Hungry Labrador indulged in smörgåsbord of hair bands, rubber bands and underwear

Tiki is a black Labrador retriever with a remarkable appetite and unusual tastes. Her vet, Dr. Hisham Ibrahim, of Good Shepherd's Veterinary Hospital in Mars, Pennsylvania, found proof of that inside her stomach when he surgically removed a variety of discoveries, including 62 hair bands and enough underwear to last someone more than week.

"'Doctor I' started pulling handfuls of different items out," Emily Cottle, his head vet technician, said. "It was quite an experience to see." Tiki's follow-up exam on Wednesday showed the pet of the Weis family in Butler County is bouncing back quickly from her surgery last week. Tiki hadn't responded to medication to treat vomiting and diarrhoea and lack of appetite, then x-rays showed a mysterious mass in her stomach. Ibrahim, known as "Doctor I" to his patients, performed nearly two hours of exploratory surgery.
"And I found this hair band attached to another hair band to another one to another one and to other things again," Ibrahim said. "Four rubber bands, a Band-Aid, eight pairs of underwear and 62 hair bands is a lot to be in a dog's stomach, especially of Tiki's size," Cottle said. Removing it all was like a magician pulling a long string of scarves out of a hat. That's exactly what's going on. It was just amazing, and it's not easy. But, thankfully, we were able to pull through, and Tiki's recovered very well," Ibrahim said.

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Sara Weiss recalled the most unusual thing Tiki, her family's pet, had ever eaten prior to this. "A nerf dart," which the dog swallowed but passed through its system without surgery, said Weiss. Ibrahim said he recently surgically removed 15 pacifiers from the stomach of a different dog, but he called Tiki's case "really amazing." "I was there for the pacifiers and many other different items but not something that big (as Tiki's collection)," Cottle said. Ibraham said he believed Tiki ate the items over course of a few days.