IMPORTANT TOY CHOKING HAZARD REMINDER!! One of our clients who is also a dear friend, Tom, had a very close call this past Tuesday night with his dog Dante, a 3.5 year old, 105 lb German Shepherd. This is a reminder to us all to always supervise our dogs with their toys and chews and throw away anything that is small enough that they could choke on. (We know people that have lost their dogs from choking to death on half of a tennis ball!) Never leave your dog unsupervised with toys or chews that they could try to swallow. TOMS CHILLING STORY; We had a real scare with Dante Tuesday night. Lori and I were watching TV around 8:30. Both Dante and Murphy were on the floor near our couch. Dante grabbed a rubber toy (I think because he thought Murphy was going to get it) and it got lodged in his throat. He backed up immediately and was in panic mode. Once we understood what was happening, we grabbed him to get him under control. The toy was down his throat at about the end of the jaw. I tried the Heimlich a number of times but it would not budge. I tried reaching into his mouth a number of times to pull it out as it was right there, but would not budge. We really thought we were losing him. He was getting weak from the struggle. He was now on his stomach, but he was able to breath just a bit. The toy had a small hole in it and he was just able to get enough air through it to stay conscious. Lori called the Animal Ambulance, they said they were 20 minutes away. I held him to calm him and waited for them to arrive. It took 40 minutes. Once here, the tech put him under and clamped open his jaws. He tried to pull it out with forceps, it would not budge. He used a large pair of pliers and yanked it out. I could not believe how much force it took. At that point we knew he was going to be okay. But, I got pretty chewed up trying to pull the thing out. Ended up in the ER that night. Going to see my doctor today. The swelling in my right hand is better today... In hindsight, this was totally preventable. We thought we were pretty good at monitoring toys, dumping the ones that were getting chewed up. Making sure nothing dangerous was around. But this toy started as a large dumbbell shaped kong and had been chewed down to a single end. They usually get tossed for a new toy. A Very Big lesson learned! Thank goodness they were home and it turned out OK. Here is to a speedy recovery of your hand Tom. Thank you for letting us share your story.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 18:52:05 +0000
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