Keep Dogs Away from This 'Toy': Safety Alert!
While you might not consider letting your dog play with twigs, it's hard to deny that, thanks to their convenience, they're often the goto choice for many dog owners when it comes to playtime. Today's article aims to enlighten those who love to see their furry friends picking up twigs about why it's actually not advisable for dogs to play with them.
Believe it or not, twigs can be surprisingly harmful to a dog's mouth and teeth.
What are the most common issues that arise? At the lighter end of the spectrum, you might find bits of twig wedged between teeth and gums. Moving up the severity scale, there's the possibility of the mouth lining being pierced by a twig. And at the most severe end, there's the risk of the twig piercing through the dog's internal organs—a scenario that's alarmingly common abroad.
So, how do twigs cause harm to dogs?
Many cases from abroad suggest that chasing and chewing are key contributors to injuries. Accidents where twigs pierce through a dog's body often stem from the act of chasing. While chewing on a twig might not lead to piercing, it can result in small fragments getting stuck under the tongue, in the gums, or down the throat. If these fragments aren't promptly removed, they can end up inside the body, leading to a host of digestive issues. Larger fragments can become trapped between the gums and the mouth, necessitating urgent surgical intervention.
If a dog swallows a large piece of wood, it can easily irritate the digestive system, potentially causing diarrhea, blood in the stool, or even intestinal blockage.
Is that the end of the story after surgery? Not quite. There's more to it than that.
As mentioned earlier, there are numerous such cases every year abroad, and research has been conducted on the postsurgery complications. Let's imagine a scenario: You're a seasoned veterinarian, and a dog with a twig stuck in its mouth is brought in for surgery. What would you do? Of course, you would anesthetize the dog, remove the twig, and treat the wound. That's correct; any veterinarian would take these steps.
But here's the catch: Even the most experienced veterinarian can only remove the twig that's visible. They can't guarantee how many fragments the dog may have swallowed before the injury, or whether larger fragments have pierced through the mouth and into the body. This means that surgery doesn't always mean the end of the road. There's a chance that a dog might need a second, or even multiple, surgeries.
Some might argue that an Xray before surgery would reveal all. But that's not always the case. Xrays and other detection methods can't guarantee the discovery of all wood fragments inside the body, especially the tiny ones. It's better to avoid the risk than to regret it later. Let's start by keeping our dogs away from twigs today.
