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.
She believes how 'smooth' the toy was could have exacerbated the issue, as the rough edges of a tennis ball 'may have been harder for Rocky to swallow in the first place', while she says vets said it made it harder to to get out. Her sister, who was present during the ordeal, shared a startling warning to other dog owners 'not to buy these balls or any other smooth rubber balls', which racked up more than 18,000 shares and comments.
Aldi said that the ball comes with a warning on the label that advises dog owners to ensure the size of the toy 'is appropriate to your pet and cannot be accidentally swallowed'. Kelly, from Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales, "I was sat in my sister's house, we live next door to one another, and we were just chatting.
"She's got two big dogs as well so we were just chucking balls across the living room. Rocky came back and he was obviously choking with something stuck in his throat and it turned out to be this new ball.
"He very quickly got into trouble and couldn't breathe at all. He eventually collapsed onto his side. I lay him on his back and stretched out his airway and tried to get the ball out that way but it was too far down.
"By this point he had become completely limp and wasn't moving so I just picked him up and held him against my chest and performed the Heimlich manoeuvre. I was absolutely struck with fear because he's my whole world and there was a moment when I thought 'this isn't working, I can't do this'.
"After the third attempt the ball did move. It didn't move very far but it did move enough that he then swallowed it into his oesophagus. He did have a little bit of airflow at this point and so we just bundled him into the car and luckily we've got a vets literally two minutes away.
"I ran in carrying him and two nurses came running out, grabbed him and took him back and gave him oxygen while we waited for the vet and she was there in seconds as well. It took the vet 20 minutes to get the ball out. He had to be intubated and sedated."
After the stressful ordeal, which Kelly estimates took a total of 40 minutes, Rocky was finally in the clear and able to go home once he woke from being sedated.
Despite the near-death experience, the cheeky pooch escaped with just a bruised oesophagus and trachea.
The former nurse credits her medical training and help from her son, who is a zoology student, as well as the quick work of the staff at Wern Vets for saving Rocky's life.
Kelly said: "It was the most terrifying experience. When you see online other people saying about their dogs getting into trouble with balls you never think it's going to happen to you.
"I'm trained in emergency nursing and all my experience went out the window.
"Luckily I had my son with me who's done a zoology course so he's had some training as well and between the two of us we managed to get through it.
"If we hadn't been there there's no way he would've survived.
"That particular ball, the vet said it was very hard to get out - she couldn't puncture it because it was a dense foam ball and because it was so slippery they couldn't get any purchase to pull it out either.
"Had it been a tennis ball it might have been easier for them to remove it and probably a bit harder for him to swallow it in the first place."
Kelly says that both she and her sister have banned all tennis-ball-sized dog balls from their homes and urge other owners of medium to large dogs to do the same for the safety of their pets.
Kelly said: "All the balls have gone now from mine and my sister's houses apart from these giant balls that aren't going to go down their throats.
"People say you don't need to be that extreme but we just made that decision because he's too precious to us and he's got plenty to play with.
"It's about getting size appropriate balls for your dog. If you've got a big dog you need much bigger balls - tennis balls are just the perfect size to get lodged in either their windpipe or oesophagus."
An Aldi spokesperson pointed out that the ball comes with a warning to ensure the size it appropriate.
The warning reads: "Ensure the size of the toy is appropriate to your pet and cannot be accidentally swallowed."
An Aldi spokesperson said: "All of our products meet stringent quality standards and we always advise customers to carefully follow safety guidance displayed on the packaging.
"For this product, the on-pack guidance advises customers to ensure the size of the toy is suitable for their pet and cannot be accidentally swallowed.
"We are sorry to hear of Ms Moorehouse's recent experience and would encourage her to contact our customer services team directly."
