A mischievous dog needed life-saving surgery after she pinched some chicken satays from the kitchen – and wolfed down SIX of the wooden sticks.
Tilly, a rescue dog used to fending for herself, swiped the tasty treats from the worktop when owner Liz Dunn’s back was turned.
Liz, 35, only realised what had happened half an hour later when she found the empty packet and some of the other sticks discarded around the house.
The mother-of-two, from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, said: “If she gets near any food, she goes for it.
“We know that when we got her, she had been living on the streets and had to fend for herself, so she still has that scavenger instinct.”
Liz had returned home with food shopping and put two of the chicken sticks in a bag for her two year-old son Isaac and left the others on the top of the counter.
But ten year-old Tilly, a mongrel who has been with the family for six years, climbed onto the high counter and gobbled up the food.
Liz, married to solicitor husband Phil, 35, said: “I panicked and called Phil, then my father-in-law, who hotfooted it back, who took her to the vets.
“She had life-saving surgery, but to look at her she was fine.
“They X-rayed her, but because they were wooden sticks, they couldn’t see what was going on, so they had to open her up.
“She was kept in for 24 hours and then went to my in-laws to convalesce.”
Liz, a chat moderator for Tombola, and Phil, hope other owners will learn of the dangers of skewers and have thanked the vets who helped save their beloved pet.
Vet Kate Pounder from Westway Veterinary Group’s main hospital in Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, said: “Tilly could have perforated her stomach and that would have risked peritonitis, which can be fatal.
“This was a complete accident, but it is worth reminding owners to be extra cautious over the summer when food is being prepared.”
