Woman finds her lost engagement ring in an unusual place
People lose things every day. Now, finding them might be a different matter entirely. When one South African woman lost her wedding ring, she was surprised to learn where it had disappeared to. At first, she looked around to make sure that she had not misplaced it. That is when a shocking idea dawned on her, maybe her dog, Pepper, who was sitting nearby, had eaten it?
Pepper’s mom decides it is better to be safe than sorry
She wasn’t sure, so off they went to the nearby Valley Farm Animal Hospital. Once there the staff took over to find out if Pepper had actually swallowed the ring.
“The easiest way to see if something metal has been swallowed is to take a radiograph,” Julia van Draanen, operations manager at Valley Farm Animal Hospital, told The Dodo. “Sure enough, one quick X-ray of Pepper’s abdomen showed a very obvious ring-shaped metal object in her stomach.”
The vet determines how best to remove the ring
Once they had pinpointed the ring’s location, they had to determine the best way to get it out of Pepper and back onto her owner’s ring finger where it belonged. However they decided to approach the problem, they had to make sure that it was the safest option for Pepper’s overall health.
“There would have been four ways to get the ring back — we took the easiest as it was still in the stomach and not passed through to the intestines,” Van Draanen said.
Given a dose of a vomit-inducing medicine called apomorphine, soon, Pepper had vomited the ring up. And while Pepper knew that she had done something she shouldn’t have, by the look on her face, her mom was quick to forgive her. All that mattered is that the ring was back where it belonged and that Pepper was okay.
A lesson learned
In the future, I am sure Pepper’s owner will think twice about leaving her jewelry out for her dog to eat. And who can blame Pepper, it was a beautiful ring, and probably looked delicious to her.
What should you do if your dog eats something they shouldn’t?
So, what should you do if your dog eats something they shouldn’t? First off, take stock of the situation. Is your dog showing symptoms and signs that something serious is going on. These can include the following:
- Signs of nausea, such as gagging, drooling, licking the lips repeatedly
- Actual vomiting
- A painful and swollen belly
- Refusing to eat
- Lethargy
- Depression, including a refusal to play, irritability, and other behavior changes
- Diarrhea and constipation
If so, then you should immediately contact your veterinarian or a local animal hospital. The vet will have you come in and take x-rays to determine the next course of action. This can range from inducing vomiting, as in Pepper’s case to feeding your dog a high fiber diet to help the object pass through the intestines more smoothly.
In the worst-case scenario, an obstruction can occur and the vet will have to perform surgery. The best way to keep your dog from swallowing something it shouldn’t is to keep small objects picked up, especially if your dog is known for such activity.
For more weird objects that dogs have eaten, check out the following video.
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