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What
do you do if your puppy (or mischievous older dog) gets into your
holiday decorations and eats some of the glass ornaments? This
potentially lethal mishap can darken even the brightest holiday
season. |
THE PROCEDURE
BEFORE BEFORE BEFORE the holiday go to a
pharmacy and buy a box of cotton balls. Be sure that you get COTTON balls ...
not the "cosmetic puffs" that are made from man-made fibers. Also,
buy a quart of half-and-half coffee cream and put it in the freezer.
Should your dog eat glass ornaments, defrost the half-and-half and pour some
in a bowl. Dip cotton balls into the cream and feed them to your dog.
Dogs under 10 lbs should eat 2 balls which you have first torn into smaller
pieces. Dogs 10-50 lbs should eat 3-5 balls and larger dogs should eat 5-7.
You may feed larger dogs an entire cotton ball at once. Dogs seem to really
like these strange "treats" and eat them readily. As the cotton
works its way through the digestive tract it will find all the glass pieces
and wrap itself around them. Even the teeniest shards of glass will be caught
and wrapped in the cotton fibers and the cotton will protect the intestines
from damage by the glass. Your dog's stools will be really weird for a few
days and you will have to be careful to check for fresh blood or a tarry
appearance to the stool. If either of the latter symptoms appear you should
rush your dog to the vet for a checkup but, in most cases, the dogs will be
just fine.
| An actual experience: I can
personally vouch for the cotton ball treatment. While I was at the
vet waiting for him to return from lunch a terrified woman ran in
with a litter of puppies who had demolished a wooden crate along
with large open staples. The young vet had taken x-rays which did
show each of the puppies had swallowed several open staples.
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He was preparing them for surgery
when my wonderful vet came in and said no surgery. I watched him wet several
cotton balls, squeeze out the water and pop them down their throats. Within 24
hours every staple was accounted for. This was a lesson I learned in the
mid-1960s and have had to use several times on my brats. I wet the cotton
balls and smear on some liverwurst and they bolt it down and ask for more. The
cotton always comes out with the object safely embedded.
