The owner of dog who was left needing emergency treatment after being pierced by a stray fishing hook has urged other dog walkers to be careful when walking their pets.
Catherine Alexander, 56, from Inverness, was out walking her four dogs in the city’s Whin Park with her husband when one of the party, 10-year-old Yorkshire Terrier Kira, suffered injuries which later required treatment.
Mrs Alexander said: “Normally we walk up the side of the rugby club and cross the path by the boating pond and river. Kira was just in front of us when I heard her screaming and I thought to myself ‘oh god what was that’.
“She was all twisted underneath in fishing line. She must have run into it. Me and my husband tried to get a hold of her and that was when we noticed something was hooked inside her.”
She added: “I always remember my son telling me never to pull these things out so we got in touch with the emergency vet who told us to meet him at the surgery.
“We took her back to the car with fishing line trailing behind and then up to the vets.”
The vet attempted to remove the hook; however, after an unsuccessful attempt and with Kira becoming distressed, the decision was made to sedate her in order to remove the fishing hook.
Once the vet got Kira sedated, he got the hook out. She was collected two hours later and she has been put on a week’s antibiotics. Kira is said to be “doing OK” now.
Mrs Alexander took to Facebook to alert others of the incident, with many suggesting the stray hook and line could have been that of discarded fishing equipment disposed of by nearby anglers.
She has urged fellow dog walkers to be careful when walking in the area and believed Kira was unlucky in this situation.
She said: “We go there all the time. The dogs just love it because they can get off the lead.
“It happened very near to where children play on the rope climbing frame so I’m just thankful as it could have been a kid this happened to.”
