'Noone could figure out how': Owner relives terrifying moment dog swallowed metre-long strap

A dog owner has recalled the horrifying moment he realised his pet had swallowed a metre-long strap that became lodged in his stomach.

Jeff Wood bought his pair of Dalmatians a new tug toy in Christmas 2015; it had a bulky shape on one end and a rope on the other to play tug-of-war with.

His five-year-old pup Harvey, notorious for eating things he shouldn't, somehow managed to get the toy open on one end, swallowing a metre-long coiled strap that was inside.

The family didn't notice the toy had gone missing, but they could tell something was wrong.

"Harvey started not to be himself four days after Christmas," Wood recalls.

"He stopped going to the toilet, so we knew that something wasn't quite right ... we have a really good vet, but like a lot of places, they had closed down for Christmas, so our only option was to take him to the emergency vet.

"They did some X-rays and it turned out that he had somehow swallowed this length of strap, it was over a metre long."

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"No one, not even the vet, could figure out how Harvey had managed it. It was completely intact.

"The mind boggles at how he actually swallowed that."

Harvey was rushed into emergency surgery, which saved his life.

"It ended up part in his bowel and part in his stomach, it was a mammoth effort. He would've died [without the surgery]," Wood said.

"But they were fantastic and they looked after him overnight."

Wood isn't alone; according to research from Boehringer Ingelheim, 50 per cent of Aussies with pets feel as though their vet has saved their dog's life.

Harvey's regular vet, Lydia from Wilston Vet in Brisbane, said dogs swallowing "foreign bodies" is common.

"We've had cases of dogs eating underpants, socks, rocks, they eat parts of balls, we had one dog that ate like a 20-cent coin," she said.

If your dog has eaten something it shouldn't, she says, signs start to appear after 24 to 48 hours.

"Every animal is different, but they probably would have loss of appetite, they probably would have abdominal pain," she said.

"So [signs include] hardening of the stomach or sort of swelling, vomiting after eating, not keeping food down, and also not pooping because there's something stuck in the intestine that can't pass through."

If you notice "any sort of odd behaviour," including not eating properly, not drinking properly or vomiting after eating, Lydia says to contact a vet straight away.

"If they're left with like an obstruction or partial obstruction and they continue not to keep down food or water, they can get dehydrated ... that can be critical."

She says dogs can tolerate swallowing a lot, but the obstruction is what causes the damage.

It can cause damage in the intestines, and the dog or cat can go into septic shock.

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Pets who managed to get themselves stuck in unlikely places

Lydia says if your dog eats something it shouldn't, and it gets stuck in their throat, rush your pet to the nearest vet.

"Some people's natural reaction may be to try and stick their hands down their throat, but that can actually be even more dangerous than the alternative," she said.

"We generally just say get them straight to the emergency, straight to the nearest clinic."

"If you can see a ball in the back of the throat, definitely first reaction is gonna be to try and take it out.

"But if there's something lodged like a stick further down the oesophagus, like there's risk of tearing [the skin], a risk of getting bitten, like they're just like a lot of risks to that."

Harvey is 12 now, and his owners are "so grateful" to the vets who saved his life, giving them another seven years of memories with their furry friend.

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