Dog swallowing fish hook a 'nightmare come true'

Ripley the dog needed to go under the knife twice to remove a fish hook from her stomach

A dog owner spent £7,500 on two surgeries to remove a fish hook from his pet's stomach.

Ripley, a two-year-old Dobermann Chinese Red Dog cross, swallowed the hook while on a walk by the River Witham.

Owner Robert Dawson, from Bardney, near Lincoln, described the incident as "devastating" and is urging anglers to make sure they do not leave items behind.

A local vet said they had seen more animals swallowing fish hooks this summer compared with previous years.

Vets had to cut through to the stomach twice to remove the barbed hook

Mr Dawson said he had noticed a fishing line hanging out of Ripley's mouth while on a walk near the river.

He said the "line came away" after he tried to remove it, meaning Ripley had swallowed the hook.

East Lincs Emergency Vets tried to remove the hook during surgery but the first attempt failed.

Mr Dawson was "in a daze" when he was told.

"I was just very, very sad and upset, with just hope to hold on to," he said.

A second surgery was successful and Ripley is recovering well.

But Mr Dawson has urged anglers to leave the countryside as they found it.

"I would plead with you to not drop litter at all, whether it be fishing gear or otherwise. We all want to enjoy the countryside," he added.

'Can be fatal'

Jess Dann, clinical director at the veterinary surgery in Louth that treated Ripley, said they had noticed "a few more" fish-hook related incidents this year.

She said: "Normally, it's something we probably only see two or three times a year.

"This year, we've certainly seen four or five just over the summer months."

Ms Dann said swallowing a hook "can be fatal" for animals.

She said: "If hooks are stood on that's less likely to be fatal. However, if they swallow them they often become lodged into the stomach.

"Because of the nature of a hook you can't just pull it back out. They will puncture through organs internally leading to peritonitis, sepsis and eventually death."

She advised pet owners not to attempt to pull hooks out themselves and recommended calling a vet immediately.

Bruno the French Bull Dog was on a walk in Louth with owner Alice Brown when he stood on a fish hook

Elsewhere in Lincolnshire, Alice Brown's French Bulldog Bruno got his paw impaled by a fish hook near the River Lud in Louth.

He had started "flinging his leg in the air" after walking over decking near the river, she explained.

"I had a look, and realised he's got a fish hook in his paw. Instant panic. I didn't know what to do," she said.

"It is quite serious. It was lucky really that we got it out, otherwise it'd have been a trip to the vet."

She said such incidents were distressing "not just for the owners but mainly for the pets".

Ms Brown said she had "no problem" with people fishing by the riverside but to "prevent something like this happening again", she urged anglers to "be more mindful and maybe a little more responsible."

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