Lucky break

18 August 2016

Owner Anita Dowman (30) was horrified when she saw much-loved pet Lucky swallow a toy snooker ball at their home in south London.

Vets at Croydon PDSA Pet Hospital took an X-ray – and were stunned to see another four balls in seven-month-old Lucky’s stomach.

Emergency surgery was carried out to remove the balls, which could have caused a fatal blockage. Lucky was monitored overnight, but thankfully he’d bounced back to health and was able to go home the following day.

Law student Anita said: “Lucky is such a character – he’s into everything. I was in the front room with him, and he was playing with the little snooker balls – and then he just swallowed one right in front of me. I couldn’t believe it.

“Without PDSA, we never would have been able to afford his life-saving surgery and I just don’t know what we would have done. I can’t thank PDSA enough for saving Lucky’s life.”

The dedicated team at Croydon PDSA Pet Hospital can see over 100 pets in a single day and provides around 42,000 treatments every year, ranging from operations and emergencies to routine preventive care such as vaccinations.

We don’t receive any Government of National Lottery funding for our charitable services – we are funded entirely by generous public support. It costs around £900,000 annually to run Croydon PDSA Pet Hospital. Make a donation to support PDSA’s life-saving work.

Last year we treated nearly 400 pets for swallowing things they shouldn’t - read more about the strange things swallowed by pets.