Does the dog ever get pork or other cooked bones to chew on? The idiot birddog got thrown a pork chop bone once, and because she eats everything like she is running a marathon, she promptly choked on it, puked it back up and then horked it back down again and ran off. I noticed a few days later that she was not acting right, but trying to get a hand on her is like trying to lasso a barn cat, so it took me a while to finally realize that she really needed some help, and she needed it NOW, and by then, a few weeks had gone past and she looked like heck warmed over. I did have to rope her, and wrestle her down, and have my 12 year old sit on her while I examined her, she had a fever, she had dropped a serious amount of weight, and her hair was lackluster and falling out and she just looked like she was going to die any minute. I had to wrap her in a blanket and get the ex to actually help with his dog, but when an exam of her ears didnt show anything, I looked in her mouth, and wedged in the back of her mouth, where the jaw hinges and the grinding teeth are, was a sliver of bone embedded in the soft tissue. Things were so swollen she could hardly eat, and I know she could not chew at all, so I got a pair of needle nose pliers and I pulled it out, and when all the goo quit draining out,(and there was a LOT), she seemed to relax. I keep a medical kit a and some rudimentary medical supplies around for just such emergencies, and I flushed out the wound with saline and a weak peroxide mixture, and I then chained her up and started her on antibiotics and some doggie pain meds that the vet had prescribed a few months ago during the spay neuter party that we had around here. It was not an easy save, and I have seen dogs die from stuck bones before.
You need a good flashlight and a friend to help you take a look, its a free check that you can do yourself, and oddly enough, something that vets often overlook because they look for zebras when they hear hooves, and not donkeys.
The birddog has snapped back quite well, and I forbid the feeding of all bones, except the largest of beef bones, and even then, she is excluded because she just is too much of a freak about things.
You need a good flashlight and a friend to help you take a look, its a free check that you can do yourself, and oddly enough, something that vets often overlook because they look for zebras when they hear hooves, and not donkeys.
The birddog has snapped back quite well, and I forbid the feeding of all bones, except the largest of beef bones, and even then, she is excluded because she just is too much of a freak about things.
