A dog was left in agony on a Welsh beach after being stung by a fish. The 13-year-old chocolate labrador cross was walking at Treath Penrhos in Anglesey when the incident happened, leaving him choking on his own blood.
Pawing at his muzzle, Thornton began eating sand to ease the pain after the encounter with a weever fish, reports North Wales Live. As sand congealed with the blood pouring from his mouth, his condition quickly became critical. You can get the latest WalesOnline newsletters e-mailed to you directly for free by signing up here.
Weever fishes are small - around 8cm long - but they can deliver intense pain. What happened to Thornton shows the impact can be serious. He was being looked after by dog lover Eleri Fôn Roberts on behalf of a close family friend when the incident happened.
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“It was such a lovely summer evening, I thought I’d take all the dogs to the beach,” said Eleri. “I noticed Thornton wasn’t keeping up and when I looked around he was pawing at himself. He was frantic, eating sand to cool down his mouth. It was so scary. There was blood all over his paws too, it was difficult to know where it was coming from.
"I was petrified he was going into shock. He was vomiting black congealed blood. It was horrendous. It’s such a responsibility looking after someone else’s dog and I was so scared he wasn’t going to make it.”
As her friend ran to fetch the car to get closer to the beach, Eleri tried to get Thornton off the sand while keeping an eye on her other dogs. Too heavy to carry, she dragged the Thornton across the beach. Eleri then called her vet. “He immediately gave Thornton charcoal to induce vomiting, as sand in the stomach can be fatal for dogs,” she said. ““It was such a mess - blood everywhere and black sand on the floor. Steffan was pretty certain Thornton had been picked up a weever fish in his mouth and had been stung by it.”
Thornton was prescribed antibiotics, painkillers and steroids for the swelling and recovered from his ordeal the next day. Usually, weever fish are found at the water’s edge at low tide - but they can be anywhere on the beach. Often they bury themselves just under the sand, leaving poisonous dorsal spines sticking out for the unwary. The risk to dogs is low. But if they are stung, veterinary treatment may be needed to ensure all barbs are completely removed.
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