Puppy needs emergency surgery after swallowing AirPods – but they still work when they’re removed

A puppy who swallowed a pair of Apple AirPods has made a full recovery after emergency surgery to remove them, and his owner is urging others to be careful if their dog likes to chew.

Owner Rachel Hick rushed golden retriever Jimmy to Vets Now in Hull where vets performed intricate surgery to remove the device. Astonishingly, the case came out intact, with the wireless headphones still inside and the charging light still on.

Hours later Rachel discovered both the charger and the headphones still worked perfectly. The 22-year-old, who lives at home with her parents in Willerby, near Hull, said her ‘heart sank’ when she realised what had happened.She said:

“It was Easter Sunday and Jimmy has his own Instagram account, so I was taking photos of him getting his first dog Easter egg to use on Instagram. He was jumping up and running around going crazy, he was so hyped up and excited. As he jumped, he knocked my AirPods out of my pocket and they fell on the floor, and before I even realised they’d dropped on the floor, he eaten them whole. He looked up at me straight after and gave me a look as if to say “that wasn’t the treat, was it?” My heart sank.”

Rachel raced the puppy to the out-of-hours pet emergency service in the city, where he was scanned. Susana Jauregui, who is senior vet at Vets Now in Hull, said:

“Our vet on duty that evening, Steven, x-rayed Jimmy and the radiograph images clearly showed the AirPods case still intact in his digestive system. There was a risk of it causing an obstruction and, with it being a charging case, Steven was also concerned about battery acid leaking so, after discussing the situation with Jimmy’s owners, he agreed to operate.”

Susana praised Rachel for bringing Jimmy in so quickly, as large size of the case and the potential for battery acid leakage could have been extremely dangerous.

To Steven’s surprise, there wasn’t a scratch or a tooth mark on the device and even the charging light was still on. The operation took place on a Sunday evening and Jimmy spent the night recuperating in the clinic.

He is now home, with a cone around his head to stop him licking his stitches.

Rachel said: “He’s a bit sorry for himself, we’re not allowed to exercise him so he has all this energy and nowhere for it to go. I have been so worried about him, it’s certainly a cautionary tale for other dog owners. I can’t believe the AirPods still work, they’ve had a good clean!”