I HATE chicken bones!!!
I live in a city. For only a little while longer, Jay and I are shopping for land. I don't know if I mentioned but we are in the planning/legal stages of starting a dog rescue. We are building kennels and double fenced yard, and going to work on saving as many dogs as we can from kill shelters and get them placed in loving homes. In the long run this will end up being my full time job.
But I digress.
PRESENTLY I live in a city. Across the street from me is a chicken wing place. They opened last year and I was so annoyed. We got a good deal of snow two weeks ago. And on top of that we got a good couple inches of ice. Needless to say dog walks have been an adventure. The last few days have been warm and the ice has melted, leaving all sorts of really gross stuff all over the ground.
This afternoon my dog walker calls me and starts with "now they both seem fine..." which is never good. Apparently as she was getting a dead bird away from Moto, Piglet managed to find a chicken bone. She got part of the bone from Piggy, but she ate the other half.
I called a friend and had him grab Piggy and race her to the vet (I work in Boston an hour away). I ran out of work and drove like a bat out of hell to the vet. They were very patient with me. As I am freaking out and wondering if my dog id going to die of internal bleeding. The vet gave me something to protect Piggys GI tract and told me that assuming that she doesn't suddenly become constipated or start having blood in her stool that she is fine.
I come home to discover that Moto (who is in cahoots with my cats. I'm convinced) managed to climb the top of one of my shelves, or hired one of the cats, and got a chocolate Santa. Are you kidding me!?!?!/ Now he ate less than a quarter of an ounce. According to the 5 or six websites I visited, toxic amounts of semisweet chocolate (santa was semisweet) is 1 ounce for ever 3lbs. Moto is 24lbs. That would mean he would have had to eat 32x more than he did.
He is fine. Piggy seems fine. I think I have 20 or 30 more grey hairs and have lost about 3 years of me life to stress.
I am never leaving my house again.
Comments
A few years back for Christmas my cousin got my other cousin an 1lb hershey kiss (he loves chocolate). She wrapped it and put it under the tree. Their 38lb Shiba ate the whole thing in one night and was fine, although I think he had the shits.
Chicken bones are scary though. I used to rent a room from a lady and she had handyman who fixed things up for her. One day he is finishing up a chicken breast and throws the bone to her rottie/bernese mt. dog mix. He ate it in one bite and was fine, but I flipped out on that guy. He didn't know dogs shouldn't have chicken bones...
in regards to chocolate, sadly it is not the first time I have had to deal with it. First time with Moto but a boyfriend (some 700 years ago) gave my dog Bailey a chocolate bar. After flipping out and threatening to kill him, I spent a good amount of time at the vet. I was expressly told to NOT induce vomiting, and then given the weight to ounces of chocolate chart. I have only memorized the bittersweet numbers because we never touch milk chocolate (being vegan and all), but those of you who do consume it, it is less harmful than dark chocolate. Baker's chocolate is the most deadly.
I go ape when people feed dogs stuff period. Moto and Piglet are allergic to grain and so many people will try to feed them cookies. UGH. And here I am the crazy mom going "DONT GIVE THEM COOKIES!!!". But I have had chuckleheads offer my dogs coffee and oatmeal RAISIN cookies.
I don't try to feed their kids, they can leave my "kids" alone.
Dogs really need to eat a lot of raisins for them to become toxic, they are way down on the list as far as dangerous things go.
However I too prefer when people ask me if they can feed my dog something vs just giving them something.
I could really go for an otmeal raisin cookie.
********UPDATE********
Since the chicken bone incident, Piglet has been fine. Moto "The Destroyer" has had quite the squishy bumm. He also managed to get a sack of flour and shake it open in my living room covering it and himself in white. My husband did NOT take a picture. But he is now also affectionately referred to as the "Powdered Prince"
Jessica,
In my opinion you have overreacted a good bit.
