A SCOTS dog owner was stunned when her greedy pup vomited up a 45cm old sock that had been missing for days.
Lyn May said she had been wondering where the black knee-length sock had gone and was only reunited with it when cocker spaniel Boo was sick on Saturday.
The 18-week old pooch had been occasionally bringing up small bits of food for a few days but apart from that had been his usual happy self.
Lyn had planned to still take him to the vets if he was still having problems keeping down his meals.
However, on Saturday she couldn’t believe her eyes when she looked over to him as he was retching and spotted a high black item coming out of his throat.
On closer inspection Lyn realised the cheeky pup must have swallowed her sock whole and had it sitting in his stomach for days.
Lyn posted images of the recovered, soggy sock in a Facebook group for pet owners later on that day.
She said: “For three days Boo, who is 18 weeks today, has been occasionally bringing up some of his food undigested.
“He has had hard then soft poops and I had planned to take him to the vets on Monday to get him checked over if there was no improvement.
“I wasn’t overly worried as he’s been his normal happy self. I woke up this morning to hearing him retching.
“Look what he puked up. I’ve been looking for that sock.
“He should be fine now, though. We’ll have to keep a closer eye on him as I don’t ever let him have socks and I don’t leave socks on the floor.
“He’s managed to get it somehow, maybe I dropped it and didn’t notice, he’s very stealthy.”
She added: “Boo is crated for short periods if we go out. When I’m at home most of the time, he’s allowed out, and he’s part of the family so he has the run of downstairs in the house.
“He usually sticks to me like a leech, though, so it’s easier to keep an eye on him. I suspect he got it when I was taking the washing out of the machine and I didn’t notice him take it.
“I’ll have to be extra careful from now on with the washing.”
Dozens of dog owners left comments on the post – with many sharing their own similar experiences.
One said: “Omg how awful….at least it came up. But it can be so dangerous.”
Another wrote: “Cocker spaniel thing. They love socks. I hope he’s OK now.”
A third said: “Typical spaniel. Have to have eyes in the back of your head and when they think your (sic) taking something from them they swallow it or run away with it.”
A fourth person wrote: “Wow! Lucky he puked it up.”
While another dog owner said: “My Bertie eats socks all the time, sometimes they come up as a sock poo. We keep a close eye on him but he is like a ninja at times. So far, he has been very lucky.
“He is three next month, with no sign of getting over his sock (and shoe) obsession!”
The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) suggest that dogs will scavenge for any house item lying around and it’s vital that owners keep clothes, cleaning products, medicines and chocolate out of reach as digesting these can cause the item to get stuck in the dog’s digestive tract, potentially causing deadly results.
Symptoms of a dog having an item stuck in the digestive tract include: vomiting, diarrhoea, twitching, lethargy, reduced appetite, constipation and sitting in a hunched position.
