Pet Dog Swallows 38 Rubber Ducks, Undergoes Emergency Surgery

Vets have issued a warning after they removed 32 rubber ducks from a pet dog’s stomach. The incident took place in Pattaya, Thailand, on Wednesday.

Nong Aom, the dog’s owner, rushed the canine, an American bulldog named Devil, to an animal hospital after she woke up to find that the dog had retched up six chewed ducks. The owner had bought a box of 50 to decorate the swimming pool.

The dog underwent an emergency surgery where the doctors removed 32 rubber ducks from its bulging stomach.

“Normally he knows what’s edible. But this time he swallowed 38 of the ducks. It’s lucky I found him and I live so close to the vets or he might not have survived,” the owner said.

Following this, Dr. Muy issued a warning to the dog owner saying, “I’ve removed rubber toys from dogs’ bellies before but never this many. It was unbelievable. Rubber ducks and other small toys are very dangerous. You have to be careful because dogs are very innocent and don't know that toys are not meant to be eaten.''

In a similar incident in Melbourne, Australia, in December last year, a French Bulldog underwent emergency surgery after it swallowed four rubber ducks. The owner rushed the canine to an animal hospital after it fell ill. The vets took an X-ray after they found “something in his belly”.

“The consequences could have been much worse and potentially even fatal. It’s important that the owner keeps providing them with toys that are big enough that they’re unlikely to be ingested,” Dr. Paula Vance, a vet at the Lort Smith Animal Hospital, had said.