Woman’s diamond engagement ring shows up in X-ray after puppy ate it

Andy Wells
·Freelance Writer
·2 min read
An X-ray revealed a woman's engagement ring was inside her puppy Stevie’s belly. (SWNS)
An X-ray revealed a woman's engagement ring was inside her puppy Stevie’s belly. (SWNS)

A woman feared she had lost her expensive engagement ring – until she found out her pet puppy had swallowed it.

Elayna Rattenbury, 38, panicked after her diamond and sapphire sparkler went missing from her bedside table.

But the legal director quickly suspected her pet labrador Stevie was the culprit after the pup sneaked into the bedroom and demolished a box of tissues.

She took the seven-month-old dog to Brentknoll Veterinary Centre in Worcester and an X-ray revealed the ring was inside Stevie’s belly.

Fortunately the ring had not damaged any of Stevie’s organs and the vet advised Mrs Rattenbury to “let nature take its course”.

Elayna Rattenbury took Stevie to the vet to find out if the pup had swallowed the engagement ring. (SWNS)
Elayna Rattenbury took Stevie to the vet to find out if the pup had swallowed the engagement ring. (SWNS)

She explained: “The problem now was retrieving it from Stevie’s tummy.

“The vets felt after some investigation that the ring was too far down.

“So, the only solution was to allow nature to take its course and let the ring pass right through Stevie and out the other end.

“I took her home and for the next four days I was rooting through her poo trying to find it.”

Mrs Rattenbury and husband Dave spent four days searching through Stevie’s faeces before they finally found the ring.

Elayna Rattenbury suspected pup Stevie was the culprit after she sneaked into the bedroom and demolished a box of tissues. (SWNS)
Elayna Rattenbury suspected pup Stevie was the culprit after she sneaked into the bedroom and demolished a box of tissues. (SWNS)

She added: “I’d expected to find it in the first 24 hours, so by day three I was thinking I must have missed it and started searching back through the poo bags from previous days.

“My husband Dave even bought a metal detector to try to find it and then, thankfully, on day four, it finally appeared.”

After a thorough clean with hot soapy water and a toothbrush, Mrs Rattenbury felt comfortable enough to put the ring back on.

After a thorough clean with hot soapy water and a toothbrush, Elayna Rattenbury felt comfortable enough to put the ring back on.
After a thorough clean with hot soapy water and a toothbrush, Elayna Rattenbury felt comfortable enough to put the ring back on.

Vet Annelies De Vos said Stevie was lucky she had swallowed something so small.

She said: “As you can see from the X-rays, Stevie had definitely eaten the owner’s ring but, luckily for her, we could see the ring had not caused any internal damage and would pass through naturally within a few days.

“So, Stevie went home and we all just had to wait and see.

“Every day we were in contact see how she was doing and if the ring had appeared and on day four the owners contacted us to give us all the good news.”