Puppy who swallowed thumb tack saved by AES vets who used $2.50 magnet to get it out of airway

A hungry Gold Coast puppy which gobbled up something he shouldn’t have is lucky to be alive after vets were forced to get creative and use a $2.50 object to save him.

A HUNGRY puppy who gobbled up a sharp thumb tack is lucky to be alive after vets used a $2.50 magnet to pull it out of his airway.

On March 30, Mac, a 7-month-old French Bulldog puppy ate dinner in the garage of his owner’s mother’s home before he returned into the house, where he began coughing and vomiting.

INSIDE ANIMAL EMERGENCY SERVICE CARRARA

Mac the French Bulldog after they removed a thumb tack with a magnet from his airway. Picture: supplied

When the vomiting didn’t subside, his owners brought him to the Animal Emergency Services clinic at Carrara, where Dr Courtney Reddrop and Dr Rob Webster told them his airway was likely blocked.

“There was no way he could sustain that (coughing and vomiting),” Dr Reddrop said.

“We had to look at him straight away.

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“I had bet on something in his airway because he was coughing so hard and then (the owner) randomly said there were just nails and screws in the shed.

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An x-ray of the thumb tack. Picture: supplied

Magnet attached to the tack. Picture: supplied

The tack being taken out of the airway. Picture: supplied

“So we took an X-ray and the thumb tack was lodged just in front of his lungs before they branch out.”

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In the x-ray the thumb tack is so long that vets initially believed it was a nail.

And in order to get the offending object out, they had to get a bit creative.

The offending thumb tack. Picture: supplied

The tube was too large to place so far down his airway so they instead used a small magnet — bought for $2.50 at Super Cheap Auto — attached to the end of a very thin rod.

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This was placed down the tube until it latched onto the head of the tack.

Dr Reddrop said they needed to constantly take X-rays so they didn’t push the tack further down or so they didn’t lose it as they retracted their unique device.

“We don’t see it very often,” Dr Reddrop said.

Dr Courtney Reddrop of Animal Emergency Service Carrara holding Mac. Picture: supplied

“Dr Webster has worked for 18 years in emergency and he’s only ever once seen a blocked airway... by a marble. I’ve worked in emergency for nine years … and have never seen anything in an airway.”

He said the main reason why the tack would have gone down the airway as opposed to the oesophagus was due to the breed, which tend to have long soft palates.

Mac was released soon after and is recovering well.