Surgery saves Dundee puppy which ate fake dog dirt
A puppy had to undergo a life-saving operation after eating a fake pile of dog dirt.
Boo, a black crossbreed, swallowed the joke object after a bag of dog biscuits was dropped on the floor.
It got lodged in the six-month-old puppy's intestines, forcing vets to carry out emergency surgery.
Owner Shelly Bryson, 33, from Dundee, thanked animal charity PDSA after it carried out the life-saving surgery on her pet.
"My daughter Reese accidentally dropped a bag of dog biscuits and they got mixed up with the fake dog poo that had been left on the floor," she said.
"For some reason Boo decided to eat it and swallowed it down in one. I got straight on the phone to PDSA as she had been sick and was refusing to eat, and they told me to bring her in immediately."
Vet Stephan Hunt, from the PDSA PetAid hospital in Dundee, said the joke item moved into Boo's intestines and caused a potentially fatal blockage.
"We gave Boo intravenous fluids to keep her hydrated and carried out emergency surgery to remove the object from her stomach," he said.
"Dogs often swallow things they should not, behaviour known as pica.
"Dogs use their mouth to explore objects as well as to eat them. Sometimes the two functions get confused and a dog will eat an object by mistake."
Mrs Bryson said her family had been "worried sick" about Boo.
"We can all laugh about it now, but at the time everyone was very worried about her as they knew how serious it was," she said.
"Needless to say, we won't be having any joke dog poo in our house again."