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.

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.