Puppy love: Bracken with his owner John Grant. Mr Grant realised Bracken needed medical attention when he began coughing incessantly
Back to full health: Bracken has made a full recovery since his operations
Energetic: Mr Grant throws a ball for Bracken, who has also been known to eat golf balls and twigs
Uncomfortable: The deflated football that was removed from Bracken's body
A dog owner today described how his pet bounced back to health after swallowing a football.
Bracken the labrador ended up with the deflated ball stuck next to his heart after munching it while out of sight of his owner John Grant and would have died without surgery.
Mr Grant realised the two-year-old dog needed medical attention when he started coughing incessantly.
When Bracken was X-rayed at the University of Glasgow Small Animal Hospital, vets noticed an unexpected dark shape near the labrador's heart.
Further tests revealed a congenital abnormality - a hole in the diaphragm between the dog's chest and abdomen which meant part of his stomach could move into the space.
When surgical specialist Kathryn Pratschke operated, assisted by vet Damian Chase, they were stunned to discover that the foreign object was a deflated toy football about 12cm (5in) long.
Mr Chase said: 'Bracken had been fine and his stomach had been gradually moving in and out from this area in his chest, but because he had eaten this toy football it got stuck up there.
'Part of the stomach moved and was sitting next to his heart with the football in it.
'We were surprised because when we did the X-ray and scan we couldn't tell what it was. He is a very lucky dog. He would have died without the operation.'
Mr Chase said the abnormality, called peritoneo-pericardial diaphragmatic hernia, could have catastrophic consequences, though many dogs with the same problem lead normal lives with the flaw going unnoticed.
Bracken needed two operations to correct the problem, one last spring and one in January, building up medical costs of around £5,000 over the year.
He is now living life to the full at the Grant home in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, though where he found the football remains a mystery.
Mr Grant, 70, said: 'I don't know where he picked it up, though it may have been in the park in the long grass.
'He is quite inquisitive and noisy and boisterous. He eats anything - plastic bottles, golf balls, stones and sticks. He is an extrovert, very lively and sometimes steals things from the kitchen table.
'He has been fine since the operation but it was quite traumatic at the time.'
Over the past year vets at Glasgow University Small Animal Hospital have dealt with dogs which have swallowed everything from tights and bandages to crab shells and milk bottle tops, but said that Bracken's case was one of the strangest.
It can be hard for dog owners to know whether their pet has swallowed a foreign object if they don't catch the animal red-handed.
However, Mr Chase said that if dogs keep vomiting it could indicate they have eaten something they shouldn't have while retching and gagging could suggest there was something stuck in their throat.
He advised owners to keep a close eye on their pets if they know they have a roving eye.
He said: 'You can't wrap your dog up in cotton wool.
'But if you know your dog is a scavenger he needs to be under control, even on a lead.'
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