Puppy swallowed whole chicken bone.

Pata · May 2009

Ok, I have a 9 month old beagle puppy. Around half an hour ago she ran inside, and jumped up at a chicken we were about to eat. She grabbed one of the legs, and when we told her to let go of it, rather then surrender it she swallowed it whole.

Um... is this bad? Do I need to take her to the vet or anything? Will she be OK?

bowen · May 2009

Probably best to take it to the vet, less costly to try and get it out before it perforates her intestines or anything.

Kato · May 2009

She swallowed it whole? I can't say for sure myself. We gave our dog some turkey stuff last Thanksgiving and he crunched up the bones and everything. Turkey and chicken bones are a lot softer than cow or pork. He crunched them up, but then ended up puking everything back up in the garage a short time later.

So...I am not sure how safe your dog is, but I know our dog just chucked them back up for us to clean up.

Solandra · May 2009

Call the vet and ask, rather than taking her in - she'll probably be fine. My younger dog swallowed a fair sized bird when he was about that age - he's a beagle/pug mix, so he was a 12 lb monster at that point. The only negative result was my icky horror of the experience of initially trying to "rescue" the bird from the Jaws of Death and then realizing that it was kinder to everybody to let PJ just do the thing. I observed poo for the next week and never even saw feathers.

Gabriel_Pitt · May 2009

Pata wrote: »

Um... is this bad? Do I need to take her to the vet or anything? Will she be OK?

Call the vet, and see what they recommend, but there's a 99% chance she'll be fine. The danger of chicken bones and such is that they splinter when chewed, and thus the gods end up swallowing sharp bone shards, which can do all sorts of damage to their insides. Since she swallowed it whole, that won't be an issue.

Dr. Frenchenstein · May 2009

the problem with poultry bones is that they splinter and make sharp points which can become ouchies. he's probably ok, i mean dogs digest beef bones all the time. if he ends up having to try and pass it...well i don't know how that's going to work.

edit

Damn you pitt!

Casual · May 2009

I remember one time we went out and left a whole chicken on the counter, when we came back our two dogs had made sure that the only thing left was a greasy plate on the floor. Seriously there was NOTHING left. Point being unless your dog is showing signs of choking or gagging the bone probably isn't stuck in it's throat. As others have said it may throw up later though. You could still phone the vet just to be sure.

Dr. Frenchenstein · May 2009

Dogs are notorious for not showing signs of pain until they can't take it anymore. he may not be choking, but it could be poking holes in his stomach.

call your vet, unless they are a jerk they wont tell you to bring him in if it's not necessary.

Kistra · May 2009

By about to eat did you mean actually about to eat or about to cook?

If it was raw your dog should be fine.
However, cooked bones can splinter and you should call the vet if it was cooked.

Casual · May 2009

Dr. Frenchenstein wrote: »

Dogs are notorious for not showing signs of pain until they can't take it anymore. he may not be choking, but it could be poking holes in his stomach.

call your vet, unless they are a jerk they wont tell you to bring him in if it's not necessary.

It's possible but unlikely. A dogs stomach acid is strong enough to make short work of bones.

a penguin · May 2009

This happened to me about two months ago. My Collie swallowed and entire chicken wing, just wolfed it down. No crunching or anything.

Luckily, I work with a vet or two. Or 12. Whatever.

Anyways, there are two dangers here. The first one has been mentioned, that sharp bone edges could perforate the intestines. This porbably won;t happen, but keep an eye on the dog.

Number two is that the the bone could obstruct the normal bowel movements. So your doggie couldn't poop.

The advice I was given was to wait it out, and check the dog's stool for the bones or blood. Bones coming out are good, blood in stool is bad. Continued bowel movements are also good. Definately do not give the dog anything to try and force the bones out.

The end of my story was that the dog pooped fine, no blood, never found the bones. Most likely, as Casual said, the bones were dissolved my her tough doggy stomach juices. Om Nom NOM.

rfalias · May 2009

Would it be rude of me to request a puppy picture? I mean, he did say puppy...

