X-ray of dog that ate 14 stones

Owners Graham Ellis and his partner Lisa Coppack rushed their two year-old pet to the vet when she fell ill on their family caravanning holiday.

An X-ray found 13 sizeable stones in her stomach and another in her small intestine - together weighing around 1lb.

Most measured around 5cm x 2cm and the vet told the couple she had never come across so many foreign objects in an animal’s stomach.

Flo underwent surgery to remove the stones and is now recovering well back home - although Graham and Lisa have been told to muzzle her when she is out.

Graham, 42, dad to Jamie, three, and stepdad to 42 year-old Lisa’s daughters Bailey, 14, and Ellie, 12, said: “We were all on our summer holidays on a

campsite in North Wales.

“One day Lisa said Flo was off her food. She seemed okay in herself, but she wasn’t eating and then about a week after that, she vomited.

“In the vomit we saw a stone, so we thought we should take her to the vets.

“They told us to come back in an hour or two but they rang us 15 minutes later and told us they’d found a load of stones in Flo’s stomach.”

Graham, a self-employed electrician, added: “We’ve no idea how it happened.

They were big stones, so I don’t think they could be pebbles from the local beach.

“We’ve had jokes about her losing 14 stones and one of my friends said he wished he could lose that much weight so quickly.

“We’re just grateful she’s okay - it was a big operation for her to go through.”

Vet Stephanie Rayner Viner, of Milfeddygon Deufor Vets in Pwllheli, near where the family were staying in Abersoch, said: “We saw about 11 stones in Flo’s

stomach on the x ray and one further down in her small intestine.

“We needed to operate on her to remove the stones - and when we did we found another two in her stomach, which had been hidden behind other ones in the X-ray.

“They weren’t small stones either - the biggest was about five centimetres in diameter. They weren’t little pebbles.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. We obviously get dogs who have eaten various things but this is the largest number of foreign objects I’ve ever found inside a dog.

“When she was lying down for the x-ray you could even feel the stones inside her stomach, once we realised what it was.

“It must have been very uncomfortable for her - they were even rattling when they rubbed together.”

Flo was kept in for two nights before Graham and council worker Lisa were able to collect her.

Graham, of Mirfield, West Yorks., added: “The vets asked us if we wanted to see the stones, and we couldn’t believe how big they were.

“Since we’ve been home Flo’s been much better.

“She’s got a scar about seven inches long across her stomach, and she’s been eating liquid food for now, but we’re all relieved she’s okay.

“The vets told us to put a muzzle on her while she’s out walking in the future - and I think we will, because she’s obviously got a taste for stones now.”