Ottis – the dog who bit off more than he could chew

A JACK Russell was left in a sticky situation at Warrington after chewing on junk mail and ending up with his mouth glued shut.
Poor little pooch, Ottis, was rushed to the vet’s by owner Donna Fisher after chomping on a glossy leaflet that formed a papier mache-like substance and cemented his jaws together.
The 10-year-old had to be sedated while vet Becky Milner based at Beech House Vets on Wilderspool Causeway came to Ottis’ rescue.
She said: “I’d recently read an article in a veterinary publication about a dog whose mouth was glued shut after chewing a glossy leaflet, so when Donna called the surgery, I knew exactly what had happened.
“When Ottis came in, we sedated him and used forceps and dental instruments, including a dental scaler, which has water and a probe, to allow us to remove the hardened glue and paper from between his teeth.
“Because dogs’ upper and lower teeth interlock so well, the paper and glue had cemented and became amazingly solid.
“It took us more than half an hour to remove it all.”
Now Ottis’ owner, Donna, 34, is warning others to keep their pets away from the post and has since invested in a dog-proof letter cage.
The mum-of-two from Warrington, who also has a Yorkshire Terrier, said: “I was tidying up when I heard the postman putting mail through the letterbox.
“There’s always a race between me and the dogs to see who can get to the door first and nine times out of ten, it’s me.
“But on this occasion, Ottis beat me to it and grabbed the post from the postman’s hand.
“He had hold of a glossy leaflet and I was trying to get it off him, telling him to drop it, but he held on to it.
“I tried to pull it off him, but it ripped and he still had a part of it in his mouth.
“He still wouldn’t drop it, so I decided to leave him for a moment and then have another go to get it off him.
“But when I went back to him, he went straight to his bed and was looking at me strangely, then he started clawing at his mouth and I realised it wouldn’t open.”