South Norwood woman's dog gets lucky break vet X-ray finds set of snooker balls in his stomach

Worried owner Anita Dowman rushed her beloved pet American bully to a vet after seeing him swallow one of the balls.

She was stunned when an x-ray later revealed another four rolling around in seven-month-old Lucky’s stomach.

Vets were forced to cut open the poor pooch’s stomach to remove his unlikely dinner on Monday last week.

Ms Dowman, 30, of Portland Road, South Norwood, said: “I was in the front room with the dog, where he was happily playing with the little snooker balls – and then he just swallowed one.”

Vets found five snooker balls in Lucky's stomach

An emergency vet in Caterham gave Lucky a laxative but he “just sicked up his dinner,” leaving the vet doubtful about whether he had swallowed the ball, Ms Dowman said.

But Ms Dowman was convinced something was amiss, despite Lucky “behaving just how he normally does”.

Cue another trip the vet.

Last Monday, two days after Lucky potted the ball, Ms Dowman visited PDSA pet hospital in South Croydon and begged staff to carry out an x-ray.

Both she and the hospital’s vets were taken back to discover he had racked up no fewer than five weighty balls – three red snooker balls and two purple billiards balls – clinking around in Lucky’s stomach.

Ms Dowman said she had never noticed any health problems with Lucky but now believes the balls had “definitely been there in for a while”.

She added: “[Now] he seems like a different dog, a lot more energetic.”

Lucky’s pot luck was all the more significant to his family because of the way he came into the house where Ms Dowman lives with her parents and other members of her extended family.

Akila’s Bully Club, which breeds the dogs in Thornton Heath, gave the pup to her 14-year-old son Kairof following the death of his father earlier this year.

Lucky examines Exhibit A

American bullies, a relatively modern breed, are often thought to be dangerous because of their appearance – but are in fact very friendly.

Miss Dowman said of Lucky: “He’s such a big part of our family. They’re amazing family dogs”

The law student said it was not too much of a surprise that the balls had gone missing without anybody realising.

She said: “Stuff always goes missing in the house. It’s just one of those houses.

“It sounds so silly when you look back at it but they were just his toys. I guess it’s like a young child playing with a marble.”