A hungry Great Dane had to be rescued by vets after gorging on an unusual Christmas meal of tinsel.

Footage shared by the PDSA showed the charity’s staff pulling the three-foot decoration from 10-year-old Dexter’s stomach in one piece.

Owner Paul Noakes, 56, from Margate, said it was not the first time Dexter had eaten something he should not have.

“When he was younger, he used to eat sofas and carpets, and two years ago at Christmas he ate tinsel, although we didn’t know straight away,” he said.

“He wasn’t ill at all, and the first we knew was when it started coming out in pieces at both ends!”

The family had been at pains to keep all decorations from Dexter since the incident, but became worried after discovering this year that some tinsel wrapped around ornaments on the mantelpiece had gone missing.

After Dexter was called in for an X-ray, the mystery was solved, and he had successful emergency surgery shortly after.