A seven-year-old dog named Charlie took the idea of enjoying a “light meal” a little too literally when he scoffed some lights from a Christmas tree.
When Charlie’s owner, Sharon Fay, noticed that chewed wires were impacted in his faeces, the crossbreed dog was rushed to the PDSA PetAid Hospital in the Birmingham area shortly after the discovery and, following an X-ray, vets noticed a cluster of wires in his stomach. Luckily vets were able to perform surgery on Charlie to abstract the wires, but it seems that it wasn’t just Christmas fairy lights that the canine had consumed.
Some shoelaces had also made their way into Charlie’s stomach, proving that the dog had committed the offence on more than one occasion. Charlie was incredibly lucky that the wires were found so early, because had they been left inside the body they could have caused the dog serious pain and possible internal injuries.
This is not the first time that senior veterinary surgeon Sophie Bell has seen a case like this, though. She said:
“Over the years I’ve seen plenty of cases of dogs swallowing strange objects – socks, dummies, rubber ducks, but it’s the first time any of us have treated a dog that has eaten fairy lights.”
Although this was a surprise for Fay, it is not the first time he has been up to mischief. The owner said:
“Back in March he ate one of my scarves and needed an operation to remove it, but I thought it was just a one-off incident.”
Sharon will now be keeping a close eye on her mischievous pooch by ‘Charlie-proofing’ her entire house.
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