Trixie's owner Melanie Pounder said she would have been lost without her pet
A border terrier has bounced back to recovery after a ball went unnoticed in her stomach for two years.
Trixie came down with a mystery illness and after becoming concerned her owner, Melanie Pounder from Sunderland, took her for a scan.The X-ray showed a small object in her stomach. Surgery revealed a bouncy ball she is believed to have swallowed two years earlier.
Vets said the terrier was lucky not to have died.
Mrs Pounder, 42, said: "When it turned out to be the ball that went missing, I couldn't believe it.
"To think it's been there the whole time is just incredible.
"I'm so grateful she's getting well, as I love her to bits and we would be lost without her.
"I'm now very careful about which toys Trixie plays with and make sure she only has ones that are too big to swallow."
'Strange case' Emma Holt, a vet with the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), said Trixie was fortunate the ball had not moved to her intestines, where it could have caused a fatal blockage
She said: "Trixie was well in herself, but we knew that something wasn't right.
"So we took an X-ray and spotted a small object in her abdomen, which looked suspicious.
"Exploratory surgery was carried out and we soon discovered it was a bouncy ball.
"I've seen a few strange cases during my time as a vet, but never something like this where a foreign body has just been hiding away for so long before causing a problem."
Ms Holt warned other dog owners to take care when selecting the size of balls for their dogs to play with, as ones that are too small can cause choking or can be swallowed.