A dog owner has issued a stark warning over tennis balls after she claims her beloved Labrador got an Aldi dog toy lodged in his throat and almost choked to death. Kelly Moorhouse was throwing the new 'smooth' foam ball - the same size as a tennis ball - for her dog Rocky on Sunday 8 November when the 'terrifying' accident reportedly happened.
The horrified owner says the eight-year-old dog quickly went 'limp' due to being unable to breathe with the foam ball firmly lodged in his windpipe. Kelly claims she performed the Heimlich manoeuvre three times, causing the ball to move slightly - before Rocky ended up swallowing it.
She then rushed him to the local vet who managed to manually extract the ball from his oesophagus after sedating him. The former nurse is warning dog owners to not use tennis-sized balls if they have medium or large sized dogs and be aware of size-appropriateness.
