SCOTS dog owners were left horrified after their beloved pooch had to undergo emergency surgery after swallowing an entire metal skewer.
Ciara Robertson and partner Keir Balfor, both 20, were at a barbecue with friends on Saturday in Glasgow when the group noticed that a skewer was missing from the grill.
To the pair’s terror, they soon discovered that their one year-old golden Labrador Willow had swallowed the chicken kebab – and the two inch metal stick it was stuck on.
The couple, from Falkirk, raced their beloved pup to a vet where she was saved thanks to an emergency endoscopy to remove the skewer.
Whilst initially questioning whether Willow had indeed swallowed the whole skewer, Ciara and Keir listened to their gut instinct, and whisked their pup away to an emergency vet.
By 6pm, their pooch had been X-rayed and the concerned couple were informed that the metal stick had in fact been swallowed and was currently lodged inside her stomach.
To their relief however, the rounded hook of the skewer stick had been the first part swallowed, meaning her organs luckily suffered little damage.
Two hours later, Willow underwent an endoscopy to assess the lodged utensil, with vets inflating her oesophagus and clamping down on the hook to prevent it from inflicting further damage.
With careful precision and a gruelling three-hour wait, the vets finally got the skewer out – saving the pup’s life.
Ciara took to social media later that night, writing: “Just had the most stressful night after this one stealing a kebab from the counter at a BBQ.
“Not only did she eat the chicken but the metal skewer as well. Thankfully, she ate the curled part first otherwise it would have been a different story.
“Thankfully, we took her to the emergency vet and they took it out the way it went in and she didn’t need major surgery.
“So thankful for the vets that saved our little girly Willow”.
The post received over 350 likes and dozens of comments from many concerned pet owners who were left breathing a sigh of relief at Willow’s close shave.
One person wrote: “Thank goodness she’s ok. BBQs are lethal – really can’t take your eyes off them for a minute, too many hazards but you obviously know that now.
“So glad all turned out okay.”
Another said: “OMG, glad she’s alive!”
A third commented: “So pleased your beautiful Willow is safe and well. Well done you, Ciara, for being so vigilant and quick responding.”
Another added: “Oh wow. So glad she’s okay. Thank goodness you saw her eat it and was able to get her to the vet quickly.
“I’m sure you are more traumatised than she is.”
Speaking to Ciara today, she said: “We were at a barbecue at a friend’s house. We just arrived and had only been in the door about 10 minutes
“I was putting on suncream and my partner was getting a drink. The next thing we knew Tom, the person that was doing the barbecue, said that a chicken skewer had gone missing.
“We knew it couldn’t have been any of the other dogs as they are really well trained or can’t reach the bunker.
“So we smelt Willow’s breath and we could smell the chicken marinade on her. We hunted high and low for the skewer but couldn’t find it.
“So, we thought that she might have eaten it. We had our doubts but I remember thinking, ‘No, there is no way that she could have eaten that skewer’ and she seemed happy enough in herself.
“Me and my partner Keir decided to take her through to the Emergency Vets in Glasgow where we waited for a consultation.
“We were then seen and the vet decided that it would be a good idea to get an X-ray. So, she took Willow for her X-ray and then came back with the bad news that she did swallow it.
“She talked us through the options and how she wanted to go about it. The vet said that she was lucky that she swallowed the hook part first as this meant that there was not a lot of damage caused.
“She then explained that it would be best to do an endoscopy to get it out so that’s what they did.
“After a horrible three hour wait, we got the phone call to say that she was okay but was to be kept in for about an hour for observations to see how she was after the anaesthetic.”
