Wilma’s owner was distraught to discover that her £7000 engagement ring had disappeared from the dressing table in the bedroom. There was no obvious reason for the mystery disappearance but her 4 month old puppy was playing happily nearby. Realising that it’s not uncommon for puppies to swallow things they are not meant to eat, Wilma’s owner came to the conclusion that this is exactly what could have happened with the engagement ring, and brought Wilma down to the practice.
Puppies put everything in their mouths and chew lots of things they shouldn’t, but thankfully they rarely swallow items as valuable as this! In fact, we see several dogs each year that haven’t swallowed the items their owners think they have!
Unfortunately for Wilma though, a quick x-ray of her stomach resolved the mystery of the missing ring. We made Wilma sick with a special injection and although she brought up a large amount of stomach contents, the ring did not emerge.
We decided to leave her for 24 hours to see if the ring would pass through her guts naturally, but the next day, a repeat x-ray confirmed that it was still inside her stomach.
After a discussion regarding the risks to Wilma if no further action was taken, not to mention the risk of losing the ring, we decided the best solution was to retrieve the ring surgically. The surgery was straight forward and the ring (still shining brightly) was removed from her stomach, cleaned, and returned to Wilma’s owner!
