Bone Warning for all Dogs

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Today started out like any other day. I was in the backyard taking pictures of Doodles. Mine and Elizabeth's (Bailey & Bruin). They have been staying with me for the past week while Elizabeth was out of town. She came to pick them up today and of course there was LOTS of excitement associated with her homecoming! I noticed that Lucy had a bone in her mouth and was carrying it around. That is unusual for her but I gave it no real thought. Sometime after Elizabeth and her babies left, I noticed Lucy still had the bone in her mouth and went to take it from her. Imagine my horror when I saw this:

Because her hair is about the same color as the bone, I really didn't notice it. My guess is that she had been like like that for about three hours before I really paid attention. Lucy is the sweetest most laid back dog and she never  wimpered or let me know in any way that she was in trouble. DH and I tried to get it loose but it was not budging over those teeth. I coated the bone and Lucy's teeth with vaseline and still it did not help. We put her in the car and took her to the vet which is about a 12 mile drive. When we got there, I took her out of the car and then took these pics with my iPhone. We walked about 10 feet toward the door of the vets office when Lucy stopped and appeared to be gagging. I just kept tugging on the leash telling her we were going to get her some help. When I got inside the door and explained to the vet tech why we were there, she said "let me take a look" So I bent down to show her and to my amazement, the bone was gone! I went back outside and it was lying on the ground where she was when she started "gagging". Maybe the vaseline helped her, I don't know but I do know that I never want her or any other dog to go thru that! Please don't give your dogs these kinds of bones! If you do, then you must watch them very closely. I can only assume they would have had to put her to sleep to get it off or somehow cut the bone off of her. Thankfully I will never have to find out! I will never buy these bones again!

[Carol and Banjo]

OMD! Just the sight of this sent chills through me! You must have been frantic! Lucy certainly is a sweetie...I suppose she must have been thinking....well, I got myself into this...I'll get myself out of it. I'm so happy all is well.

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

I was just a bit frantic! DH kept reminding me that this was not a life threatening situation. But I know how I feel even at the dentist having to have my mouth open for so long sometimes makes me gag. And she couldn't even get a drink of water like that. 

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Poor Lucy. I'm glad it turned out ok. Thanks for the warning.

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

We were very fortunate! Ive looked it up on the internet and seen some that didn't have such happy endings.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

OMD, what a scare! I'm so glad Lucy is okay!

The type of bone is fine, it's the size that caused the problem. You can buy the longer marrow bones, which are too long and thick to get hooked on the teeth or jaw, or lodged in a dog's mouth, like these: 

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

For sure we will not be getting the smaller ones ever again! Thanks for the info Karen!

[Jen, Buddy, & Kevin]

I've found that I've had to pretty specific to some butchers on how big the bones need to be and others know better and leave a little bigger for safety.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

aw poor Lucy!!!  I don't even want to imagine what she went through in those 3 hours :(  I'm so glad she's ok

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

She was probably wondering why I wasn't helping her...Poor baby!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

A worthy warning for sure! I always make sure to buy ones that can't go around the dogs' mouth, but it never hurts to be reminded to remain attentive. That must have been so scary :(

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

Aw, bless her heart!  So scary.  I'm glad she is okay!

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Scary stuff! So glad it turned out OK! This actually happened to my parents dog, a Poodle, when I was growing up. My Dad had to saw the bone in half in order to get it off the dog's jaw.