Edie MacKenzie On Dogs

Posts Tagged ‘Intestines’

Once you see where your dog’s mouth has been ? or what’s been in it ? you may never want it kissing you again!

Feces are high on the list of disgusting things dogs love. Horse dung and cat feces are absolute favorites. Rather than butt your head against the wall trying to change your dog’s culinary tastes, it’s far easier to simply keep these delicacies out of reach from your pooch.

However, dog feces is another story; nobody knows what compels some dogs to eat their own (or other dogs’) poop. The best cure and prevention is diligent feces removal. Adding hot sauce to the feces may deter some dogs, but others just gobble it down and run for water. Commercially available food additives can make the feces taste bad ? or least worse ? and will dissuade some dogs.

In some cases the dogs appear to exhibit a compulsion to eat feces; these dogs may be helped with drugs used to treat obsessive-compulsive behavior in dogs. See your veterinarian behaviorist if you’re not sure why your dog eats feces.

Dogs also eat other non-food objects, such as fabrics and socks, sometimes causing obstructions that require surgical removal. Prevent this by diligently removing objects from the dog’s reach. You may also need to supplement it with drug therapy for obsessive-compulsive behavior and training that focuses on rewarding alternate behaviors.

Then there is clothing! More than one dog owner has paled as their dog dragged underpants into the room while company looks on. Without the owner’s interference, the dog would gladly chew them up. Socks are another favorite. They’re less embarrassing but potentially more dangerous.

Swallowing stockings and long socks can lead to intussusceptions, a potentially fatal condition which the intestines accordion upon themselves, requiring surgery. Again, prevention is the best means of control, so pick up your clothes!

What your pup decides to chew might not be just gross ? it can be dangerous. Chewing electrical cords can lead to shocks and electrocution. Eating drugs and poisons has led to the death of many dogs.

Although eating paper currency is an expensive habit, it ’s not life threatening. However, swallowing a single penny can be much more expensive. Unless it is removed, the penny may stay in the stomach and release zinc, which results in zinc poisoning.

My local veterinarian was telling me a story just recently, about treating a Border Collie that gulped down a 3-inch metal anchor bolt. And 2 weeks prior she treated another dog that seemed to have lost its appetite and was loosing weight rapidly. It turns out the poor pooch had an abscess on its back, which turned out to be a 6-inch bamboo skewer that the dog must have eaten a month before. The skewer had migrated through he dog’s digestive tract and into its lumbar muscles, where it caused the abscess.

Chewing is usually a developmental phase that puppies pass through to relieve the itch and pain of cutting new teeth. The majority of dogs stop chewing everything in sight once their new teeth are fully erupted, at about 9 months old. The few dogs that do not cease chewing by age 1, either have acquired the habit of chewing from boredom, anxiety, and frustration, or have acquired an unusual gourmet appetite.

Regardless of the reason a dog chews, the behavior of chewing can be very expensive and very dangerous to the dog’s physical well being. Correcting chewing, or any other behavior problem, requires that someone be present to catch the dog in the act. Showing the dog a shoe that was chewed several hours earlier and yelling at him may make you feel better, but there is little chance that he will connect the correction with the idea that chewing shoes is wrong. An unsupervised puppy left to roam the house may develop a taste for dangerous chew toys such as electrical cords, cleaning supplies, and other toxic items. The landscaped yard filled with possibly toxic plants, or rocks and wood that can obstruct the dog’s intestines is a similarly dangerous environment for the unsupervised puppy. Dogs that chew and swallow rocks or other sharp objects often require costly and risky emergency surgery.

To avoid mishaps when you cannot keep a watchful eye on the dog, confine him in an area where only appropriate chew items such as dog toys, rawhides, or knuckle bones are available. You must exercise caution in which chew toys are left in the crate, because dogs have been reported to choke on some toys and rawhides. If you confine your dog to a crate during unsupervised periods, you don’t have to worry about him chewing up prized possessions and furniture, or doing himself harm. You may choose to dog proof the house by removing any prize possessions until the dog has passed through the chewing stage. Products such as Bitter Apple or Tabasco sauce may be sprayed on furniture and possessions to keep the dog from chewing, but check for staining before using them. Ninety-nine percent of the dogs find the taste of these products repulsive, but a few dogs think they are a gourmet delight.

