A super-cute puppy called Maverick lived up to the name by somehow swallowing an entire 20cm chicken skewer.
The wooden skewer punctured his stomach, but, amazingly, the super-strong Border Collie carried on as normal afterwards, running, eating and drinking as usual.
It was only 10 days later, when a sinister lump appeared near his belly button and started growing rapidly, that his owner, Maria Wilson, got any clue that he was seriously unwell.
Worried Maria rushed eight-month-old Maverick to pet emergency service Vets Now’s out-of-hours clinic in Macclesfield, Cheshire.
Complex surgery saves Maverick after swallowing chicken skewer
On arrival, he was admitted straightaway for a series of tests, scans and x-rays – which, much to Maria’s surprise, identified the skewer wedged solid in his stomach.
It turned out the skewer had perforated his stomach, and the tip was pressing against his belly button from the inside, where it was causing continuous injury.
This, in turn, had led to the formation of a large abscess, which was the lump that Maria could see.
Four hours of complex surgery followed as vet Maciej Bilkiewicz, nurse Carrissa Gray and their team fought through the night to save Maverick’s life.
Maciej said: “It was a very problematic procedure because the abscess was stopping us from getting into the abdominal cavity where the skewer was stuck.
“And there was a really high risk of the contents of his stomach spilling over into his abdominal cavity, which could have had potentially fatal consequences.
“As part of very carefully extracting the skewer we had to partially remove Maverick’s stomach and cut out the lump.
“It’s genuinely very surprising indeed to think he was carrying that skewer round in his stomach for so long with no apparent adverse effects.
“As well as being a maverick, he’s clearly very strong indeed – as we saw ourselves in the clinic when he was eating normally just six hours after surgery.
“We’d really been expecting to keep him in for a second night for observation – but he was so bright and recovered so quickly that we didn’t need to do that, and he was able to go home with Maria.
“He’s such a loving little guy that when he came round from his anaesthetic, all he really wanted was a big cuddle and a hug!
“It was a big team effort and Carrissa did a superb job.”
Recovering from the chicken skewer incident: Maverick's journey back to health
After a week of recuperating with Maria and her four children at their home in New Mills, Derbyshire, Maverick was back to his old self.
Maria said: “I’m a diabetic so have to be really careful with what food I eat so there’s certain foods I usually have in the freezer – including chicken skewers.
“And what happened is one of my daughters took one of them out of the freezer and then accidentally left the bin slightly open.
“Maverick got the plastic wrapper out of the bin and licked all the chicken off it – the whole thing which we knew had happened because he left its remains on the floor.
“But we had no idea until the x-ray that he’d eaten and swallowed the skewer as well. I just can’t believe that he was able to do that and carry on functioning normally for so long.
“Before the abscess appeared, he’d suffered a bit of nausea, and he wasn’t quite his normal boisterous self, so we took him to our local vets a couple of times just to get him checked out.
“But there was nothing at all to suggest he’d swallowed a skewer and put a hole in his stomach.
“He’s Maverick by name, maverick by nature – and he’s a bit of a mini-celebrity around here. It takes ages just to walk him round the block because he wants to stop and play with everyone he meets.”
Maria added: “My husband Dale died last year, and it had always been his wish to have a Border Collie, but we’d never quite got round to it.
“So in his memory, my daughters Courtney, Keanna, Aiyla and Kyra and me decided that’s what we were going to do – and we called him Maverick because of the Top Gun film, which Dale was a huge fan of.
“And it’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever taken – Maverick has just been a total blessing for us all, a real family dog.
“The night all this happened was quite dramatic with phone calls all through the night to update us on what was happening but Maverick had superb care and we’ll all be eternally grateful to Maciej and Carrissa for saving his life.”
