This year was the first time the Mason family have been unable to attend the local canine Christmas party at Royal Park with their dog Georgie - but they won’t be making that mistake again. “Georgie wasn’t happy missing out,” explains owner Richard Mason “so she decided to have her own little party, with our Christmas decorations on the menu.”
The 13-year-old Border Collie-Heeler cross had been moping around the Christmas tree when Richard looked up to see her scoffing the decorations. “I turned around to see a piece of blue tinsel hanging out of Georgia’s mouth,” he says.
Before he could move Georgie had swallowed the tinsel and the object at the end of it, a plastic bauble. The Christmas treat did not agree with her. “She vomited repeatedly overnight, and we took her to the Lost Dogs’ Home’s vet clinic next morning because we thought there was an obstruction.”
The clinic’s Dr Caroline Cook examined the dog and while an initial x-ray showed no obstruction or gut damage, on further examination Richard said Dr Cook located “a round Christmas-shaped ornament in Georgie’s bowel”.
Georgie had perked up by then, andDr Cook recommended the Masons continue feeding her hearty appetite in the hope the decorations would pass through her system.
“Georgie has a very solid constitution and a big appetite so that was quite a task,” says Richard, who reported that Georgie has since passed a couple of plastic objects. At a subsequent visit to our clinic on 15 December, Georgie presented in good health and showing no signs of distress.
“She’s a very chirpy girl and although we haven’t located the bauble as such, she seems to have recovered from Christmas lunch very well.” Richard says the moral of the story is: “always take your dogs on their Christmas outing, or they’ll find their own revenge.”
Our vet clinic manager Dr Larry Colson has some practical advice for owners of dogs like Georgie: “If your dog has a voracious appetite she really needs to be treated like a child and kept away from potential dangers,” says Dr Colson. “Not only hazards like chemicals and rat poison, but also solids like electrical cords - and Christmas decorations!”
