The video below would be funny if we didn’t know of Labrador Retrievers that have eaten things they ought not to have eaten.
Other “hall of fame” eaters:
- A Lab named Lucy was brought in to the vet’s office after she swallowed a pocket knife. The vet fed her a small meal and administered Apomorphine, which induced a vomiting episode that expelled the 9.2 by 2.3 cm knife;
- A three year old Labrador Retriever belonging to the Becknell family of Loveland, CO caused alarm when it began coughing up blood. The X-ray taken by the vet revealed a large mass in the dog’s stomach and after administering Syrup of Ipecac and massaging the dog’s belly, the dog vomited out the video game remote;”
- One Lab youngster ate shoes, two cameras, a pair of glasses, a bottle of prozac, and several christmas light bulbs – in one night;
Among the other things vets have reported finding in Labrador Retriever tummies: AA batteries, rocks, socks, video tapes, a sheetrock wall, dog beds, a parakeet (!), part of a washing machine, Crocs, Ugg boots, a retainer, leashes, chocolate easter bunnies, a bottle of Motrin, flipflops, squishy pillows, a sleeping bag ( passing the zipper was nasty), scented soap, a corncob, a winter glove, a deer head (uurrp), tennis balls, an entire warehouse-sized bottle of freeze dried onion flakes, a pocket knife (see image), a large Ziploc Freezer bag, knee high nylons, a Disney infinity character, hand towel, a Wii Controller and enough squeakers out of squeaky toys to fill a room. If you have a Lab with exotic taste, what’s the strangest thing he or she has eaten?
My labs have eaten all sorts of things. One in particular ate a Nylabone, my entire pair of Ann Taylor pants, a hundred dollar bill (hubby made sure he retrieved it at the other end), and a fleece blanket. I’m not even sure I know how some of this is possible!
Funny, but can also have a tragic outcome as did my 9 year old Belgian Sheepdog “Tux” who never chewed anything up and was even nice to his toys and plush toys, until the day he ate a strip of material off a bath towel when I was at work one Friday, by the time symptoms were displayed and over the weekend it worsened, it was too late- neither the vet nor I thought the small strip of material missing from the towel could possibly have caused a blockage in a dog this size, but it did.
Monday morning I insisted the vet go in and see if that material was somehow causing a blockage- it was, he removed it, gave IV fluids and all, but sometime in the night/early Tues morning he passed away.
You’re quite right, RD. We take for granted our dog savvy readership, and that they already know the risks posed to a dog who eats what was never intended to be eaten. We’re more sorry than we can say for your loss, and it’s a sobering reminder to all of us that we can’t be too careful.