*WARNING* Contains Graphic Material
The past week has not been on the highlights of puppy ownership. The whole story actually starts a couple weeks ago. Little pup had been having on and off diarrhea. Last weekend, it seemed to get a little worse, so we were keeping a close eye on him. He had one accident in his crate that I’m guessing not event the best of us could have avoided, after being locked up for several hours that day. The following day, things seemed to be getting better so we weren’t too worried.
That brings us to Monday. Trusting that we had everything figured out, we put his normal bed back in the crate with a false sense of security in his bowel fortitude. Arriving home Monday afternoon, I was greeted with a frantic pup who had, well, sprayed a fine mess all over and even out of the crate. The next hour and a half did not find me in the best of moods as I cleaned, shampooed and bathed.
At this point, I was also worried that something may actually be wrong with the pup, so I called Catherine, my breeder, to see if she had any suggestions for solving this problem. I also called the vet to get some advice from them. They didn’t have any immediate appointments available, but both calls left me with the same takeaway. Switch Ross’ diet to bland chicken and rice, and put him on a probiotic to help his gut.
Tuesday on the way home from work, I stopped at Petsmart to buy a bag of the Purina Pro Plan grain free chicken and rice dog food. While there, I also let my daughter pick out a new toy for Ross, as he had accidentally desecrated his last stuffed Kong bear. We came across a stuffed duck toy, and remembering how much Corbin loved his first duck toy, we choose that as the replacement.
That night pup ate his partial meal of new kibble with pleasure, as he would probably do with any food. After all, his diet had been pretty limited over the past couple days. We also gave him his new toy, hoping to take his mind off of the limited quantity of dinner. Of course he enjoyed a new toy, but someone else had their eye on it as well. Soon, the new duck toy was being chased and chewed by both dogs, and as to be expected ripped open rather quickly. Once I had noticed that the seams were open, I confiscated it, and sent them on their way.
The broken duck toy sat out of range for a couple nights but I saw Corbin eyeing it on Thursday evening, so I figured I would give them another round of play to see what would happen. The game of chase and keep away resumed as if it had never been stopped, and I quickly watched as more of the duck toys innards became exposed. Realizing this was not going to end well, the game was over almost as quickly as it began, and once again, the toy was placed safely out of range.
On Friday morning, I get a frantic call from my wife saying that the puppy has thrown up, and is in obvious discomfort. Worrying that he had ingested something in the yard, I figured we would watch him and see if things got better before worrying too much. I came home at lunch to check on him, and he seemed to be feeling a little better, so I gave him a few pieces of food, and he drank a little water. He was still only 50% of his normal happy-go-lucky self, so I brought him to the office for the afternoon to continue to monitor the situation. Things progressed as the day went on, and he ate a more food, and continued to drink water. That evening, he was even up for some fetch with a ball in the back yard.
I had been monitoring his stool closely to see if anything changed in his constitution, and for the most part, things were normal. He had not thrown up any more, so his dinner was 75% of his normal intake, which he cheerfully scarfed down. At one point early in the evening, he passed some stuffing from the duck. I figured that could have possibly made him sick, but it wasn’t a substantial amount. That night as he made his way out for one last pre-bed trip, I noticed he was once again in full on kennel point, and seemed to be struggling. After a couple location changes, something finally po(o)pped out. I figured I should probably inspect, so I grabbed a headlamp, and a garden trowel and began the search. I was honestly very surprised to find what I excavated. It was a rather large plastic bubble, well at least it was large taking into consideration the size of the dog it came out of. After a few moments of wonder, it came to me. He had ingested the squeaker from the duck. How he got to that in the limited time of play, I have no clue, but he had.
It was obvious that there was an instant wave of relief over that little dog. Now, I knew why. To say I am peeved would be an understatement. I usually don’t buy dog toys that contain a squeaker and when I had in the past, Corbin would find it and carefully remove it only to leave it lying around. Lesson learned. Needless to say, I will be contacting PetSmart and the toy manufacturer to make them aware that there is no reason to sell dog toys that contain elements that could be harmful to a dog. Be careful. Make sure you do your homework and know what you are buying. I won’t get fooled again.