Hampshire vets praised for saving life of Frank the Frenchie after he ate fish hook

French Bulldog Frank was treated at St Peter’s Vets in Petersfield, which is part of the VetPartners group of veterinary practices, after he ate fishing bait that was attached to a hook and line during a walk around the lake at Petersfield Heath.

Frank wasn’t registered as a patient with the practice, but the team responded to his owner’s call for help and saw the pet straight away.

After finding no sign of the hook inside Frank’s mouth, vet Chloe Graham took an X-ray which confirmed that Frank had swallowed the sharp object and it was sitting inside his stomach.

As the hook hadn’t passed into his intestines, Chloe was able to remove it using an endoscope - a long, flexible tube with a camera on the end. To do this, Frank was anaesthetised, then the scope was placed into his mouth and gently fed down his throat and into his stomach.

Once she’d located the hook, Chloe passed a special tool through the middle of the endoscope that allowed her to grasp the object and carefully guide it back out

Chloe said: “Frank is lucky because his owner got him to us straight away and we were able to remove the hook using our endoscope. Not all objects are suitable to be retrieved this way, but it is a much better option for the patient because it means we don’t have to make a surgical incision.

“It helped that Frank had only just eaten the hook because it was sitting at the top of his stomach, which made it easier for us to locate and grasp. You do have to be extremely careful when removing hooks this way because of the barbed end, but we were able to guide it out safely and it hadn’t caused any damage to Frank’s throat or his stomach.

“Swallowing a fish-hook can be potentially life-threatening to pets because they can pierce the stomach wall or intestines and lead to sepsis, so when Frank’s owner contacted us we were happy to see him immediately. He was a very good patient and he recovered well and was able to go home later that day.”

Frank is now back home in Alresford with owner Jayde Zappia, who was 39 weeks pregnant when her pet swallowed the dangerous object and she gave birth just a few days later.

Jayde says she was on her first visit to Petersfield Heath and let Frank off the lead because it was a quiet day of the week and she didn’t realise the lake was popular for fishing.

Jayde said: “As soon as I noticed the fishermen I went to put Frank on the lead but because I was heavily pregnant, I couldn’t move very quickly and Frank had already trotted off to say hello. He spotted some bait, which was attached to fishing line, grabbed it and ran off.

"The fisherman and I went after him, but Frank thought it was a game and by the time we’d caught up with him, he’d swallowed the bait.

“I hoped that he’d dropped the hook, but there was no sign of it and I just knew Frank had swallowed it. I called my usual veterinary practice, who was a 40-minute drive away, and they recommended that I get Frank seen by a vet as soon as possible.

“Luckily, St Peter’s Vets agreed to see him and its team was amazing - I can’t thank them enough for helping me in such a stressful situation. They talked me through my options and I was relieved that we could use the endoscope to remove the hook so Frank didn’t need surgery. When I picked him up a few hours later, it was like the whole thing had never happened and he was back to his normal self.”

St Peter’s Vets has practices in Petersfield, Liss, Horndean and Farlington and puts the care of pets, care of people and care of each other above all else. It is part of VetPartners, which owns some of the UK’s most respected and trust veterinary practices and associated animal healthcare businesses.