[Naturella]

Hello, everyone…

So, I am in a bit of a pickle…

As much as I have educated myself on good (raw) and bad (cooked) bones to give my dog, yesterday at about 3.15pm I gave him a medium rack of smoked lamb ribs. He cleared most of the meat off the bones first, and then proceeded to eat them too… I was watching him the whole time, and as soon as I saw a sharp edge on one of the bones, I took them away. He kind of burped and his tummy rumbled, but he seemed fine (last time he had such bones, it was barbecue pork rib ends, and he threw them up). Later he had his kibble, water, treat, he was playful and normal. He went to sleep okay.

At around 7.22am he woke me and my boyfriend up with loud wheezing/dry-heaving… He looked like he was trying to cough or throw something up, but either couldn’t, or there was nothing in his tummy to cough/throw up… After about 2 minutes it stopped. He was not interested in water, and seemed tired and miserable. Wheezing didn’t stop completely, just significantly reduced. He then slept another hour while I was researching intestinal punctures and bleeding symptoms in dogs…

After my boyfriend went to work, I woke the puppy up and checked his mouth to see if I can see a hair or something in his throat. I didn’t see any. He was wheezing every now and again, so I went to the kitchen and mixed plain yoghurt with canned pumpkin puree, and fed him that on bread pieces. He consumed eagerly about 2/3 slice of whole wheat bread and about 1/6 cup of yoghurt-pumpkin mixture. My idea behind it was to introduce good bacteria and probiotics (yoghurt) in his system; get his tummy tightened up and calmed down (pumpkin), and push any hair (if it was there to begin with) down his throat (bread). It didn’t seem to do much about the wheezing, which is not as bad as at 7.22am at all, but it is still there. He had good appetite for the above items. Oh, when he’s asleep, the wheezing is not there, his breathing is good. He also stretches just fine and doesn’t coil up after, which leads me to believe that he is not in pain…

He still looked weak and miserable, so we laid down together for a bit (he is a snuggler), but I am too nervous to lay down, so I got up to post this and ask for help/advice.

Here is the thing. I have $28.00 in my account, so IF possible, I would like to avoid taking him to the vet. Of course, I read that I need to monitor him and his stool, and if he is coughing/throwing up/pooping blood, we will be at the vet in no time anyway. A lot of websites said to wait and see.
My question is, how long is okay to wait, and how long is too long? Is there any way for me to know if his tummy is intact? I felt around it and he was still, didn’t seem in pain, but looks under the weather… He just kinda woke up but he’s not his usual perky self… Just laying down looking at me…
He is a 7.5-month (or so) old Miniature Rat Terrier-Jack Russell-(Deer )Chihuahua mix (a guess – he was found at 2-3 months (or so) old, so we’re not sure what he is). He weighs about 11 lbs, and the bones he ate I would estimate at 1/8 cup or so.

If Dr. Mike can maybe comment and help me out, or any of you guys, who have some knowledge on the matter, I would greatly appreciate it!

P.S. NEVER feeding cooked bones ever again! I promise!

[Naturella]

Additional info – I just took him out, he had a good bowel movement (BM) and his stool was good, no traces of blood. I think this stool is still from yesterday during the day though, so his “boney” stool probably won’t start appearing until tomorrow morning/mid-day… I will still monitor all his BMs though. He is still under the weather (inactive, laying around, sleepy-looking), and no appetite for breakfast kibble.

[Cyndi]

How much of the bone did your dog eat? I’m not sure I’d wait til the problem worsens. Never, ever feed any cooked bones. That is a perforation of something just waiting to happen.

[Naturella]

Cyndi,

He ate about 1/8 cup of the bones. We are still home, monitoring him. He looks like he’s feeling better. Just a bit of a wheeze, but playful again…

Yes, I pledge to never, ever feed cooked bones again!

[InkedMarie]

I’d be getting him to the vet. I’m not going to give you too much crap but when you have pets, you need something to pay for vet visits whether it’s cash, credit card, care credit, borrowing from someone, something.

