The owners of a sneezy Spaniel were shocked to discover her mysterious fits were being caused by a three-inch stick wedged up her nose.
Cocker Spaniel Jess got the stick lodged in her snout after a run in with a bush, her owner said.
Owner Derek Purves was walking the two-year-old dog near the family’s Edinburgh home last month when the plucky pooch bounded off into woodland.
She reappeared soon after, but had blood and mucus coming from her nose.
Her owners cleaned her up and thought Jess was otherwise unscathed after her adventure, but they soon noticed she was experiencing powerful sneezes after every meal.
After a couple of trips to the vet, she had a camera scope put up her nose where medics discovered the lengthy stowaway, which had become lodged deep inside her nostril, the Daily Record reports.
Owner Samantha said: “You couldn’t see it with your naked eye. It was wedged a couple of inches up so when she was eating, it was irritating her.
“She seemed absolutely fine and completely like her normal self until she ate her food and then she’d have a proper sneezing fit. She was the vet for her boosters the following week so I mentioned it but they couldn’t see anything so we decided to keep an eye on her.
“But I ended up taking her back the following week and explained that she was doing this weird sneezing thing every time she had her dinner. James (the vet) had another look but he still couldn’t see anything so he suggested we book her in for a proper look with her sedated.
“That’s when he found this stick deep inside her nose. He did say that if we hadn’t taken in, it would never have come out by itself and probably would have become infected and maybe even fused up there. She would’ve become quite poorly with it.”
Samantha, who has issued her heartfelt thanks to the staff at Thistle Vets in Edinburgh, added: “We had no idea there was anything stuck up there - we thought she’d just banged it.
“My husband had taken her for a walk up at a pathway not far from our house where there’s woods and stuff. She’s a little cocker spaniel so she likes to tear about.
“She went running into the bushes but when she came out, her nose was bleeding and there was mucus coming out of it. She also collapsed a wee bit. My husband picked her up, cleared her nose up and brought her home.
“It wasn’t bleeding anymore so we kept an eye on her but she seemed okay apart from sneezing quite a lot. Thankfully it’s not knocked her confidence at all - she still charges about the place.”
Dr James McCann, of Thistle Vets, added: “Dogs will often get bits of straw, grass or long things like this stuck down their ears, up their nose and sometimes in the back of their throat, so it’s not an uncommon thing. But we see it pretty classically in spaniels.
“The stick was quite far in - probably at least an inch inside the nostril so it was well and truly lodged Although she seemed to not be in a massive amount of pain, it was clearly bothering her a lot especially when she put her head down to eat.
“Had it stayed there, eventually it would have rotted and caused a pretty nasty infection and quite a lot of pain for Jess as well. The scope is a pretty specialist piece of kit that not every practice has. Thankfully we were able to use it and get the stick out for her.”
