Lucky dog Molly loses her 'marbles'

Kayleigh Holmes with her dog, Molly, and the eight stones taken out of Molly's stomach. Photo / Lynette Holmes

Molly the labrador has had something of a ruff week.

The 13-month-old dog, owned by Kayleigh Holmes, swallowed eight stones recently and had to have them surgically removed.

Last week, Miss Holmes and her mother, Lynette, took Molly for a walk and then noticed something odd about her.

She was rattling.

"She'd been chasing stones," Mrs Holmes said. "And we thought 'what's that funny noise' - it sounded like a bag of marbles."

The noise was coming from Molly's stomach. It soon became clear the hyperactive lab wasn't her normal self. "A few days after that she started vomiting," Mrs Holmes said.

"She wasn't going to the toilet," Miss Holmes said. "I took her to the vet in the morning, they took x-rays and said 'she's going to surgery'."

The size of the stones is remarkable. The biggest is the size of a clenched fist.

"I thought they'd be $2 coin size. It was just lucky they were all in her stomach not in her intestines - they would've had to make more slits."

Vet Felicity Morris, from Oamaru Veterinary Services, said Molly's stones were the biggest and the largest number she'd seen in four years in the profession.

Molly probably swallowed them accidentally on separate occasions, as she liked to carry stones around.

Dogs often swallowed objects, Miss Morris said.

"You'd be surprised what you find inside a dog."

The stones had not caused any internal bruising - but could have if they had remained there any longer.

Sometimes swallowed objects can get into a dog's intestine, where they can do more damage and kill the tissue.

Vets recommend dog owners discourage their pets from carrying rocks or stones in their mouths, and give them a safe alternative to chew on.

If owners noticed anything unusual being swallowed, they should take the dog to the vet immediately.

If it is a hard object such as a stone or bone, surgery is likely as inducing vomiting could cause more damage to the animal's insides.

However, soft items could be brought up.

At the weekend Miss Morris had a dog cough up two socks - but they were not a pair.

- OAMARU MAIL