A three-year-old greyhound has been saved by a vet after she wolfed down a dog walker’s ski glove in one gulp. Hungry pooch Rebecca was out for her daily walk when she gobbled down Sally McGlone's ski mitt which she accidentally dropped.
Shocked Sally and her friend Linda Whitaker raced Rebecca to a local vets who gave her medication which forced the dog to throw up. The poorly pooch was treated at Linnaeus-owned Abbey House Vets in Morley, Leeds, and medics were stunned when the glove was recovered intact.
Linda, who is caring for Rebecca while trying to find her a forever home, said: “Sally dropped the glove and Rebecca just ate it in one gulp. It was incredible. I couldn’t believe she had got it down in one go without even chewing it and I certainly couldn’t believe it came out in one piece either.
“She called me and I remembered how a friend’s dog had swallowed a dishcloth and died as a result, so I wasn’t taking any chances. We went straight to Abbey House to have Rebecca checked out. They induced her to be sick and she brought it back up whole.
“This wasn’t some little knitted glove. This was a proper ski glove with plastic toggles yet she somehow got it down in one and back up again. I was very concerned and worried about what damage the glove could do and whether she’d need an operation but now I can have a laugh about it.
“After all, it did happen during the winter Olympics and the vets did give me the glove back in a plastic bag. I gave it back to Sally and said ‘Just give it a bit of a wash and it’ll be fine’.
“Sally still couldn’t believe how it all happened. She’d taken the glove off and put it on the ground to pick up some poo and a gust of wind caught it.
“Rebecca pounced on it and it was gone in a flash. When Sally told me I said ‘Are you sure it didn’t just blow away?’ but she was adamant the dog had swallowed it.
“If she hadn’t been so adamant it could have all been different, we might have delayed doing anything and that could have been a serious mistake.” The bizarre accident happened while Sally walked the dog in Balne, Yorks., last month.
Vet Jimmy Baker, who looked after Rebecca, said: “This was an emergency case, so it was good that Linda acted so quickly and brought Rebecca to us so soon.
“We knew she had eaten the glove, so we immediately acted to make her sick and she promptly vomited back up the ski glove in exactly the same condition as it had gone down. It was pretty remarkable and the good news is that Rebecca is doing fine now and is no worse for the incident.”