Kitten survives swallowing TV aerial

A kitten in Sheffield had a lucky escape after he swallowed a six-inch TV aerial and survived.

Alphie required emergency surgery when the metal antenna became lodged in his oesophagus and stomach.

Owner Vanessa Waite, 36, of Parson Cross, had only owned the young tabby kitten for a few days when he started his love affair with the TV.

He would sit for a long time being mesmerised by the moving pictures on the screen, but she had no idea he had also developed an unhealthy obsession with the aerial, she said.

The aerial would have proved fatal if it remained inside him, so surgeons removed it through the kitten's stomach.

Liz Airey, senior veterinary surgeon at the PDSA Sheffield PetAid hospital, said it was one of the most unusual cases she had ever come across.