While dogs are well known to love balls, Murphy, a seven-year-old German Shepherd, seems to have a particular appetite for golf balls! To the point of having swallowed six of them… Fortunately, the dog is safe and sound.
He was taken to the emergency room for surgery after a CT scan proved the presence of these foreign bodies, which were impossible to identify at the time, as reported in the English daily The Guardian. To the great surprise of David Larson, who has been the happy owner for eighteen months, since he had never taken him to a golf course. These balls would thus have been ingested by the animal before its adoption!
The problem was only revealed when Murphy became ill after eating a bone. His owner then took him for an x-ray, revealing a severe stomach ache. Since the operation, this adorable German Shepherd seems more fulfilled and inclined to play. “He has recovered very well from the operation, and I’m going to make sure he never gets any bones or hangs around a golf course again in the future,” says his owner.
“Owners need to watch what their dogs do when they are outdoors. They should even have them wear a muzzle as soon as they are off the leash if there is a risk that they might swallow things like balls or rocks. Dogs can get sick very quickly from these things that clog their stomachs and intestines,” warns Mandy Ball, a veterinarian.
