Fergus Was Eating A Strange Bone When I Got Home

[megan_]

When I got home today Fergus was eating strange bone that I definitely didn't give him - it is very big (looks like beef spine??). I am very worried about poisoning. I phoned the emergency vet and they said if it was snail bait he would have reacted immediately. However, if it was rat bait it would take 3 - 5 days to show and it wouldn't show up on a blood test yet.

I really hope that it was some well meaning soul who thought they were giving him a treat. My only consolation is that if someone were baiting a dog, surely they would put it in a piece of meat that would be eaten whole and not a bone with meat on it?

[Nekhbet]

is it fresh or cooked? Are you sure it wasnt a bone you gave him aaaaaaaaages ago and he rediscovered?

by the way baits would be in meat not bone.

Edited April 29, 2010 by Nekhbet

[megan_]

is it fresh or cooked? Are you sure it wasnt a bone you gave him aaaaaaaaages ago and he rediscovered?

by the way baits would be in meat not bone.

It is fresh and uncooked - it still has pink bits in the bone. I haven't ever given him a bone this big. It was really hard.

RE; baits in bone, this is what I thought. There may have been some meat on the bone but he hasn't eaten it. I assume that someone would use steak instead to ensure all the poison was eaten.

[Okami]

Probably a well meaning neighbour could you pop around and ask?

[tdierikx]

I'll second Okami's suggestion...

T.

[Kelly_Louise]

That's just awful... I occasionally find food in our yard (biscuits, chips etc) and it makes me REALLY angry. Plus, very worried about the stuff that's already been consumed and I haven't seen...

I think it is the ultimate insult and display of disrespect for someone to feed your dog anything without your permission. Last time it happened from a party next door I went straight in to have a word with them... it's something that I just will not ever tolerate, and ensure my neighbours know this.

Sasha has a very weak stomach, and one wrong thing can have her vomitting and runny poos for days. Raw meat doesn't agree with her... and once a cooked bone was thrown over (which we tried to wrestle from her at 3am in the morning but she ate it)... That could have killed her, but luckily it didn't seem to have any affect. But the thought that some UNthinking, irresponsible person could kill my dog by throwing over food that I HAVEN'T given them permission to do is just intolerable... I just see red. After all, it's MY dog, in MY yard...

I'd definitely visit the neighbours just to ask them nicely if it was them, and if so to not do so anymore please (use health reasons or similar as an excuse).

[corvus]

Yeah, some "well meaning soul" once threw cooked lamb bones over the fence. Some week of pain, several vet visits and a general anaesthetic later the bone shards were finally extracted from my dog's rectum. She was lucky they made it that far.

ETA I once saw cockatoos picking up quite large bones left out for someone's dog and having a chew on them up in a tree. It's entirely possible that a bird dropped it in your yard and it originally came from someone else's yard.

Edited April 29, 2010 by corvus

[Okami]

Yeah one of our "Kind" neighbours threw a cooked lamb bone over the fence! Which Steve got lodged between his teeth across the top of his mouth

I had to go over and talk to him.... it was hard to stay civil when I was so upset... but he genuinely thought he was being nice and has never thrown anything over since I asked him not to...

Sometimes it's just as easy as that.

I hope Fergus is ok

[megan_]

Ill have a chat to them on the weekend. I agree KL - it was a really large bone, way to big for a small dog. I also have two dogs and worry that they might fight over food (unlikely, but why take the risk).