[Cyndi]

Well, I’d keep an eye on him. Sharp pieces of bone, if they don’t get broken down in the stomach, could puncture anything, even on the way out. With any luck, he chewed them up enough and he won’t have a problem. Hopefully he’ll be just fine. Lesson learned. Good luck to you and your pup!

[Cyndi]

I agree with Marie as well. Anything can happen at any time. You’d be much safer taking your dog to the vet and having him checked out. You can’t plan for emergencies, but having money set aside for if and when one comes up, is pretty necessary when you have pets.

[Naturella]

Marie and Cyndi,

Thanks for the ideas. And, if you noticed, I did say in my post that if something is apparently wrong with him, we would be at the vet in no time, which I felt implied that I do have said emergency resources, which I am also aware that everyone needs when owning a pet. I put my current disposable income for the rest of the month up there because I would like to avoid resorting to such resources unless absolutely necessary.

I would probably have to pay less if i were to take him to get checked out now than if I waited, but he seems much better now, so I will keep monitoring him fo the next few days and see how he is.

[InkedMarie]

Thanks got not taking offense. I get pissed off when people don’t have something set in place for when something happens. Not long ago, on an in state fb pet group, someone had no money to treat their pet and was looking for a vet o make a house call and put him down for free. I ended up leaving the group, I have trouble shutting up.

[theBCnut]

My vet suggests feeding small amounts of bread every hour or so until bones have passed. This helps keep the intestines wide open and moving supposedly. Good luck.

[Naturella]

Marie, no problem. I am actually happy that you care so much about my (and others’) dog/s. 🙂

What you have seen that person ask for in the facebook group is horrible, they could have at least tried to gift the dog to kind people, who may agree to take it in and treat it, so I understand where you are coming from.

I have been checking Bruno’s stool, so far good stool and good BMs. I will continue to do so intil Friday – by then the bones, or any remnants of them SHOULD have passed if his stool is still as good and his BMs regular, I believe.

I think he may just have a hair in his throat because he keeps wheezing/coughing every now and again. Sometimes he pulls strings off his bed when he’s still awake in it, but hasn’t done it over the night, not that we know of, he is usually a sound sleeper unless he hears noise. So it may well be something in his throat that I can’t see that irritates him. But now he is happy, playful, running around playing with my roommate’s dog, and has finally eaten his kibble.

Patty, I will try the bread thing – I did give him some in the morning, but I will give him a little bit a couple more times today before we go to bed (small amounts), just in case, and keep checking for the bones. Thanks for the advice!

[Molzy]

Aleksandra, I would keep monitoring for longer. I’m not sure how things differ, but it once took our dog 2 weeks to poop out a stuffed toy he had eaten (he no longer gets fabric toys by the way). We assumed he had passed it when we weren’t looking, but were still monitoring his behavior since we hadn’t seen it. Luckily it passed without issue, just took WAY longer than we ever thought it could!

[Naturella]

Molzy,

Thanks for the tip! I will be watching him and his BMs and stools for as long as I am certain the bones are gone (I feel them), or I would assume they are digested after 2 weeks.

[Cyndi]

Aleksandra, how is Bruno doing today? Hopefully he is ok and will be ok.

[Naturella]

Cyndi,

He is doing well, thank you! He is eating, playing, and being all good. I still check his stool and in this afternoon’s BM I found some bone bits in it. So it is coming out! Hopefully it will all come out just fine! As for his little coughs/wheezes, they are also almost gone. Hope whatever was irritating his throat has cleared up.

I am also taking him to the vet on Friday for his monthly Trifexis (I think we need the dosage increased, because I am pretty sure he has outgrown the 5-10 lbs, I feel like he is at least 11 lbs now), and I will also tell them the story and how he’s doing so far, so hopefully it will indeed all go and be okay.

Thank you so much for checking on us! 🙂

[Naturella]

Hello, everyone!

