Vet charity PDSA, treats over 430,000 pets across the country each year, and many of those are emergency, life-threatening, cases. To mark an end to the year, the charity is sharing it’s very own 12 tails of Christmas, the stories of 12 pets who needed urgent care, from a degloved leg to a deadly womb infection, and some are well and truly miracles.
One of those miracles is Dudley Porter, a three-month-old pup who needed emergency surgery to remove a toy from his intestines at Manchester PDSA Pet Hospital.
PDSA Vet Catherine Burke said: “Last Christmas period, over just nine days, we saw over 27,000 pets, 1,800 of those pets had emergency conditions. In this time, our teams performed over 430 surgical operations, carried out over 800 X-rays, and prescribed oral or topical medication to over 10,400 pet patients.
“Over this 2025 Christmas period (24 December 2025 – 2 January 2026), we expect to see over 28,000 pets.”
Dudley’s story
In February, Dudley’s loving owners Jamie and Carly Porter noticed he had had diarrhoea, but he was otherwise ok. However, the following day they became really worried when he was being sick and stopped eating and drinking. He’d also gone off his food entirely, seemed very tired, and was not acting his normal energetic self so they got Dudley booked in at their local PDSA.
PDSA Senior Veterinary Surgeon, Honor Thompson, said: “We checked Dudley over and noticed that he cried when his tummy was touched. It was clear that this area was causing him lots of pain. We could feel a firm, round swelling in this part of his belly too.
“From his examination and symptoms, we strongly suspected that Dudley had eaten something that had become stuck in his gut. The object needed to be removed as soon as possible, before it damaged his intestines and became life-threatening. Although the surgery would carry some risks, it was needed to save Dudley’s life.”
The vets found the cause of the blockage in his small intestine, the head of a soft toy. It was carefully removed through a small cut into the intestine, which was closed back up with stitches, followed by the muscle and skin layers.
Honor added: “As a vet, we often see how a dog’s natural curiosity can lead to unexpected dangers. Even toys marketed as ‘safe’ can become dangerous if pets chew them apart and swallow pieces, so we urge all pet owners to remain vigilant and keep a close eye on their pets if they’re chewing to ensure they don’t swallow bits that could cause harm.”
Thankfully, Dudley’s surgery was a success, and he recovered well after his operation. On the same day, he was discharged with some pain relief and reunited with his loving family. His owners were given strict instructions to make sure Dudley rests for a week and to keep a close eye on him for any signs of pain, infection or other problems.
His owners were shocked and couldn’t believe what he had swallowed. Carly said: “Dudley is supervised when he’s playing with his toys. We’ve bought different textured toys, hard and soft, to meet his exploration needs as a puppy. We make sure he has a safe environment to explore with no hazards, so it was an utter shock to find out he’d swallowed part of a toy, as we didn’t see it happen.
“It goes to show how easy it is for puppies in destructive mode to break their toys, and it’s made us much more selective when buying toys.
“We’re so grateful to PDSA for saving Dudley’s life; he’s a very lucky pup. We were seen so quickly, and everyone just fell in love with him. All the staff were so helpful in treating Dudley. We’re so glad he’s made a speedy recovery and is now back to his usual, happy self.”
PDSA’s 12 mini miracles, including Dudley’s treatment had a total cost of over £13,500 to the charity. In 2025, the charity expects to have: treated over 450,000 pets and supported over 4.5 million pet owners with expert advice and information. If you’d like to support the charity in making more miracles happen, head to www.pdsa.org.uk/miracle25