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Poor old Pedro: A great catch!
While quietly stalking around the neighbour’s yard one afternoon Pedro came across a special treat; a juicy piece of fish bait festering in the sun. It was too good to resist, so he gulped it down. Unluckily for Pedro, in his feeding frenzy, he didn’t notice the hook that now had him snagged.
The neighbour found Pedro still attached to the fishing rod and clearly not enjoying the experience. He cut him free but unfortunately Pedro got away and wasn’t seen for two days.
When his owners finally found Pedro it was obvious why he disappeared; a rather large hook was hanging from his mouth! At that point Pedro paid a visit to us at Mill Road.
To enable us to remove the hook safely and in a pain free manner, we gave him a full anaesthetic.
Hooks can be quite hard to remove if the barb is embedded within flesh, but fortunately in this case the barb had passed right through the cheek. We cut the hook with bolt cutters and pulled it through, leaving only a small hole that didn’t even require stitches. Such wounds are invariably contaminated though, so he was prescribed a course of antibiotics.
Pedro went home that afternoon feeling much better, and has been great ever since his ordeal.
The lesson to learn from this is to be careful with fish hooks around animals!
Pedro was lucky, in that the hook was not swallowed, which is a much more serious situation and can result in perforation of the intestines. Cats and dogs often swallow hooks even if they are not baited, as the smell itself is so enticing. So please, take extra care this summer. Stick to catching fish!
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