I know it has been almost a month since Bruno’s cooked bone incident, but I just wanted to share that he has been doing just fine since it. The wheezing he had must have been some of my hair/threads from his dog bed that he must have eaten and they had gotten stuck on his throat. He keeps pooping hairs/strings all the time and they pass fine. The bone passed too, within the week, I believe. Some of it may have digested, and some bits passed just fine. I was on his stool like a crazy person, mushing it up to feel for bits (through the baggie!).

But it all went well, I learned my lesson, and he will not get a cooked bone ever again.

Thank you for all your advice! 🙂

[Naturella]

Hey, guys! So, do not mean to beat a dead horse, but I finally figured out what this situation was with Bruno, when I thought he was dying by wheezing after eating the lamb ribs – he was backward sneezing! It just so coincided with his biggest bout of it he’s ever had to be that night he had the darned ribs. Apparently it is a harmless condition and many dogs have it.

He still won’t have any cooked bone, but at least I now know what this problems is. It really is not a problem for dogs (supposedly) just sounds problematic – like a bad wheezing of sorts. 🙂

[Cyndi]

I think there is a thread on here somewhere about that. I remember reading it a while back and I believe it was called “Reverse Sneezing”, if I’m not mistaken. Apparently it’s not that uncommon. I had never heard of it before I read that. So, you’re not alone Naturella, it happens to other dogs too. Glad Bruno is doing ok! 🙂

[Bobby dog]

Hi Naturella:
Bobby does this, there are videos on Youtube of dogs reverse sneezing. Some of them sound way worse than Bobby and if he did that I would be scared and running off to a Vet. It doesn’t happen often with him, but when it does he sounds like the Maltese in this video:

Here’s Dr. Becker discussing it:
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/12/03/reverse-sneezing.aspx

[Naturella]

Cyndi, yes! Reverse Sneezing, that’s what it was. I really thought it had to do with the bone, but no, he just has some serious bouts of it sometimes.

Bobby dog, Bruno sounds and looks just like the Whippet-looking dog in the Dr. Becker page’s video in the video every time he does it. Poor baby also gets so nervous, tail down, ears back, looking at us like “What’s happening to me???”. He looks sooo cute and pitiful… But then he’s back to normal when he stops.

So yes. Mystery resolved. Reverse sneezing… who knew. 🙂

[Bobby dog]

Poor Bruno. No wonder you were so worried! That is one of the videos that I saw and I thought if Bobby sounded like that I would be off to the Vet in a panic (before I knew what it was).

When I started noticing Bobby doing it more often (a few times a month), I took him to the Vet for a blood test, I immediately thought parasites. Blood test came back negative and my Vet of course suggested I record the episodes but I could never get to my phone in time. When I finally did record it and showed it to her I was happy to hear it was nothing to be too concerned with. I always massage his throat gently when it happens, it doesn’t last long 30 or 40 secs maybe. He just seems to get a confused look on his face like “hmmmmmm, I wonder what I did to deserve a massage.” lol

How adorable is that little Maltese! 🙂

[Naturella]

Yeah, I thought I almost killed the poor pup with them lamb bones, lol. He did have good stool and everything after the original post’s situation.

Bruno’s don’t last too long either… I think I will try the whole throat massaging next time, but I usually just pet him on the back and tell him everything’s okay and he will be alright.

And yes, little Maltese is so cute, doesn’t seem distraught much from its reverse sneezing. 🙂

[Mom2Cavs]

Hi all, I’m glad your dog ended up okay. Of my 3 Cavaliers, only 1 reverse sneezes (Laverne). Stella, my Cav at the bridge, reverse sneezed, too. I’ve heard it has to do with the dog maybe having allergies, or the shape of its upper palate. Anyway, it’s harmless and I just put my hand over her nostrils to get her to mouth breathe and all is well. 🙂

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[theBCnut]

My JRT does it too. Any pressure at all on her throat will start it. She has to walk on the type of harness that won’t get near her throat.

[Naturella]

Awh, poor girl! Glad you figured out how to manage it though! 🙂

[Dori]

All my little dogs walk on harnesses as any pressure on the throat can also cause it as stated in Dr. Becker’s video. That sure was a chubby little Maltese on the video, so cute though.

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