One product that may not be attractive to any dog is ammonia. Be careful not to spray the ammonia when the dog is close by; it could damage his olfactory system and eyes. Read the instructions carefully to determine what is safe to spray on valuable possessions. Your dog should be well supplied with acceptable chew items such as old socks, safe dog toys, rawhides, chew hooves, and knuckle bones. Only knuckle bones are safe; other bones will splinter and get caught in the dog’s throat or intestines. If you are worried that your dog will not discriminate between an old chewable sock and a new sock, you may want to take time to play fetch with the dog and an old sock so the item will become his favorite toy. The old sock will carry the scent of the dog, whereas the new sock has your scent. The dog quickly learns the difference between the socks when you praise him for playing with and chewing the old sock and reprimand him for chewing on socks with your scent.

If you use a good quality meat-meal based food you usually do not have to supplement your dog’s ration. In fact, it is very easy to throw the formulation of some of the specialty foods out
of kilter if you play with supplements. Unfortunately, adding a little bit of this and a little bit of that is a cultural mentality handed down from the time when pet foods weren’t complete
and needed supplementation. Breeders often advocate supplements and many send their clients home with long lists of additives – vitamins, minerals, dairy products, oils and other
lotions and potions. Many breeders will turn an absolutely deaf ear to entreaties from veterinarians or canine nutritionists who suggest a good basic ration and a minimum of supplementation.

Supplement supporters aren’t usually thinking along behavioral lines and, since they themselves rarely have difficulty house-training their dogs, don’t realize that not everyone is so knowledgeable and over-supplementation can easily produce loose stools and make good control difficult for the dog. Coat conditioners, for instance, can easily be withheld from the diet until the puppy is house-trained. The puppy doesn’t need them if he or she is eating a good quality food, and (in most breeds) the puppy coat has to grow out naturally anyway. Oils and people foods, especially those high in fat (like steak trimmings) easily “oil up” the intestines and in many cases cause stools to “slide out” quite unexpectedly.

If your breeder or pet store operator gives you a list of supplements and binds you under pain of mortal sin to use them, start asking some questions. Ask whether these supplements are necessary if you use a high-quality specialty food. Ask how these supplements will affect your house-training progress. Ask if it is absolutely necessary to add the supplements right away or if this can wait until house-training is accomplished. For instance, although the jury is definitely out on the relationship between mega doses of vitamin C and hip dysplasia (a congenital ailment that plagues many larger breeds), many breeders are routinely recommending giving the vitamin. Whether or not the vitamin helps ward off hip dysplasia, we do know that it can have a diarrheic effect on many dogs, complicating the house-training process.

Dairy products are also dangerous additives and produce runny stools in some dogs. People food should be avoided as a matter of good behavioral policy, lest the dog turn to begging at the table, but it should be especially taboo during house-training. Dog treats that are full of preservatives or dyes (often to keep a “meat center” bright red) can also throw many dogs’ innards for a loop and complicate cleanliness. Good general advice is to stay away from supplements during the house-training process and use only minimal or no additives later on, but do use a quality daily ration.

A puppy’s approach to the world, outside the box he was born in, is quite simply, to eat it! This includes shoes, toys, sofa cushions, and just about anything else he can put into his mouth. If the object is too big to fit, the puppy will whittle it down to size with his pin-like baby teeth and make it fit.

While this imp-like behavior is destructive, it can also prove fatal for the puppy. For example, one good-sized bite out of a bar of soap containing harsh chemicals and the odds against making it to the vet in time before the puppy convulses and dies are ten to one.

The fat-soaked trussing cord from the turkey has been known to become entangled in the intestines of a puppy. In most cases, the owner is not aware that the puppy has gotten to the turkey or leftover bones until it is too late. An unsupervised puppy is like an unsupervised infant crawling around on the floor.

