Bob the dog has Christmas all 'wrapped up' thanks to PDSA

Jack Russell Terrier, Bob, from Horsforth, Leeds, is lucky to be spending Christmas with his family this year after the curious canine ate three rolls of festive ribbon and needed life-saving surgery from PDSA vets.

Three-year-old Bob, who only has three legs following a previous mishap, was adopted by his loving owner Sandy Sharp (45) from a local re-homing centre in September 2010. 

 

The mischievous terrier’s drama unfolded after spending the day at Sandy’s sister’s house in November.  Sandy remembers: “I suddenly realised I hadn’t seen him in a while so went to see what he was up to. I found him hiding under a bed upstairs – surrounded by the remains of a box of Christmas ribbon!” 

 

Convinced he’d wolfed down the lot, Sandy called the out-of-hours emergency service at Bradford PDSA PetAid hospital, The Jeanne Lorne Street Marchig Centre, on Lorne Street. The veterinary staff suggested she bring Bob straight in for emergency treatment.

 

A team of PDSA vets and nurses, including Veterinary Nurse, Miriam Wilson, looked after Bob when he was admitted to the hospital.  Miriam said: “Bob’s owner explained what had happened and that there was a chance he’d eaten some Christmas ribbon. So we performed x-rays which confirmed he had something in his stomach that shouldn’t be there!”

 

The PDSA team had no choice but to operate.   Miriam said: “If left inside the stomach, a foreign body can cause all sorts of problems, especially if food can’t pass through properly, leading to a potentially deadly obstruction.  It was important that we removed whenever was in there as soon as we could to prevent serious long term problems.”

 

In the operating theatre, the vet team soon discovered the cause of the problem – Bob had eaten not one but three rolls of ribbon! Miriam said: ”The operation went very smoothly, we found huge amounts of red, gold and green Christmas ribbon, which could have blocked his stomach if it had been left there, so it was such a relief that we were able to remove it.”

 

Sandy said: “I was so worried when PDSA told me they needed to operate on Bob, but I knew he was in safe hands. It was such a relief when they called me a few hours later to tell me the surgery had been a success. Although I was shocked when they explained how much ribbon they’d removed.”

 

After the operation Bob spent a day recovering at PDSA before being allowed home with his owner. He had to return for check-ups but has made a full recovery from his ordeal.

 

Sandy added: “We’re so grateful for everything PDSA have done for us. Bob is very lively and accident prone, but I’m keeping a close eye on him now to make sure this doesn’t happen again!”

 

PDSA provides free veterinary treatment to the sick and injured pets of people in need. For further information about PDSA or to get free pet health advice on a range of topics including like dog training visit www.pdsa.org.uk.