A KINGSTEIGNTON vet has described a young dog's brush with death as a case he will never forget.

Chris Hawkins at Vets4Pets, Kingsteignton, found the cause of the ten-month-old boxer's vomiting was a 21in riding crop he had swallowed whole.

It filled such a length of his gut that it made turning corners difficult and could have proved fatal.

'Hugo is a young boxer with a very good appetite,' said Mr Hawkins, who opened the surgery with his wife Natasha last September.