Close call with pet

[Tstormwatcher]

We went over to the in-laws today for their annual pre-Christmas dinner. But before we left, we gave each of our dogs a pork neck bone to eat. When we got home 7 hours later one of our dogs had her head down and had a long streak of slober coming out of her partially opened mouth. I wiped it off and it sounded like she was breathing heavily. I figured she was just keeping a bone in her mouth to keep from the other 2. I decided to check and found a large piece stuck between her top and bottom jaw. her teeth were imbedded in it. I pryed her mouth open and dug the bone out. She was very grateful and came up to me like she was thanking me. We usually always give them a bone or some sort of chew when we will be gone for an extended period. She suffered for more than 7 hours for this unneccessarily, never again. This chunck could have easily lodged in her throut. If you do the same, be careful.

[arkess7]

aaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww!!!!!! thank goodness she is alright!!!!!!!!! yea i usually give my dog a rawhide chew and a few milkbones if we are gona be gone all day too!!!!!!

[Stephanie]

Thank God she's alright! I can only imagine what you are feeling right now.

We usually give Rudy a half of a milk bone (just so he stays on the steps and doesn't try to run out the door with us.

[tropicana]

Thank god everything is ok and ended up ok. That would have been an awful tragedy just days before christmas.
Im so happy she is alright!

YAY

-justin-

[Yankeegirl]

Thank God she is OK! I dont usually give my dogs bones, becasue it gives them the "poops" and I really hate coming home to a huge mess... lol...

[streetsoldier]

Pork and chicken bones can splinter, which is why vets advise against them; beef bones are best, if you want to give your dog something to chew on.

[wxmann_91]

Glad your pet's okay, Tstormwatcher.

[O Town]

Pork and chicken bones can splinter, which is why vets advise against them; beef bones are best, if you want to give your dog something to chew on.

Was just about to say the same thing. Beef is best. And so glad to hear shes is okay. Poor baby.

[azsnowman]

Pork and chicken bones can splinter, which is why vets advise against them; beef bones are best, if you want to give your dog something to chew on.

EXACTLY!! NEVER, EVER give your dog pork, chicken even COOKED beef bones! I've preached this to people for YEARS, uncooked marrow bones or knuckle bones are OK......we had a friend loose their Rotweiller to a cooked beef bone, it lodged in his intestenes, became impacted and they burst.......

BTW....I'm glad to hear your pups OK just PLEASE never give them THOSE kind of bones again!

Dennis

[Miss Mary]

Tstormwatcher - So glad your dog is okay! I was afraid to keep reading but glad I did, you had a good outcome when it could have been much worse. I appreciate your thread too, so as to warn other pet owners.

Dennis and Bill - question, are you both referring to bones a pet owner would buy from their local butcher or in the fresh meat section at their local grocery? I need you to clarify that and confirm I think you mean, real bones that are not processed and packaged in the pet food and snack aisle.

The bones we give our Golden Retriever are processed, either the plain white ones, that come in various shapes (her favorite is the circle), or ones basted in beef or chicken flavors. Please tell me if these are safe.

Next I give her the treats/bones that come in a bag, shelved in the dog biscuit section (not bones), that are good for tartar control or cleaning the teeth. They're large, she can chew one and swallow it in 5 minutes (as opposed to the processed ones that take an hour or more to gnaw on).

Her very favorite bone of all (I call it the premo one) is a processed ham bone, that again is packaged and sold in the pet food aisle. Are these safe? She just loves these bones. She chews 75% off of it and then goes for a big drink. I quickly throw the bone stub away, b/c it can splinter. Sure she looks around for it, but by this time she needs to go outside, if you know what I mean. Good time to pitch it. These bones are very smelly, they stink the house up but she goes crazy for them. I give them to her about 4 times a year.

More questions....what about Cow ears?

We only give her these processed bones or dog treats when we're home, when she has a full bowl of water to drink afterwards and we're here to let her outside.

