We’ve owned or rather, over the years, seven Bull Terriers have owned US.  If there’s one thing we’ve learned in those many years is when given half a chance, a Bull Terrier will eat almost anything. 

     One incident comes to mind.  Do you remember those gumball style machines that had tiny toys in them?  For a quarter, you got a cheap toy, and many times, it was a tiny Superball.  The neighborhood kids had dozens of them.  Knowing my pup had a penchant for anything made of rubber, I asked them to let me know if they accidentally bounced any into the yard.  I wanted to find them before Malcolm did.  Usually the kids did darned well about letting me know so I could return the toys.  However, one day they forgot. 

     Two days later Malcolm fell ill.  We made a quick vet run.  Our vet ran a series of tests and took x-rays.  All he could see was that Malcolm had a blockage right below his stomach. 

     “Surgery,” he said.

     I panicked.  We had to leave him there over night.  The next afternoon we received a call that Malcolm went through surgery with no problems and the vet wanted us to come in.  We raced to the office.

     Our vet brought out a container and inside it were one Superball and an end piece of a Kong toy.

     “I found the Kong in the stomach but that wasn’t causing the blockage.”  He pointed to the Superball.  “This was the problem.  Luckily, I didn’t have to cut into the intestines or the stomach.  I only had to do the abdominal incision.  I was able to work this ball out of the intestine and up into the stomach where I retrieved it with the scope.”

     They kept him another night and the next day we brought him home to the tune of $750.00.  (I still tell people that I own the world’s most expensive Superball)  Malcolm had a long belly incision but he healed rapidly.

     For the rest of his life, whenever we took him to the vet, he’d flop on his back, splay all four feet out, and show off his scar never failing to crack up the staff.