When good dogs eat bad things

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Posted on Mon, Apr. 13, 2009

Dogs will eat just about anything they can get their teeth onto and even the most scrupulous pet-proofing doesn't guarantee that your dog won't scarf down something - like a chicken bone or sock or piece of string - that could endanger his health, or even his life.

When dogs eat bad things, it can cost somewhere between $1,000 and $3,000, but some veterinarian procedures can add up to much more. Pet health insurance claims for "foreign-body ingestion," as clinics call these potentially life-threatening incidents, are ranked amongst the top-10 claims by PetPartners, Inc., provider of the American Kennel Club Pet Healthcare Plan. According to case files, some of the strange household items dogs swallow and the average cost of removing them, include:

Corncob - $1,915

Chicken bone - $2,700

String - $5,000

Socks - $2,205

Threaded needle - $2,329

Toy - $2,436

Kitchen towel - $3,738

Glove - $1,138

Doll head - $1,014

Lobster tail - $1,310

Hand warmer - $1,424

Rubber ball - $1,418

To keep your dog out of the emergency room, animal behaviorist Mary Burch offers the following tips to keep your dog from eating household items and other foreign objects.

-Prevention is the key. If the items aren't accessible your dog won't eat them. Take extra care to dog-proof your house by making sure you secure the garbage, keep food out of reach, put clothes and shoes away, and make sure children's toys are not left on the floor.

-Provide an acceptable alternative. Make sure electrical cords and other household items don't attract your pet's attention by giving your dog chew toys large enough so they can't swallow them. Make a good selection of these easily accessible to help keep them busy.

-Supervise playtime. It's best to supervise your dog during playtime with toys. Within a month of enrolling in the AKC Pet Healthcare Plan, the owner of a French Bulldog was recently reimbursed with more than $660 for the removal a piece of toy from her dog's stomach - a bill that could have been much higher if not for the owner's quick action. She was supervising her dog with the new toy when she noticed a piece of it was missing. She immediately took her dog to the veterinarian where an X-ray showed a piece of toy in the dog's stomach. A specialist was called in to remove it by endoscopy. Had the owner not been around to act so quickly, the piece may have moved into the colon, with potentially serious consequences requiring much more expensive and complex surgery to open up the dog.

-Schedule regular exercise. Well-exercised dogs get into less trouble. Obedience, rally or agility classes offer a fun way to work out together and socialize your dog while meeting other dog lovers.

-Train your dog. Training will give your dog something to wrap his mind around and keep him out of trouble.

Additional tips can be found on the American Kennel Club Web site at www.akc.org.