To be honest, you guys are alarming me here. I just need to know if these processed bones are safe!

Thanks so much.

Mary

[HurricaneGirl]

Thank goodness your doggy is okay!!

[arkess7]

Miss Mary I dont think I have ever seen the processed ham bones? Ive never seen cow ears down here either........but we do have pig ears and my dog loves those...........I give them to her as a special treat sometimes. So hopefully someone else can answer your question.

[Miss Mary]

Amy - when I say processed, I mean manufactured in a factory, vacuumed packed, labeled by Hartz or another pet food/treat brand, and sold in the pet aisle, room temperature.

I still think they mean bones from a butcher, chilled, packaged sitting right with other cuts of meat that WE buy, recently taken from a side of beef or pork.

Mary

[streetsoldier]

Our vet told us that even the "chewy" processed stuff can do damage; if we give Annabelle (she be a ho') any bones at all, they're fresh beef bones.

[Skywatch_NC]

When I had a dog while living in Ohio...we only gave him milk bones and rawhide for chew treats.

Glad your dog is okay, Tstormwatcher!

Eric

[O Town]

I have heard that fresh raw meat bone is always best, not to give cooked bones at all. We do however give T bones kinda cooked to our dogs, but that is it! No more rib bones! I knew this guy who all he feed his dogs was raw meat, bones and all, even chicken. It is suppost to be really good for the dogs. I guess the dogs bodies are used to digesting raw meat and bones, that is what nature intended, because dogs can not obvioulsy cook. Anyway I just don't give my dogs any bones anymore even the processed ones because I hear they are not good for them either. Although I have been know to give them a pig ear and a T bone here and there, with supervison.

[azsnowman]

Mary, you want the "Fresh Knuckle bones" better known as "the hind leg bone" VERY hard bones that CANNOT be chipped or chewed they are AKA "Marrow bones!"

Bill......yes, the processed kind of "Chewy bones" are JUST as harmful as pork, chicken bones!! Now we feed ours "Rawhide Chewies" strips of hide that are basted with flavor, THOSE are FINE! Pigs ears etc. are fine also

"Cooked" beef bones will splinter JUST as BAD as chicken, pork.......and YES......rib bones are horrible, in fact, that's the kind of bones that killed "Teddy" the Rotwieller!

Dennis

[Miss Mary]

Dennis - thanks for clearing some of my questions up. Are the knuckle bones the ones you see packaged in the pet food aisle? I guess I'm still confused if you all mean the room temp packaged bones or the ones you see in the butcher case (with all meat, for human consumption).

I do know I like to be home when she's chewing on a bone and I never give her one before she goes to sleep (in our laundry room). I'd feel terrible if something happened.

Along these same lines, be careful of dishtowels or potholders that might be hanging near your dog's reach. Especially if they have food stains on them. I've read about dogs that pulled them down, began chewing on them, shreading the fabric into small pieces, which they then swallowed. Thinking there was actual food particles in the towel, not just stains. Then the fabric and/or fibers become lodged in the GI tract and the dog needs emergency surgery.

Mary

[Tstormwatcher]

Thanks for the replies everyone. She is back to her old self and as bothersome as usual. Always wants to be petted. The bones we give them are packaged as beef stew bones. We get them from walmart in the butcher section. Are they still ok to give as long as they are not cooked? We used to give them pigs feet but stopped because it would upset their stomachs. We also give them pigs ears which they love. Here is a picture of the one I wrote about.

[azsnowman]

Let's see.........if they are solid "round" bones with the marrow in the middle (the white soft stuff) then yes, by all means, they are OK. Mary.....um, I *think* I know the ones you are talking about, they are HUGE? If so, yes......let me see if I can find a picture to post. If in question, DO NOT give any bones UNLESS they are raw. Our Safeway sells the bones in the frozen meat case and most of the time they are labeled "soup bones".

Dennis