UUUGH. Darwin Just Ate a Chicken Carcass...UPDATE 4

[Camilla and Darwin]

Okay guys, we have been transitioning Darwin to free roam and he has been doing perfectly. We always put the garbage up though, because he is a sneak and will get into it. Well this time we forgot. And he ate an entire carcass of a rotisserie chicken out of it. I know that chicken bones are dangerous, and I know to feed him white bread. DH is getting that now. The question is, how serious is this? Can we feed him the white bread and just observe him? He seems to be acting normally but this only happened an hour ago or so. 

Our vet is 3 hours away and closed. So if possible I'd like to just watch him for any signs. But I'd appreciate any advice... 

How much white bread should we give him?

He seems so happy and pleased with himself that I keep forgetting to feel guilty. But I am... bad us. :-(

This morning I took Darwin out to go and he did go poo without any problem. I didn't see any chicken bones in it, but he didn't have trouble getting it out. I fed him more food and some more bread as well. He didn't finish the bread... I guess he's too full. He's been acting normally other than that. Thanks for you concern everyone, just when we think we have made all the dumb mistakes we possibly can.... always be watchful. :-) I will continue to update.

 

UPDATE 2:

He has gone poo 3 times today already. The first was normal, the last two have been diarrhea. No blood, or bone fragments. I'm concerned about the diarrhea but at least he's having no issues going?

 

UPDATE 3

He is still having liquid diarrhea and had to go at 4:30 this morning, then again at 7:00. He also threw up his kibble from last night, which still looked like kibble. I am stressing out because we really can't take him with diarrhea, but we really can't cancel this trip either. I would just take him to the vet, but it's a 5-6 hour drive round trip... in the wrong direction. Unsure of what to do at this point. DH is buying pumpkin.

 

UPDATE 4

Now that we are back from Idaho I thought I would update everyone again. Darwin is doing extremely well. The vet gave us medicine that coated his stomach to prevent small splinters from scraping or puncturing. She also gave him a shot to calm his stomach and an anti-diarrhea medicine. It cleared up almost immediately and it was pretty obvious that he felt much better. We went up to Idaho immediately after, and he slept most of the way which was nice. He was energetic and alert, and very well behaved the whole weekend. We fed him chicken and rice which he felt was a special treat. :-)  I was relieved and proud of him for being such a good boy. :-) He had solid poos the next morning and hasn't had a problem since.

Next, I want to thank all of you SO MUCH. You have all been so helpful. I received offers of help for any possible bills and so much awesome advice. This is truly such a special and supportive group and I am so grateful. Darwin is sending virtual doodle kisses to all of you!

Nobody is perfect, but that doesn't make it feel any less bad when you make a mistake that lands your dood in trouble. :-( I'm so glad he was okay and I am reminded to always be careful and watchful. Also I'd like to remind everyone to get insurance now! We have insurance for Darwin and it was a huge relief. I did look up the policy and found out that F was correct, our insurance does cover emergency vets, they cover 80% which is awesome. It's another good reminder to study your insurance policies so that if a situation like this comes up you won't panic or put off going like I did. 

Thanks again to everyone, you are the best.

 

[Camilla and Darwin]

Very cool! That is why we crated Darwin, and have for so long. Honestly he loves his crate, and we don't have a reason to transition him other than it kind of seems like what you do once they are grown. I don't know, aside from the garbage he is perfect- doesn't touch anything. It would be nice to get take down his gigantic space taking crate, but if it's not broken don't fix it? Who knows.

[F, Calla & Luca]

The crates I have in the dining room take up a huge amount of space it's true. But they are great for when I don't want the dogs bothering people working in the house, when the dogs are muddy etc. Also, who wants to cook for a lot of company anyway at this point in my life : )

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I used to have a huge, outdoor garbage can with a screw - on lid in my kitchen. The Labs would push the can to the basement steps so the lid would come off when he hit the bottom.  I thought that thing was impossible to get into but they figured out a way.  Who would have thought Labs could be so smart!? 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Glad the doodles have remained ignorant : )

[Camilla and Darwin]

yeah!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I missed all of this and am just seeing it now.  Riley got some chicken carcass a few months ago and demolished the lot with no ill effects except the worry he put us through.  I did have a very scary incident some years ago with a Maltese puppy though who got a hold of a chicken drumstick bone and about an hour later was acting weird, stumbling about and disorientated.  It was a Friday evening so of course we ended up in emergency and they operated.  There was a tiny piece of bone which had got stuck somewhere.  Vet said at the time that we were very lucky and had got her to him just in time. Rosy went on to live until she was 18 years old.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Wow, 18.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

DH and I were just chatting about Darwin when he reminded me of  his story about dogs and garbage.

In the early 90s his wife at the time, used to place the waste can on top of the kitchen stove.  One particular day, she placed the can on top of the stove as she always did but forgot the stove top was on after breakfast.

Of course, this started a house fire.  The kitchen was completely destroyed and all the contents of the home had smoke damage. Basically a total loss. It made the news.   They lived in a hotel for 6 weeks--with the dog of course. 

I don't know  how I forgot this story until now. This event was very traumatic for him and he brings up fire safety often.

[Camilla and Darwin]

YIkes! We put our garbage can on our dining room table when we go out. Gross right? LOL

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

why not put it in the bathroom with the door shut?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

How weird.  I just got kicked off!  Anyway thank you for the update and I am so glad that everything is fine so far.

[Pat and Traveler]

Oh, Darwin!  What a rascal!  Sounds like you're doing just fine, though.  We have more of a garbage problem lately here.  Food garbage, including bones, fruit pits & peels, plate scrapings, basically any food garbage, can be recycled with yard debris.  The pick up is once a week.  The problem is how to store the food debris.  The food/yard debris bin is 32 gallons and I don't have that much yard debris every single week.  I've kept food type garbage in the fridge and freezer, tried putting it in the recycle bin with a layer of leaves and branches underneath, etc.  The problem with keeping it outside is flies and stench.  Not sure where I'm going with this, but Trav doesn't get into the garbage so I don't have any stories about that!  :)