A SWINDON vet is offering safety tips to pet owners thinking of having a barbecue over the bank holiday, after a brave rescue dog bit off more than she could chew.

Whisp the lurcher was feeling a bit ruff after a kebab skewer got lodged inside her stomach, however the playful pooch is recovering well after vets managed to remove it.

She arrived at an animal rescue centre in Dorset as a stray earlier this year, having a health check and operation to remove a lung.

Whisp’s new owner, Lauren, said: “I sensed that something wasn’t quite right with Whisp a few weeks after she came home. I immediately took her to the vets and they found a huge kebab skewer.

"Luckily it has now been removed and Whisp is recovering well. She goes back to have her stitches taken out in a couple of weeks.”

Now Dave Rawlinson, a partner at Drove Vets, is warning people to be on their guard when they tuck into burgers, sausages and corn on the cob to ensure their pets do not try and have a sneaky bite too, which could lead to a serious injury.

"It goes without saying there are some common sense issues for pet owners to be aware of which most people would see as pointing out the obvious," said Dave.

“Probably the most common barbecue related incident we see is mainly dogs getting food stuck in their digestive tract. This can cause severe illness, potentially life-threatening.

“The commonest offenders in that respect is things like corn cobs and disposing of it afterwards. Dogs quite often like eating those and corn cobs are the perfect size for getting stuck in the small intestine causing a blockage. They can cause quite nasty complications and they often end up requiring emergency surgery to rectify.

“Obviously with pointed things like kebab stick skewers, there is a risk dogs will ingest those if they have got some tasty fat on.

“Even simple things like foil being used to cook food items in, if it’s covered in nice tasty grease and balled up and thrown away, a dog might try and eat and swallow that."

Dave added: “The biggest issue is quite often these things are eaten without the owners being aware. A common scenario for us is a dog raiding the bin and eating items without the owner necessarily knowing or stuff just gets dropped on the floor when people are having a good time and a few drinks and not paying too much attention to the food scraps.

“The main thing for owners to look out for is the sort of items that can cause problems. They need to be aware of that and mindful to try and avoid their pets inadvertently pinching an item, especially cooked bones like lamb chops."