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A dog in Edinburgh is on the mend following an especially heavy meal.

Samson the spaniel hit the rocks after wolfing down nearly three pounds of gravel. His owners learned of their pet’s unusual meal in the following weeks when they detected the rattle of the chipped stones coming from his stomach.

The concerned owners took Samson straight to a veterinary surgeon who performed an emergency medical procedure on the pup in the fear that that he may choke as some stones had become stuck in the dog’s throat.

Samson’s owner, 36 year old Cheryl Douglas, had said that Samson usually had a healthy appetite, but recently had not been drinking or eating at all. Her suspicions were aroused when her daughter Courtney went to stroke Samson, only for the distressed pup to snap at her. She knew then that something was amiss as Samson would normally never do that.

She said:  "I took him to the 24-hour vet and they could hear something rattling in his stomach. They didn't know what it was but they kept him overnight. The next day they contacted me and said he had red chipped stones in his stomach.

"I was completely shocked. I've never heard of anything like that before and the vets said they hadn't either."

In a delicate procedure, veterinary surgeons had to operate on Samson’s stomach and remove scores of the sharp, small stones. Luckily for Samson’s owners, who had dog insurance , most of the costs for the life saving operation were met by the insurance company.

Seante Glass, a veterinary nurse at the PDSA in Slateford, Edinburgh, who cared for the dog after his operation, said: “As soon as he arrived at the hospital and the vet felt his bulging stomach, it was clear that there was a massive obstruction.

"The fact that his stomach didn't rupture is quite amazing. Equally, if the stones had gone into his intestines the outlook would have been very poor indeed."

The hapless spaniel is resting with his owner in Musselburgh, Edinburgh, and is well on the mend.