A nine-month-old puppy swallowed a stick half the length of its body.
A dog
Rocky had to be taken to a pet hospital in Southampton after he was ''sick repeatedly and couldn't keep any food down''.
Vet Zofia Bauman was astonished that the stick had not caused fatal injuries to Rocky.
She said: ''I've never seen anything like it.''
The 10-inch stick was removed after a surgical procedure and the animal is now recovering.
Owner Joanna said: ''We couldn't believe he'd managed to swallow a stick that was half the length of his body.
''We didn't see it happen and think he must have got hold of it in the garden. Thankfully, he's on the mend and feeling better already, and that's all thanks to PDSA.''
Bauman added: ''We knew Rocky was very likely to have eaten something he shouldn't have to cause his sudden illness and suspected he had a foreign body in his stomach, but we couldn't believe our eyes when we discovered the stick during surgery.''