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Lucky to be alive – the little dog who ate a big fish hook
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| Gill Thomas with her son David and Hamish, the Cairn terrior who is lucky to be alive after eating a fish hook from an angler's box. Below: an X-ray of the hook before a vet managed to get it out. Picture by John Anyon. 11335202 |
THIS dog is lucky to be alive after it swallowed a large fish hook while walking beside the river Severn in Kempsey, near Worcester.
Eight-year-old cairn terrier Hamish spotted a fisherman's open bait box and ate a piece of luncheon meat which had the hook in it.
Owner Gill Thomas is now asking people to be more vigilant while walking their dogs.
Mrs Thomas, of Oakfield Drive, Kempsey, said Hamish swallowed the fish hook while her father David Round walked him on the Lower Ham.
"He took the dog on the fields down by the river and when I got back from collecting the children from school he came rushing out and said the dog had swallowed a fish hook," she said.
"What had happened was he let him off the lead as we always do. He went running over to a fisherman and he had a box of bait open with a big piece of luncheon meat and the dog just went for it.
"I don't blame the fisherman but I would like to heighten people's awareness to keep their dogs under control on the leads but also fishermen to be careful with their bait.
"The dog was lucky to survive it, to be honest. It was quite a big hook but the vet managed to take it out without lacerating the dog's intestine."
Mrs Thomas said she took Hamish to Brentknoll veterinary centre, Whittington Road, Worcester, to be treated.
She said: "When we took him up the vet was nearly closing, but he sorted him out."
Mrs Thomas said the whole family worried because Hamish had to be kept in overnight on her son David's third birthday.
"All of the grandparents came to the house but it was overshadowed by the phone calls to the vets to find out whether the dog was going to survive so that was worrying and all a bit tense but we got over it," she said.
Mrs Thomas said she no longer lets Hamish, who has made a full recovery, off the lead on the fields near St Mary's Church and added the incident left her dad in a state of shock.
"It was a shame for my dad as well because he's an elderly chap and he felt very guilty he had allowed this to happen, but dogs are greedy," she said.
Brentknoll director Dave Fisher, who conducted the technical operation to get the fish hook out using an endoscope, said Hamish was lucky to still be alive and endorsed Mrs Thomas's calls for dog owners and fishermen alike to be more careful.
8:36am Monday 24th March 2008
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CommentPosted by: feline, Upton upon Severn on 2:12pm Mon 24 Mar 08
What day did this happen on? Fishermen using luncheon meat and big hooks are inevitably angling for Barbel and not eels on the Severn. Is the closed season not enforced any more?
What day did this happen on? Fishermen using luncheon meat and big hooks are inevitably angling for Barbel and not eels on the Severn. Is the closed season not enforced any more?
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