Vets save collie after 20 inch stick stuck down throat

Vets have saved a dog after a three-hour operation to remove a 20 inch long stick which became lodged in the pet's throat during a game of catch. Archie, an eight-month-old border collie, ran into the stick at speed after it was thrown at the dog to chase.

The stick tore through the animal's windpipe and shredded the muscles down the side of its neck. The dog collapsed unconscious and the owner's father Steven Harding carried it half a mile to its home in Exeter, Devon. He then took it to a surgery where three local vets Peter Howard, John Gale and Sara Eley opened up its neck and removed the stick.



Mr Howard said: "It was impossible to know what damage had been done to vital structures in Archie's mouth, throat and neck but it was obviously a life threatening condition.

"There were two small branches acting like barbs anchoring the stick inside the throat. A major nerve was trapped tightly around the end of the wood which risked paralysis. The stick had to be sawn off to release it.



"Amazingly the major blood vessels of the neck had avoided potentially fatal damage and after three hours of intense surgery the stick was removed through the neck incision and all the wounds repaired."

The dog is now recovering at home where he has been banned from playing with sticks.