A tiny puppy has survived life-saving surgery after swallowing a 25-centimetre stick whole, in a case that has stunned the Tasmanian rescue group that stepped in to help.
Four-month-old Sheba was barely keeping food or water down when she arrived at Hobart’s Animal Emergency Service (AES), clearly distressed and very unwell.
Vets initially thought she may have eaten a small bone and could need emergency surgery.
But further treatment was more than her owner could afford.
After discussing payment options with AES, the owner made the difficult decision to surrender Sheba.
The emergency service then called the Dogs’ Homes of Tasmania, which agreed to cover her treatment.
“At that point, Sheba wasn’t one of our dogs. We didn’t know her story. We didn’t know exactly what was wrong. We only knew that she was a very young puppy who was suffering,” the group said.
“So we said yes.”
An X-ray at AES showed a sharp foreign body in Sheba’s stomach. Emergency surgery was expected to cost up to $6,000.
Over the next two days, her condition rose and fell. At times she seemed brighter, raising hopes the object might break down and pass naturally.
But once Sheba was moved into the rescue’s care, its vets knew something was still badly wrong.
“She couldn’t keep food down, she was uncomfortable and surgery could not wait any longer,” the group said.
What the team found shocked everyone.
Sheba had not eaten a small piece of bone, but an entire stick measuring 25 centimetres.
It was lodged through her oesophagus and into her stomach.
“Without surgery, she would almost certainly have died,” the group said.
“How a puppy this young managed to swallow a stick of that size is something we still cannot explain.”
“Sheba was clearly underweight and had likely been very hungry, but even taking that into account, this is beyond anything we can make sense of.”
The stick was removed in one piece and vets found no internal damage.
Sheba is now recovering in foster care and will be put up for adoption once she has fully recovered.