Puppies are also very attracted to decorations and ornaments, which includes magnets, pins, and needles. Splinters of wood, glass, and plastic are equally dangerous – for all are dagger-like and can puncture your puppy’s throat or become lodged in the intestines.

Some of the old-fashioned Christmas tree ornaments were manufactured using radium to make them glow in the dark. In a puppy’s stomach, this is a lethal poison.

Soft rubber of the type found in bath toys is also extremely dangerous for puppies. Veterinarians report that rubber is one of the most common causes of surgery in puppies and young dogs. The soft rubber tears easily and can stick to the puppy’s insides causing total blockage of the intestinal track.

And right after Christmas time, just about the time you feel you have everything picked up and out of harm’s way, your puppy could be gnawing on a string of tree lights. A 110-volt jolt to the mouth can be lethal.

The secret of surviving the holidays (or any other time of celebration with decorations around the house) and all your decorations for that matter, without harm coming to your puppy is supervision. Keep in mind that it only takes a second for a puppy to choke on a gift wrap ribbon, or be strangled by a small ball lodged in his throat.

In one town, what started out as a happy time during one lovely Christmas turned into a tragedy when the rubber band on a paddle-ball toy broke. The puppy reached the loose rubber ball before the child, and within a few seconds, the ball was firmly lodged in the puppy’s throat.

There’s no use in saying “No” to a puppy in a roomful of Christmas decorations. No amount of scolding will make the puppy less curious. It may temper him for a moment, but the temptations to a young pup will overcome all of your “No-nos”, no matter how emphatic. A puppy’s stomach is a strong organ and can digest a lot of strange things, but aluminum icicles and rubber bands are not included.

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Once you see where your dog’s mouth has been ? or what’s been in it ? you may never want it kissing you again!

Feces are high on the list of disgusting things dogs love. Horse dung and cat feces are absolute favorites. Rather than butt your head against the wall trying to change your dog’s culinary tastes, it’s far easier to simply keep these delicacies out of reach from your pooch.

However, dog feces is another story; nobody knows what compels some dogs to eat their own (or other dogs’) poop. The best cure and prevention is diligent feces removal. Adding hot sauce to the feces may deter some dogs, but others just gobble it down and run for water. Commercially available food additives can make the feces taste bad ? or least worse ? and will dissuade some dogs.

In some cases the dogs appear to exhibit a compulsion to eat feces; these dogs may be helped with drugs used to treat obsessive-compulsive behavior in dogs. See your veterinarian behaviorist if you’re not sure why your dog eats feces.

Dogs also eat other non-food objects, such as fabrics and socks, sometimes causing obstructions that require surgical removal. Prevent this by diligently removing objects from the dog’s reach. You may also need to supplement it with drug therapy for obsessive-compulsive behavior and training that focuses on rewarding alternate behaviors.

Then there is clothing! More than one dog owner has paled as their dog dragged underpants into the room while company looks on. Without the owner’s interference, the dog would gladly chew them up. Socks are another favorite. They’re less embarrassing but potentially more dangerous.

Swallowing stockings and long socks can lead to intussusceptions, a potentially fatal condition which the intestines accordion upon themselves, requiring surgery. Again, prevention is the best means of control, so pick up your clothes!

What your pup decides to chew might not be just gross ? it can be dangerous. Chewing electrical cords can lead to shocks and electrocution. Eating drugs and poisons has led to the death of many dogs.

Although eating paper currency is an expensive habit, it ’s not life threatening. However, swallowing a single penny can be much more expensive. Unless it is removed, the penny may stay in the stomach and release zinc, which results in zinc poisoning.

My local veterinarian was telling me a story just recently, about treating a Border Collie that gulped down a 3-inch metal anchor bolt. And 2 weeks prior she treated another dog that seemed to have lost its appetite and was loosing weight rapidly. It turns out the poor pooch had an abscess on its back, which turned out to be a 6-inch bamboo skewer that the dog must have eaten a month before. The skewer had migrated through he dog’s digestive tract and into its lumbar muscles, where it caused the abscess.