Dangerous Toys & Treats
Thursday, October 12, 2017 11:22:01 AM America/Los_Angeles
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Toys and treats are a wonderful source of enjoyment and fun for your dog. Additionally, keeping your dog busy will help it remain healthy and prevent it from developing problematic behaviors such as barking, continuous crying, and destructive chewing.
Importance of Dog Toys and Treats
1. Provide Dogs With Tools For Exercise.
Throwing a ball for the dog and playing with it is a nice way to help it keep fit. Dogs can easily become obese and vulnerable to illnesses if they do not stay active. Obesity will lead to diabetes and organ damage.
2. Toys Promote Dental Health For The Pets.
You should ensure that your dog has clean teeth because poor dental hygiene can cause infections and bad breath. A good way of improving the pet's dental hygiene is to invest in quality chew toys and other toys that are designed to clean a dog's teeth.
3. Reduces Boredom
Pets require stimulation because they become easily bored. When bored, dogs become wild and tend to be disobedient, destructive and impossible to handle.
Toys are an excellent way to keep your dog entertained.
There are great dog toys that require your dog to use it's brain. Dog toys like this can be a good way to stimulate your dog's brain and encourage it to use its problem-solving skills.
4. Treats And Playtime Helps The Emotional Development Of Pets
Dogs are a pack animal by nature. This means that they need to bond with others and feel loved. You should therefore spend as much time playing with the dog as possible.
Dangerous Dog Toys & Treats
While toys and treats are important for the health of your dog, some of them are also risky. For instance, some toys such as the rawhide chew, rubber chew toys, and bones are a choking hazard for your dog. You should therefore avoid them or supervise the dog when playing with them to avoid serious injury or death.
Below are some of the dangerous dog toys and treats
1. Raw Hide Chew
Dogs and puppies love to chew, and they never grow out of the habit. Thus, to save the furniture and other items, pet owners often decide to provide the dog with a chew toy.
One such chew toy is the rawhide.
The rawhide consists of a roll of leathery strips made in the form of a bone. This shape makes it attractive and appealing to the dog and can help eliminate the problem of the dog chewing and biting other house items.
However, rawhide dog toys can pose a risk of choking to the dog. As the dog chews on the rubber bone, large pieces of the material can break and get stuck in the dog's esophagus, which can cause choking and suffocation.
The rawhide toy is made of resilient and durable material. Hence, if the dog swallows huge chunks of the material it does not break down in the stomach. Thus, your dog would require surgery to remove the indigestible material from their stomach.
2. Bones
Dog owners tend to give a bone to their pet to chew on because they think it is natural for dogs. The problem is that if the dog breaks the bones, they may swallow huge pieces of the bone, which may become wedged in the intestines. This would require surgery to remove.
Bones can also disintegrate in the mouth resulting in injury in the mouth, throat, and intestines. Removing such pieces may require an emergency surgery. Bones also ruin the dog's teeth by wearing down the enamel. The tooth fragments can cause mouth and digestive puncture.
When such injuries happen to the pet, they are likely to suffer from infection and pain in the mouth that prevents them from eating.
Other bone related problems may include leakage of intestinal contents, which can cause difficulties with the dog's potty training,
3. Rubber Chew Toys
Pet owners love to buy rubber chew toys for their dogs because they are cheap. Some rubber chew toys have hollowed- out areas where the owner can place treats for the dog to find.
Despite the above benefits, rubber chew toys are not completely safe. For instance, dogs can have their tongue or jaw stuck in the hollowed-out toys as they attempt to remove the treats. This can lead to distressing injury and hurried trips to the vets. Some injuries can be severe enough to be fatal.
You should ensure ensure that the rubber toy is o the correct size for your dog because giving the dog a small toy could result in choking. A large one, on the other hand, could cause excessive strain and severe damage to the jaw and muscles.
Steps to take if you Suspect Your Pet Swallowed a Foreign Object
When the dog swallows a piece of bone, rawhide or a rubber toy, it takes about 15-24 hours for the object to move through the digestive systems. However, some objects may take longer and can stay in the stomach for months.
The foreign object may also be too huge to pass through the digestive system. When this happens, the objects cause obstruction, and the dog may suffer.
Signs that your pet has swallowed a foreign object include:
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Lack of appetite and anorexia
- Abdominal tenderness and pain
- Behavioral changes such as growling or biting when picked
- Lethargy
If you suspect that your dog has swallowed a foreign object, you may need to set up an indoor dog potty, such as a grass pad, to make sure that your dog does not go outdoors for its bathroom needs. observe the dog's potty pads (or potty pad alternatives like their DoggieLawn) to ensure that the dog has excreted It. You should see a vet if nothing comes out or if you notice a change in the behavior of the dog.
However, there is still the likelihood that passing the object may be painful, especially if it is a sharp bone. In such cases, you may require to seek a veterinary assistant. Never attempt to pull a foreign body that is protruding from your pet's rectum because this can cause severe damage to the pet’s internal tissues.
