A 20-MONTH-OLD dog is now on the mend thanks to the quick actions of a 24/7 Chippenham vet after the mischievous animal ate two large stones.

Hector – a three-quarter basset and one-quarter springer dog – was rushed into Vets Now in Chippenham where one stone was found to be lodged in his intestine and another in his stomach last month.

His owner, Claire Houghton, rushed him into the pet emergency clinic which opened in March and operates out of the Hale veterinary hospital on Langley Road, and is the only one in the area staffed 24/7 by a full-time vet and vet nurse.

The 49-year-old who lives in Corsham, said: “Hector is a bouncy basset, he’s a bit of a show off.

“We’ve got these ornamental pebbles in our back garden. Why Hector is so interested in them is beyond me. There’s lots of things you can imagine a dog wanting to eat. But stones?

“Anyway, we thought that covering the stones had solved the problem and whenever he is out in the garden I watch him really carefully.

“But when I’ve turned away he’s obviously thought, ‘Right, I’ll show her’.”

On the morning of the emergency, Hector was vomiting as well as refusing food and water and the chance to go for a walk.

Elizabeth Sharples, principal vet at Vets Now in Chippenham, said: “We have a very close working relationship with Hale and Hector’s case shows the value of that.

“When he was admitted he was showing signs of shock as his heart rate was faster than it should have been with poor pulses and he was very quiet and subdued.

“We immediately gave him some pain relief, placed him on a drip to help correct the cardiovascular signs of shock, took some blood samples to assess him further and took an x-ray.

“His heart rate dropped and he became brighter but the x-rays showed two large stones — one in his stomach and the other in the small intestine. Both were too large to pass through and were causing a blockage.

“It was clear he was in a bad way so, after discussing his condition with his owner, we took the decision to surgically remove them.

“Thankfully, the operation was a success and Hector suffered no major complications.”