Thiruvananthapuram: What began as a moment of panic for a young couple in Kattakkada turned into a rare case at a nearby pet hospital, after their 10-month-old Shih Tzu swallowed a diamond pendant worth over ₹25,000.

On waking up one morning, Soorya Babu, a dentist, found her wedding pendant (thali) missing from the bedside table, though the gold ring she had kept alongside it remained untouched. After searching in vain, she and her husband, Sarath Rajan, an IT professional at Technopark, suspected their pet dog Sunkru might have gulped it down.

“Sunkru usually climbs onto our bed or the side table, even though she has her own bed in the room. Since she often chews on small objects, we feared she might have swallowed the pendant. The ring was bigger, so she wouldn’t try that,” Sarath recalled.

The couple rushed the dog to Petcity Pet Hospital, Nemom, where an X-ray confirmed their fear—the pendant was lodged near the intestine.

“Because of its size and the dog’s small body, there was a risk of intestinal obstruction. Surgery is usually the preferred option in such cases,” said Dr Abhilash A K, who led the treatment. “But since the dog was stable, we opted for medicines and injections instead. The next day’s X-ray showed the pendant had moved further down, and eventually it was expelled naturally.”

Apart from mild vomiting and reduced food intake, Sunkru remained healthy throughout. “If complications had arisen, surgery would have been unavoidable. Fortunately, the pendant passed without any risk,” the doctor noted, adding that while pets swallowing foreign objects is common, this was the first 'valuable' case he had seen in his 16-year career.

The dog, gifted by Sarath to Soorya on their first wedding anniversary, has since recovered fully. “I wasn’t a pet lover, but my wife always wanted a Shih Tzu. With help from relatives and friends, I got her one. And now I love dogs,” Sarath said.

He describes the pup as playful and attention-seeking. “She doesn’t like us leaving home, but manages when we’re at work. I work from home most days, and we often take her on long drives, which she loves.”