Vet Issues Warning To Dog Owners About Playing With Sticks

An Australian veterinarian has warned people about the sticks they use to play fetch with their pet after a dog accidentally ate one and required hospital treatment.

A Border Collie called Dash was taken to the Animal Referral Hospital (ARH) in Sydney's north west suburb of Baulkham Hills after his owners were worried about him.

Animal Referral Hospital/Facebook

Vets quickly realised that the two-year-old had swallowed a stick and it was posing a risk to his health.

The hospital has posted photos on Facebook showing how far the stick had been lodged down his throat and had a message for every dog owner.

"We've probably all done it... picked up a stick for our dog to chase it then return?" the Animal Referral Hospital wrote. "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.

Animal Referral Hospital/Facebook

"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.

Animal Referral Hospital/Facebook

"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."

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending and Dash is now recovering at home.

His family is naturally relieved that he didn't suffer any permanent damage from the incident.

Topics: News, Animals, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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