Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Help please, my Lab ate-

My lab ate a large piece of beef hip bone.

I thought he would just chew on it but when we looked he had chewed it up and ate it.
I called a vet clinic and they said feed him white bread to help him pass it.
Please offer any advice you may have experienced. I am considering taking him into the emergency vet clinic tomorrow for x-rays.

Same thing with one of our english setters. Ended up at emergency vet and then another long stay at our reg vet. Cost me a lot of money. No more bones of any kind now. Just biscuits for treats.

Hunts,
How much time went by before you saw any signs of problems?
When did you know that he ate it?
Phil

Dog could not go to the bathroom after that. If you wait too long the situation can get bad. Vet does xrays to make sure things are moving or it's time to open them up. Ours was lucky and it kept moving. Eventually the reg vet stuck her fingers in there and pulled out the chunk. If the dog doesn't crap regularly(once or twice a day, for instance) then get to the vet.

They will generally be straining to defecate and looking pretty miserable.

They use intravenous fluids to keep dog going(very important) as they can start to refuse to drink water.

Thanks Hunts
I will take him in in the morning for the Xray as I do not want to wait and not know how good or bad it might be.
Phil

Hope he is o.k. He probably won't have problems in the 1st 24 hrs.
Good Luck!

Hunts
The x-rays showed one small piece still in his stomach.
So far so good. We will have to watch for all of the signs indicating a blockage. The vet said she thought that piece will pass soon. I intend to have him checked again this weekend. No more bones!
Phil

Great, sounds like he may be out of the woods.

Fresh water and some canned pumpkin (not the sugary pie-filling stuff either).

Glad to hear this.

If you catch it right away a good big dose of hydrogen peroxide, it will come right back up the same way it went down.

Hoping all turns out well for you.

Best of luck to you and the pooch.

twofish

Sounds like you did the right thing. As intelligent as these big dogs are, they will eat the most amazing things. A few years ago a neighbor's big male black lab ate an entire full size football. Needless to say that required surgery!!

Good luck with the last bits of bone.

The big Lab is back to normal.
The last x-ray a week ago showed he was clear.
A have disected more poop looking for bone fragments than I thought possible.
Thanks everyone for the info
Phil