Back in November Beanie swallowed strips of a plastic material while she was playing in her regular park, and had to have an operation to remove them. At the time wondered if this was a one-off, or whether Beanie had become a serial swallower. We got our answer this morning, when she again swallowed pieces of soft plastic from a burst football or dog toy. As soon as I spotted her pick it up and use it to start a chase with Biggles and other dogs I did my damnedest to get it off her. Unfortunately that may have actually made her more inclined to swallow it; when Beanie senses she’s got something you want, she knows she’s got the perfect leverage for an exciting game.
When I finally got hold of her she was quickly back on lead and on her way to the vet for an induced vomiting session. The procedure started pleasantly enough – she got a big bowlful of smelly, moist dog food. Biggles went crazy when he saw her eating it, and to avoid being deafened by his protests I took him out to the car and gave him a couple of sausages left over from last night’s obedience training. Then Beanie’s dream visit to the vet turned sour – she got a few drops of vomit inducing chemicals in her eye (yep, eyedrops – very different from the mustard concoction famously used in the James Herriot film). Before long Beanie had deposited the food and hopefully all of the plastic stuff onto large puppy training pad. Not a pleasant thing for her or for us, but a lot better than another operation.
The problem we’ve got now is that Beanie clearly has a weakness for certain types of plastic, in particular the type that goes down smoothly then hardens when exposed to stomach acid – just perfect for causing a blockage.
One sure-fire cure is to get her a muzzle, but the more we think about this, the less we like it. Yes it would stop her swallowing things, but it would also stop her playing with toys and using them to start chases, and chases are what she’s all about when she’s off lead. It would also preclude any possibility of her being able to stand up for herself if she was on the receiving end of aggro from another dog, even Biggles. After a lot of thought, we’ve decided instead to go for a compromise: (1) work really, really hard on her training (which in reality means improving our dog handling skills) so that we can get some kind of control over her when she’s in danger, and (2) spend more time in other parks. Her current regular park is fantastic for socialisation with other fit, young dogs but it does tend to have more Beanie hazards.
This won’t eliminate the risks, but it should reduce them while maintaining the quality of life our little girl has come to expect.
I have a 3 year old Beagle, Dolly, in Boston, and she adores plastic. No surgery required yet, but that has just been luck. As a person who wrestles a Beagle at least once a week, I’ve considered a muzzle, too, and rejected it for the same reasons. I do carry *really* good treats to ‘trade’ for garbage – that works sometimes. And really, having the vet induce vomiting isn’t the worst thing if it’s that simple. I appreciate the idea quite a bit! Love your blog, wish we had Beagle racing here!
Sorry to hear that Beanie, I do hope we will see you now and again, we will miss you and Biggles. I’m in the bad books with my mum today. I played up today, my worst bad behaviour yet. Mum put my lead on a fence post cos I was pulling to get to my pals. I had the last laugh though, I pulled that hard that I broke my collar and went after my pals. So mum says I’m to get one of those dreaded choke collars. Some mum, huh.
@Julia:
Yep the induced vomiting procedure is definitely worth knowing about, but it’s not without risks. Our vet put it this way: “She won’t come back from a perforated oesophagus, but she can come back from an operation on her stomach”. Fortunately in this case the vet thought that the material she’d swallowed (I pocketted a sample to show to the vet) coupled with the short time it had been in there (only about 30 mins) meant that the risk was minimal.
@Kirby:
Don’t worry Beanie and Biggles will be back, it’s just that they’re not going to be such regulars. I’m quite impressed with your collar-breaking incident – maybe your Mum could try a strong nylon collar (the type with a metal buckle, not a plastic clip) instead of a choker?
It wasn’t the clip I broke, I’m that strong I broke the chain in the middle, even the post was moving, so my mum says I’ve to get more training. I was just having a hyper day.