemed to ‘disappear’.
“After they all got back home from the park his owners noticed he would no longer eat and seemed a bit ‘upset’. So Dash’s very worried family took him to our team at ARH Baulkham Hills on the Saturday evening.
“Our Emergency team immediately examined Dash and determined he was painful around the mouth and cervical region… basically the back of the neck!”
“After being sedated, our team discovered he had a penetrating wound to the right side of the base of his tongue and they could feel a hard foreign body (believed to be a large stick) along the peri-laryngeal area to the thoracic inlet.
“X-rays soon revealed the culprit and Dash was immediately sent to us here at ARH Homebush for possible surgery.
“ARH Specialist Surgeon Dr David Simpson was called in late that night and a CT was performed to locate the exact location of the stick to prepare for surgery.”
Fortunately, Dash is now recovering at home and his loving family is relieved that he did not suffer any permanent damage from the accident.
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Replaced!