Veterinarian warns public NOT to give dogs raw-hide treats as gifts
We all love to lavish our dogs with tasty treats and fun toys at Christmastime, and why not? After all, their lives are drastically short compared to our own, and they enjoy a good present as much as the next person. While it’s all fine and well to shower your dogs with gifts at Christmas, a Montana veterinarian warns that if there’s one thing that should be left out of the stocking this year, it’s raw-hide treats.
As it turns out, raw-hide treats are more or less an unnecessary risk to your dog’s health.
According to veterinarian Dr. Jevon Clark, raw-hide treats can pose a serious threat to your pet’s health. Dr. Clark works out of Montana’s Kalispell Animal Clinic and he says that he frequently warns people away from giving out these treats.
Why? for one very simple reason; they can get stuck.
“Oftentimes dogs are able to get those things all soft and gross and gushy and swallow great big chunks of them which can pass through their esophagus into their stomach, but then they can’t get out of their stomach,” he explains in an interview with KAJ 18 News.
When raw-hide chunks create blockages, it can lead to all sorts of trouble.
According to Dr. Clark, when the treats get stuck, they can either block the small intestine and lead to digestive complications for your furbaby, or they can simply remain in the stomach, never breaking down. This, too, can lead to health problems further down the road.
“And so, they can either get intestinal blockage in their small intestine. Or, they actually just stay in the stomach and we have to go in and get those things out,” Dr. Clark continued.
The problem with intestinal blockages in dogs:
An intestinal blockage occurs in our dogs when they consume something without chewing it up into pieces tiny enough to safely pass through the intestine. As a result, large chunks of an item, or even an entire item, might be swallowed and get stuck in the small intestine while their body is trying to digest it.
In turn, food and liquid can be blocked from passing through the small intestine. If it is not quickly resolved, the blockage can also stop the flow of blood to the gastrointestinal tract, causing even more serious potential problems later on.
Tragically, if a raw-hide blockage, or any other, is not quickly discovered and taken care of, it can be fatal.
When your dog’s blood supply is no longer reaching his/her GI tract, it can cause necrosis (tissue death) of the intestinal tissues. When this happens, tiny holes or perforations can occur in the small intestine’s walls, where fecal bacteria from their bowels may ooze back into their abdominal cavity.
This can lead to septic peritonitis, a biological response of the body that the CDC describes as:
“The body’s extreme response to an infection. It is a life-threatening medical emergency. Sepsis happens when an infection you already have —in your skin, lungs, urinary tract, or somewhere else—triggers a chain reaction throughout your body. Without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.“
What you should look for if you think your dog has a blockage:
If you know your pet has a potential blockage, you shouldn’t waste any time in getting them to the vet. However, if you aren’t sure about whether or not this might be the case, there are some symptoms you can look for. According to the AKC, these include bloating, dehydration, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, and general, overall weakness.
If you notice any of these, schedule an emergency visit to the vet immediately.
They will either perform an endoscopy, searching for the obstruction with a tiny camera attached to a thin, flexible tube, or they will perform an ultrasound and/or X-ray to find the blockage. If possible, a vet will sometimes remove the blockage during an endoscopy or give your dog an IV to administer fluids to help move or push the blockage through.
If any of the above methods don’t work, your pup may very well end up in emergency surgery. If so, the vet will open up the abdomen or intestine and cut the blockage out of them.
Considering all of this, it may be better to just find a nice alternative to raw-hide treats for your dog.
According to Dr. Clark, dog owners should consider giving their dogs either nylon or rubber chew toys as an alternative to raw-hide treats and bones. This is because such toys are far less likely to be broken down into pieces that are both small enough to swallow, yet large enough to cause a blockage.
To learn more about the dangers of giving raw-hide treats and their safe alternatives, watch Dr. Clark’s video below.
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