The surgeon from the vet school telephoned this morning. He was very happy with Beanie’s recovery and told us we could collect her whenever we liked. We jumped in the car right away.

Despite being quite heavily sedated she managed a wag of her tail and wiggle of her bum when she saw us. We were also handed a little package with the offending items in it:

It was quite a relief to see that the ‘gray plastic guttering’ that they’d told us about was in fact the soft plastic material from the ball she’d been playing with in the park. For some reason the acid in her stomach had hardened the soft, fabric like pieces of material and turned them into large, sharp pieces of plastic. This explained why it didn’t just work it’s way through her system. It’s still a concern that she’s started swallowing things, but at least we know when this happened and can stop her from playing chases with unknown objects in future.

Ah – you found my favourite toy!

He did tell us that we are very lucky that we got it checked out so early. He said that she’d have been in real trouble if any of the pieces had made their way into her intestines. I think we might well have missed it if she didn’t sleep in our room.

I’m pleased to say that little Beanie hasn’t lost her appetite. While we were talking to the surgeon one of the little bits of plastic that had been retrieved from Beanie’s tummy fell out of the bag Paul was holding. There was a mad scramble as Paul, me and Beanie all dived for it at once. If it hadn’t been for the sedating effect of that pain killer I think Beanie might have reclaimed her prize!!

Incidently, I asked the surgeon which chew toys or bones he considered safest based upon his experiences of pulling foreign objects out of dog’s stomachs. He said that he thought both rawhide chews and certain raw bones are fine. The best bones are either big marrow bones or chicken wings and necks. The big bones are too hard and large to be swallowed and the chicken wings and necks will simply disolve in the dog’s stomach. So there you go – the idea that chicken wings are a no-no for dogs is a myth. And they’re great for cleaning their teeth. Just make sure you feed them raw!