Eating an entire mango, seed & all.

[Scrappi&Monty]

The other morning I woke up at 6:30 to the sound of Monty coughing and vomiting up a (medium) mango seed. The second morning in a row that he threw up something weird.

Over the year we've had him, he has been notorious for eating weird things, he's not as bad as some dogs but it's pretty dangerous!

We have several fruit trees, and when each come into season he eats the fruit/nuts that fall (excluding mulburries, he also picks those haha). 

At the moment he has been chewing up macadamias (the hard shell then (probably) eating the poisonous nuts which are nowhere to be seen among the crunched up shells and peels)  and also mangoes.

The bats get in the mango tree despite all of our efforts to stop them, then they take a little nibble out of the mangoes and often drop the rest  in the middle of the yard. Then Monty will go and eat the rest, usually skin and all, and at least one time he has eaten the seed too (the one he threw up!) 

Surprisingly this hasn't had any particularly negative effects, and gorging on lily pillies doesn't seem to do much either and mulberries when they are in season just causes purple poos and a tummy ache.

But one day I swear that dog is going to make himself really sick. 

I was really worried about him getting a disease from the bats but apparently it's very uncommon and things like Hendra virus are spread from bats to horses to dogs? 

We have tried fencing the trees off with a temporary wire fence and a puppy pen kind of thing, and we pick the fruit up as often as possible but it doesn't help much. 

I was thinking of maybe trying a "Smuzzle?"  http://smuzzleme.com/

any thoughts? 

 

[Maddy]

That muzzle looks like if the dog pressed its mouth to something, it could grab a mouthful of the muzzle and start chewing. If Monty really needs a muzzle to stop him from eating things, I'd suggest a quality basket muzzle with a stool guard.

[karly101]

My work has a client that I put onto a smuzzle but they use it for walks where the dog scavenges (and has had surgery for foreign bodies). I wouldn't recommend it for use in the back yard unsupervised because I also think it's possible they could ingest it. 

 

I would strongly recommend pet insurance.. if your dog has no prev vet history (yet) of foreign body ingestion it will ensure you will cover if you do need to surgically remove something... you are looking at anywhere from $2000-4000 for surgery if those pips do get stuck (and I've had dogs were they do!) 

[Scottsmum]

Slightly off topic - the only time I ever fainted in surgery during my kennel hand / back up vet nurse days was the time we closed the surgery for emergency surgery to remove a mango seed from a dogs intestine. My boss never let me live it down - poor woman!  Lucky it was a pretty pissy faint where I slid down the wall and was back up soon after. Washed my face, re-scrubbed and was back into it. 

 

Back on topic - that muzzle looks terrible - sorry! It would be a gross trap for bacteria & smells, could be easily pawed off like a halti, easily chewed though & I suspect would be somewhat restrictive to the dogs ability to pant . I wouldn't waste my money 

[Papillon Kisses]

I was going to suggest a Baskerville. I think it would stop the mangoes but I'm unsure about the Lilly pillies and mulberries. I guess that's what the stool guard is for, hadn't heard of it!

Edited February 24, 2017 by Papillon Kisses