Dog swallows Apple AirPods that come out 'intact with charging case' after surgery

A vet hospital in England removed Apple AirPods from a puppy’s stomach intact and working after the pet swallowed it from the charging case, assuming it was a treat. A golden retriever named Jimmy was rushed to the Vetsnow in Hull by his owner Rachel Hick where an intricate surgery was performed on him to remove the device. “Astonishingly, the case came out intact, with the wireless headphones still inside and the charging light still on,” the hospital informed in a release. Jimmy had chowed on the airpods along with the case, excitedly, after it fell from his 22-year-old owner’s pocket while she was feeding her beloved dog an Easter treat. Hours later, as she realized what had happened, Hick, who lives at home with her parents in Willerby, near Hull, rushed her puppy to Vetsnow. 

Hick, whose “heart sank” at the time told Vetsnow, “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.” She continued, that her dog was “jumping up and running around going crazy, he was so hyped up and excited.” Hicks said, “As he [Jimmy] jumped, he knocked my AirPods out of my pocket and they fell on the floor, and before I even realized they’d dropped on the floor, he’d eaten them whole.” The dog, after consuming the AirPods gave his Hicks a strange stare, which she described was as if to say, “that wasn’t the treat, was it?’ My heart sank,” she added. 

"I can’t believe the AirPods still work, they’ve had a good clean!” said Hicks, the golden retriever's owner in Vetsnow release. 

Radiograph images 'clearly showed' AirPods

The pup was thoroughly scanned by the vets at the hospital, after which, they performed the surgery. But what was more shocking to the doctors was the fact that the Apple AirPods and the charging case were both retrieved out of the Golden Retriever dog working. A senior vet at the hospital that specializes in out-of-hours emergency care for pets, Susana Jauregui, said in the release, “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.” 

She added, “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.” Jauregui added that the dog is intact very lucky that his owners acted so promptly. “Battery acid is highly dangerous to dogs as are large foreign objects, especially if they’re allowed to pass into the intestine,” she said. 

[Image Credit: Vetsnow hospital website]

[Image Credit: Vetsnow hospital website]

According to the hospital, there wasn’t a scratch or a tooth mark on the device. The dog, after the complex surgery, spent the night recuperating in the clinic. He was discharged earlier on Monday and was now at home recovering with a cone around his head to stop him from licking his stitches. The dog is prohibited to exercise or walk around. Hicks said that the other dog owners must draw lessons from Jimmy’s cautionary tale.