Paddy is an English Bull Terrier aged ten who has a serious heart condition. She has heart disease and requires medication every day of her life. Her owner Sandra Garner not surprisingly panicked when Paddy became ill and took her immediately to the PDSA PetAid hospital, "despite her condition, Paddy is an extremely happy and contented dog. Recently we noticed she wasn't eating or drinking anything but thought it was nothing to worry about. But then she started to become sick, lost weight and became really ill. Because of her medical history we through it was all linked." When Sandra arrived at the hospital the vet did an immediate x-ray to try and identify the root of the problem. The x-ray revealed that she had swallowed a plastic Kinder egg surprise and therefore needed to have urgent surgery to remove the plastic toy from her intestines. Senior Veterinary Surgeon Duncan Senior operated on Paddy and said "It was a race against time. We had to operate on Paddy straight away as she was extremely ill from the foreign object which had lodged in the small intestine. This was compounded by her underlying heart condition. Yet carrying out major surgery on a dog with heart failure also carries great risk as this could have put further strain on her heart. She could have died on the operating table." She had a long and slow recovery but thankfully Paddy has recovered fully from the terrifying experience of surgery.

Let's hope that Sandra has taken out dog insurance as the cost of daily treatment for Paddy's heart condition as well as ongoing tests including x-rays will total a large sum of money. If Sandra had taken out Essential+ Insurance from BreederChoice Insurance then Paddy would be insured for the reoccurring illness as long as she renews her policy annually and carries on paying her premiums. Essential+ insurance starts from £16.49 a month. Visit www.dog-breeds.co.uk to find out more information or to take out instant cover.

Source: www.dogmagazine.net/archives/4553/pdsa-saves-dog-that-swallowed-toy-egg/ 7th December 2009