Chelsea Finn loved nothing more than taking her Labradoodle, Dolly, to the beach. Dolly loved to play and run on the sand, going to fetch the ball for hours at a time!
But one day, things took a turn for the worse.
A terrifying moment
After coming home from the beach, Dolly began to throw up. She couldn’t keep anything down, started acting lethargic, and just kept getting sick over and over again. Worried, Chelsea rushed her to the vet’s. There, the vets performed an x-ray and realised that Dolly’s intestines were full of sand. She had probably accidentally ingested some as she fetched the ball all day at the beach.
Unfortunately, she had ingested so much that the sand was causing a huge blockage. The only way to save her would be to perform surgery. The vets warned Chelsea this would be tricky, and recovery could take a very long time.
Sand ingestion is very bad for dogs
But thankfully, the operation was successful and Dolly was saved! After spending two days at the clinic, she was finally discharged and able to go home to be with her mum again.
With the warmer months approaching, it’s likely we’ll be taking our dogs to the beach. But there are a lot of hidden dangers on the beach, including sharp rocks and shells, strong tides, risk of heatstroke, and of course, sand ingestion. Keep a close eye on your fur baby!
