Jack

Six-month old golden Labrador, Jack, ate the entire alphabet of fridge magnets in a midnight snack-attack and had to be rushed to PDSA's Plymouth PetAid hospital the day after he'd been in for a castration operation.

Jack's owner, Emma Keers, said: "After Jack's surgery, he was sleepy after the anaesthetic so I put him in the kitchen to recover overnight. The next morning I noticed the whole alphabet was missing from the fridge though Jack wasn't showing any signs of being ill. He can be quite greedy though and I suspected straight away that something was up so took him back to PDSA where x-rays showed he'd eaten something he shouldn't have!"

The senior veterinary surgeon, Robert Newcombe, at Plymouth PetAid hospital, said: "We had to operate straight away with both a gastrotomy where we opened up his tummy and an enterotomy to remove more pieces of fridge magnets that had made their way to his intestine. The letters were well chewed and not easy to identify and as well as finding around 30 pieces of chewed plastic, he had eaten some white rubbery cloth!"

Jack stayed in for a couple of days to recover and within a week was back to his normal self. Emma said he now sleeps in the utility room well away from the fridge though she admitted she's not buying any more fridge magnets!

Dixie

Ten-year-old dog Dixie, from Aberdeen, needed emergency surgery by PDSA vets to remove a plastic Homer Simpson figure from her intestine. The sweet-toothed Dalmation Collie crossbreed swallowed the toy while wolfing down a Kinder Egg Surprise, pinched from the kitchen table.

Dixie's owner, Victoria Keir, 42, said: "I didn't suspect anything at first until Dixie stopped eating and drinking. Normally she's full of energy but suddenly she just seemed to become very listless and depressed."

Dixie then began vomiting and developed severe diarrhoea, prompting a visit to Aberdeen PDSA PetAid hospital.

PDSA Veterinary Surgeon Alison Hamel, 45, said: "Dixie was very ill when she was brought in. She had lost a lot of weight and was extremely dehydrated. We needed to discover quickly what was wrong to provide the right treatment in time."

Veterinary staff suspected a foreign body and this was confirmed when x-rays revealed a strange figure lurking in Dixie's stomach! She underwent surgery to remove the plastic shell and figure from her gut. 

Alison continued: "The x-rays confirmed there was a foreign body but it was a big surprise to discover a plastic egg shell with 'Homer Simpson' inside. We see many objects that have been swallowed but this has to be one of the most unusual.

"Dixie came through surgery without any complications but if it had been left any longer it could have proved fatal."

Dixie was kept in for two days following her operation and prescribed a special diet for a fortnight to help her gain weight and aid her recovery.

Owner Victoria Keir said: "Dixie loves chocolate so we think she must have seen the Kinder egg on the kitchen table and gulped it down. We would have never known had it not been for 'Homer.'

"I'm so pleased that Dixie has pulled through because losing her would have been like losing a member of our family. I can see the funny side now but at the time it was extremely traumatic and I'm very grateful to the PDSA for saving her life."