Dog had golf ball in belly for five years!
7 August 1996
By Michael Commins
Ballinrobe based vet, Dr. George Lepple, could hardly believe what he was hearing when a lady from North Mayo walked into his surgery and told him her dog had swallowed a golf ball .... five years earlier!
Dr. Lepple, a native of Germany, specializes in the treatment of small animals and horses and is the only vet with x-ray facilities for animals in the region."This lady arrived in with a big german pointer and he was only skin and bones. She told me he had not been well and had been vomiting all the time. She said he had swallowed a golf a few years back and that might be part of his problem," says George.
"She went to a local vet at the time and he said that the dog looked very lively and to leave well enough alone. `He looks comfortable to me, leave it in there', the vet told her!"
George x-rayed the dog in his clinic and, sure enough, there was the full size golf ball bunkered in the stomach. "I went ahead with the operation and removed the ball. The poor dog must have suffered a fair bit over the years. But he made a full recovery. It was amazing!"
Dr. Lepple, the man who relieved the miracle golf-ball swallowing dog,
believe it or not, comes from near the German town of Rottweil, the place
that has given its name to the famous dog breed. Only a Rottweiler citizen
could surely hit on a true story with as much bite as this one!
Connaught Telegraph - News - August 1996
Connaught Telegraph - Sport - August 1996
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