Labrador retriever ingests cords—and so much more

Meet Sunny, the vibrant and loving Labrador retriever in Molly’s family

Molly H. shares a unique and uncommon bond with her pup, Sunny. “You know the saying that eyes are windows to the soul?” she says. “When he looks at me it's like he responds with understanding. He has a way of communicating with the sparkle in his eye.”

Sunny spreads that loving feeling to whoever he meets—usually with a big, wet doggy kiss. Molly says, “Sunny's just a lover. Whenever he meets someone, he just licks them endlessly. At first, I was a little concerned about this, so I asked our trainer and he said, ‘That's just how he shows his love. That's his love language.’”

She continues, “I feel like I learn from Sunny every day. He's teaching me how to love unconditionally and that you don't necessarily have to do too much to show your affection. I've never felt this kind of bond with an animal before. Sunny has this way of just really connecting on a personal level.”

Sunny is a smart, soulful and empathic pup, but he’s still a puppy nonetheless—one who loves a little mischief. One day, he found a clever way to scoop up a forbidden snack that landed him in the ER—and got him a Hambone nomination.

What happened?

“Sunny is definitely a retriever,” Molly says. “He retrieves lots of things and often tries to eat them.… Whenever we leave the house, we put him in the crate, but usually not for very long.”

On that fateful day, the family put Sunny in his crate, said goodbye and left. Upon returning to the house a few hours later, Molly discovered something unusual.

She says, “I noticed his crate had been moved about five feet over towards the wall, and he had never done this before. He seemed excited about something by the wall and I thought, ‘Oh no.’”

Molly discovered that Sunny had shimmied the crate across the room to get close to an electrical outlet. There, he snagged a trio of phone charger cords, and ingested all three. She rushed Sunny to a local veterinary emergency room for assessment. Rambunctious as ever and looking to play, he required three assistants to get one X-ray image—but that one image was enough.

Molly recalls, “The X-ray captured a clump of wires intertwined with each other, and it was so large in comparison to his body—I just could not believe it.”

In total, Sunny had ingested much more than the three cords. The X-ray turned up a mass that included candy wrappers and other small items. He underwent an emergency procedure to clear the foreign objects from his system. After, he went home to rest and recover—in his newly-stabilized crate.

How Nationwide helped

Molly and her family were debating whether to get pet insurance for Sunny early on. Then, a friend told her about a costly experience getting three surgeries for her puppy, totaling more than $17,000 in one year. This amount floored Molly.

She says, “This convinced me I had to get pet insurance. So, I asked our vet which insurance they recommended, and they recommended Nationwide.”

So far, she’s very happy with that decision: “Nationwide pet insurance has been a safety net. We know that we have support when needed,” she says. “Yes, it is a monthly cost, but in the grand scheme of everything, that's a small price to pay for the assurance that our family member is going to be okay.”