I had a miniature daschund back in the day, she got into all kinds of bones and stuff...
You say swallowed whole, I'm imagining a whole chicken leg bone. In that case, I'd call the vet like suggested... but I've seen my dog run off with an entire chicken (bigger than she was) and manage some bones and stuff and was ok, just went Bulimic some time later.

Wezoin · May 2009

Kistra wrote: »

By about to eat did you mean actually about to eat or about to cook?

If it was raw your dog should be fine.
However, cooked bones can splinter and you should call the vet if it was cooked.

Very important. If it was cooked it is alot more likely to splinter. Raw bones tend to break into softer/less sharp portions, whereas cooked bones tend to break into sharp edges that can cut up the dogs insides. Call a vet and explain the situation and include information like this.

Zombie Nirvana · May 2009

Is this your first Beagle? You'll come to find out in the future that you can't kill a Beagle (or most Hounds). I'm not sure if they are some sort of super creature or what.

They are far beyond lesser dogs.

Cristo · May 2009

Talking about funny incidents involving dogs stealing food;

I was at a friend of the family's barbecue, and we were all sitting out in the garden with the father grilling these massive, easily 12 Oz. steaks on the barbie. He had locked his two Rottweilers (this was in South Africa btw) away in the pantry, but hadn't locked the door properly or something. In any case, it seemed apparent that Tammy and Taz (boy and girl) had been plotting how to steal these steak in the pantry.

One minute the barbecue was standing upright with 4 luscious steaks grilling nicely, and then these black and amber streaks come rushing out of the house - Taz ran into the barbecue, knocking it over and Tammy snatched 2 of the steaks amongst the burning coals that had spilled onto the lawn and roaring off they went into a secluded corner of the park-sized garden. It was like a finely tuned heist, it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Apparently, people underestimate Rottweilers and their penchant for steaks.

Demerdar · May 2009

If you feel like you can comfortably afford to see a vet, then do it. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.

stawk · May 2009

i wouldnt be concerned about it unless the dog kinda jumps if you touch its stomach.

i had a puppy one that ate an entire baked potato in one bite.... freaky to see a giant lump sliding down your dogs throat.

Siska · May 2009

Take the dog to a vet. Cooked bones are hard and brittle. May not come out on it's own and can cause lots of damage if you wait and see.

Dunadan019 · May 2009

my dog swallowed a sewing needle once when i was a young kid. we didn't even realize it until one day he started whining..... we looked and he had a long piece of thread hanging out of his butt. thats right, the needle went all the way through and then got caught right at the end of the line....

poor dog. that'll teach him not to eat random things.

chicken bones will most likely not be a problem.... though a beagle eating a full leg bone without chewing is a hard story to..... swallow.

thisisntwally · May 2009

It a little late for my response, but if your dog has JUST (fairly recently) eaten something bad (in our case it was three lbs of dark chocolate for our wedding - BAD GEORGE THATS A BAD GEORGE!) keep pouring hydrogen peroxide down their throat. Its non-toxic and induces horrific vomiting. But it can save your dogs life. Just keep pouring it down their gullet until you're pretty sure whatever it was is gone. And let them drink plenty of water afterwords, we don't want them getting all dehydrated.

Gabriel_Pitt · May 2009

I used hydrogen peroxide to make my dog give me back my lucky rabbit's foot. Found out that she'd also eaten a bunch of yarn.

thisisntwally · May 2009

Do you think it works on people? Could be a hilarious joke to play on friends...

Gabriel_Pitt · May 2009

Don't be a dipshit.

Kistra · May 2009

Good point about the hydrogen peroxide :^:

One hint I learned after I needed it (my dog ate devil's food cake) dogs don't exactly like the taste of hydrogen peroxide straight but if you put some (1/4 cup or so) into a similar amount of milk most dogs will drink it up willingly.

a penguin · May 2009

For the love of god don't try and make the dog throw the chicken bones up. That is the exact opposite of the advice the vet gave me when my dog at that chicken wing. Unless a vet tells you otherwise, don't do it.

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