I know chicken bones can sometimes be dangerous, but it is an exception rather than a rule. And it is only cooked hollow bones that can potentially do damage, because they split easily and can have sharp ends. Having said that, when I had my first dog some 20 years ago / a Great Dane/we did feed him almost exclusively cooked chicken bones, and he never had a problem.
I am not saying it is a good diet, if we knew better at that point and if we could afford it, we would have fed him a raw diet, like I am doing now. All I want to point out is that chicken bones are far less dangerous than commonly assumed.
I am still feeding raw chicken bones, would only avoid giving bones from the legs or wings to very hungry dogs, or ones known to swallow food without really chewing.
Nikola,
having watched a dog die from internal bleeding caused by a splintered chicken bone in the GI tract, what you may be calling overreacting, I call responsible guardianship. My roommates dog died needlessly and painfully because it wasn't considered a big deal.
I feed my carnivorous animals raw bones gladly. But a cooked chicken bone off the street requires medical assessment.
We as animal guardians are accepting responsibility for the life and well being of another being. Perhaps I take that responsibility more seriously than others. But I do so with pride.
I'm SO glad that they are both okay, phew -sweat-.
I panic too when my dogs or cats get ahold of something they shouldn't, especially chocolate and cooked bones, as well as plastics and strings.
I can completely understand that. I think it is better to react abruptly at times. It is better to play it "certain and safe" then continue on in a state of "panic and distress". Tis' something to ease your nerves and it is better for the health of the dog (should the dog actually be in danger).
Thank goodness your "kids" didn't suffer any tramatics. And GOOD LUCK on that canine rescue of yours, it sounds awesome. Very noble indeed.
Jessica,
I just gave my opinion, no offense meant :-)
From what you say about your visit to the vet, I think their opinion was very close to mine. You say the vet gave you something to protect Piggy's GI tract... I
don't believe you think that whatever she/he gave her would protect it
from getting pierced? Nothing can really be done in the circumstances
other than wait with fingers crossed.
My concern about taking a dog to the vet too often is that those visits can in the long term be detrimental to your dog's health. I know how this will sound at first, but I happen to be a graduated vet, I have studied pharmacology, radiology and so on, and there practically is no treatment that does not have side effects. So every time your dog gets a x-ray scan or some sort of "preventative" pill, damage is done. Knowing what Akitas are like, it is often difficult to do a thorough examination without sedating them first. I would be curious to find out whether it is statistically more likely for a dog to die because of complications during anaesthesia or as a result of eating a cooked chicken bone... And certainly no sedatives are good for your dog's health, quite the opposite.
My first dog died of liver damage... and, to the bitter end, was treated for a kidney problem. As you might guess, it didn't quite help.
No xrays were administered.
You haven't been on this forum very long, but as you continue, you will notice that I am the last to follow traditional medicine without exploring alternative methods. Having been an organic vegan for 20 years, and under the care of a homeopath,naturopath, and a brilliant accupuncturist for 15+ years, western medicine generally leaves me with a pretty bad taste in my mouth. But there is a time and a place to get medical attention. My vets all communicate with each other even though they are from different practices. We all agreed that while an xray could show us where the bone is, it would not show us if there was any soft tissue damage. And indeed we all agreed that while the GI protectant would not prevent piercing, it would minimize any more internal distress.
Interestingly enough, none of my animals get antsy at the vet. Both Piglet and Moto LOVE both of their vets and their naturopath.
For animals I have had in the past who were fearful of veterinary situations, I paid for house calls.
I would never sedate an animal for anything beyond a procedure that my cause discomfort. And beyond spaying and neutering, and (god willing) barring no injuries or surgeries, there are no procedures.
I am sorry to hear about the passing of your dog, and that the poor thing was treated for the wrong condition. My beloved cat Agnes suffered from a hyperthyroid issue that actually caused her to go blind and damaged her kidneys. We had to administer IV fluids and drugs repeatedly throughout the day, and the whole thing was heartbreaking and devistating.