Pets eat the strangest things. From the chocolate Labrador who has a taste for treats that match her name, to the Bulldog who never met a shoe he didn’t snack on, our pets' bizarre eating habits can leave us confounded and annoyed ― and leave them feeling ruff!
The trouble is that a potential mistake ― or a missed steak, for that matter! ― can make pets very ill indeed, ranging from an upset stomach to the need for emergency surgery.
As a responsible pet parent, it is wise to be furr-miliar with some of the common food and non-food items that a mischievous pet might sniff out and snack on. As a pet parent, part of your job is protecting furry friends from danger ― from bowel blockages to poisoning ― so to learn what hazards lurk in and around your home, read on!
intro to foreign body ingestions
Despite their name, foreign bodies have nothing to do with an alien invasion – they’re things our furry friends choose to eat that can potentially cause an obstruction and damage their gastrointestinal tract. This can be anything ― from chewed-up pieces of toy and discarded socks to trash-picked trimmings from your Thanksgiving feast ― that leaves you exclaiming, “My dog swallowed something!”
It’s a more common problem than you might imagine ― or perhaps you have a “terrifying tail” of your own! In fact, in 2013, foreign body ingestion was Petplan’s #10 most claimed-for condition. This is nothing to be sniffed at, especially when you consider the average cost of a claim was $1,394.
a bitter pill to swallow
Even more concerning than the damage done to your family budget is the risk to your pet’s health. Foreign bodies can lodge in the stomach or intestine, and the consequences can be very serious indeed. An object lodged in the stomach acts like a plug and stops food passing into the small intestine. A stomach blockage in dogs can lead to lethargy, repeated vomiting (since food cannot pass) and higher risk of dehydration.
Every bit as troublesome is a smaller foreign body that makes it through the stomach, but lodges in the intestine. This causes a physical blockage ― much like a blocked drain, foul substances and toxins build up, which can leak into the blood stream and lead to sepsis. Untreated, the dog’s intestinal blockage may also damage the bowel's blood supply and wall, and cause the latter to leak with possibly fatal consequences.
While cats are more discerning when it comes to eating willy-nilly, they are not immune to temptation. Cats are particularly prone to linear foreign bodies, in the form of a piece of string, yarn or tinsel that can wrap around the base of the kitty’s tongue or be swallowed, potentially damaging the stomach or intestines. This painful problem requires urgent attention to prevent the string tearing through the intestinal wall.
Even an uncomplicated foreign body may require emergency surgery to retrieve it, so let’s get snack-savvy on some common temptations.
foreign but familiar
Most cases of bowel obstruction in dogs are caused by something familiar to the pet parent, such as a dog's favorite toy or bones put out in the trash. And just like some of our favorite treats are seasonal, veterinarians report that certain foreign bodies are more common at different times of the year than others.