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Hardy’s owner called us for advice one Sunday evening recently, having been out walking with his owners in Portishead’s popular Marina. His owner is a keen fisherman, and became concerned when he saw what he recognised as a short length of fishing line in Hardy’s mouth. It must have been left behind by another fisherman along the marina, and Hardy, a young Labrador, had found it and picked it up. Despite successfully stopping him from swallowing the line at the time, Hardy appeared uncomfortable around his throat and was retching and coughing during the evening.
 His signs failed to resolve, and so we were called upon to investigate his problem. Hardy underwent a series of X-rays at our Portishead practice, and we found a fish hook clearly evident on his X-rays. It was lodged in Hardy’s oesophagus (food pipe), between his mouth and his stomach.
This sort of hook is difficult to remove due to the barbs present to stop them easily dislodging. We used our endoscopy equipment to find the hook, assess the damage to the tissues around it, and ultimately (with 2 vets and 2 nurses involved) retrieved it with two specialised pairs of very long forceps. Hardy was given medicine to protect his oesophagus, and has since made a full recovery.
His owner, as a keen fisherman himself, was keen to remind others of their responsibilities with regard to clearing up their kit to avoid problems for pets and for wildlife. Fortunately, of course, most people do clear up well. This was an unusual case, and it was great to see Hardy recover so well.
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