The Yorkshire Vet, Julian Norton has a second appointment with "Sponge Bob" a dog who loves to eat scouring pads

This wasn’t his real name, rather the nickname we’d given to him after the previous accidental swallowing. For no obvious reason, on that occasion, the youngster had eaten a whole sponge.

One of those green ones, the size of a bar of soap, with a scouring surface on one side. These things don’t show up easily on an X-ray, so the endoscope was the tool of choice to establish if the sponge was actually inside the patient.

It’s generally quite important to ascertain with certainty that the foreign body has definitely been swallowed. I once spent several afternoons radiographing a border collie whose gummy owner had lost his false teeth.

The elderly gentleman was adamant that Floss has swallowed them, but repeated radiographs failed to confirm this. There were various loops of bowel which seemed to be grinning at us on the X-ray film, but none that were conclusive enough to justify surgery.

Eventually, the teeth turned up. They had fallen down the back of the bedside table, so it was a good job we didn’t operate on Floss.

With the endoscope, we quickly found the sponge, which was hiding under a thick layer of gastric bubbles (perhaps the sponge had recently been used to clear up washing up liquid?).

After many minutes of attempting to get a good enough hold to remove the scouring pad with the endoscope grabbers, it became apparent that the sponge was only coming out in small pieces. It was too big and too wedged to reverse out whole. Surgical intervention was required. Sponge Bob was wheeled into theatre.

He made a complete recovery after that first sponge-removal surgery, but we were surprised that he was on his way back just a few weeks later suffering from exactly the same predicament.

He looked every bit as happy and healthy as usual. His tail wagged with delight – he seemed to love his visits to the vets. He had a nonchalant yet triumphant air.

“And he’s definitely eaten it?” I asked his owner, always harking back to the curious incident of the false teeth not in the dog. I wanted to make sure this was no wild goose chase.

“Definitely. He grabbed it in his mouth. I tried to get it from him but when he saw me, he just swallowed it down in one! I’m certain it’s inside him,” came the confirmation. “It’s exactly the same as the one he swallowed last time. They come in packets of three.”

There was no need for X-rays and I knew endoscopy would not help. I also knew that sponges like this inside a visla could only be removed surgically – the rough surface clings on to the wall of the stomach or intestine like Velcro, and the sponge can swell dangerously – so it was a case of history repeating itself.

Again, everything went to plan and the process was much simpler without first trying to hoist it out with the ‘scope.

He came back in today, for his stitches to be removed. The wound had healed perfectly and the young visla was back to full health. “This wound looks great!” I said, removing each suture in turn, “Have you found another way of cleaning the dishes? Maybe a brush? Or a dishwasher?”

“Yes. And we’ve thrown out the other sponge. It won’t be happening again!”

The Yorkshire Vet continues in its fourteenth series on Tuesday at 8 pm on Channel 5.