Corncob

[GAD]

So Daisy ate a corncob out of the garbage. -sigh-

We're so careful to teach them that the garbage is bad and we take great pains to "hide" such "treats" in the garbage, but she got one.

The emergency vet clinic didn't seem to overly concerned, and told us to try and make her vomit.

We tried about 12 times with Hydrogen Peroxside and salty water to no avail. She was such a trooper through it all, but never did vomit (I sure would have!).

We're going to call our vet as soon as he opens this morning. Daisy came through the night without a problem, but needless to say we didn't. We woke up every time she moved all night long.

Anyone else ever have this happen?

Oh and if you don't know why this is bad - CornCobs are practically indigestable and can cause blockages or even death.

GAD - The bad parent.

[This message has been edited by GAD (edited 08-03-2000).]

 

[GAD]

OK so our Vet wants to refer us to a specialist so that the corcob can be removed with an endoscope, which will require anethesia. Oh Joy.

GAD

 

[lauren]

Ok,
Mrs GAD here, update on our vet and the specialist. Because a cob can be large, endoscopy isn't normally successful as a mode of retrieval. The good news is that while waiting for the specialist to call back, Daisy had a bm, quite laden with corn

This indicates no immediate blockage, and that along with the fact that many of the remaining pieces were quite small we can assume perhaps that whatever she ingested may be able to pass through. We are to look for signs of vomiting and food refusal and anything else unusual. Anyone else's input would be greatly appreciated..
-Cozy wants to know is all this fuss over Daisy really necessary on my birthday??-
-Lauren

 

[Baloosmom]

Can you try giving Daisy Ipecac to induce vomitting? I was given a bottle by my pediatrician for my daughter...have no idea if it is harmfull for dogs though, worth asking anyway? Hope she comes through this okay!!

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[GAD]

I've read that Ipecac can be very harmful to dogs. I read this in books on Pet first aid.

I've also read that it can be used to induce vomiting in dogs. I read this online.

I figure why chance it? The vet said salty water or peroxide.

GAD

[This message has been edited by GAD (edited 08-03-2000).]

 

[GAD]

OK so in carefully examining Daisy's stools, we've discovered that she's eaten chicken bones also from the garbage.

This sucks. We are Sooo very careful about corn and chicken in the garbage. We have a covered bin in the kitchen, we cover such things with other trash and constantly reinforce that the garbage is off-limits.

One moment of "not looking" and life sucks at the GAD house.

Anyway the vet advised bread soaked in milk which Daisy just adored.

The saga continues...

All this on Cozy's birthday too. She's three!

GAD

 

[Lynne]

OK, GAD, it's that old Newfie Mom. Our old Andrew grabbed an entire roast chicken as I closed the oven door, bolted the whole thing before I could get it shut- no problem! I gave him some bread to cushion any bone splinters, on the advice of my vet, and there was never a problem. We lost him several yrs later, so obviously there was no reaction in his cast-iron gut.
Just last week, Marty forgot to bring in the 6 ears of corn he'd just husked. When I realized it, there were only 2 left! Each of the girls had helped herself to a full ear, cob and all! Again, no problems. I'd think that, as long as it wasn't a regular dietary addition and she's chewed it up pretty well, she should be OK.
The only totally Newf-proof garbage can I've ever found was a hard plastic regular garbage can style, with a bungee cord holding the handles together. I've had some incredibly inventive trash snatchers! Notice, I said HARD plastic. Had one who would knock the soft one over so she could push the side in and scoot her head in. She even got it back OUT!! When we did the TV show on FX with the Newfs, the training segment was on keeping your dog from garbage- stealing. Since Gussie had sniffed out the leftover pizza from lunch, I volunteered her as a demo dog. The cameraman sent a shot of her trash diving up to the control room, doubting whether they'd use it. Producer came down later, wanting to know whose idea it was. They loved it! GusGus went coast to coast, up to her shoulder in the wastebasket!

 

[Lin]

Well, my male Tux eats all manner of weird , undigestible stuff (kitchen towels, hair "scrunchies" a corncob or two whole, just cooked critters) So far, and I guess we have been lucky, everything has passed through in a day or two. The daughter is not thrilled with the loss of her hair "scrunchies" and recycling is out of the question.

Sounds like your sweetie will be just fine, just watch close for awhile and of course do whatever the vet says. Good luck.

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Lin

 

[Barbara]

Hi Gad-
When our Samantha was younger, she was a real garbage hound, also, and ate an entire corncob when one of the kids missed the can while scraping plates. We did the Hydrogen Peroxide bit too, to no avail. I believe our vet had us wait about 2 days - she was still having bowel movements, but no cob. On the morning of the third day, with no warning, she just threw it all up. At no time did she stop eating, or seem in distress. We are lucky and our vet lives two blocks away, and came over to check on her occasionally.

However, I understand that they can get lodged and require surgical removal, in tough cases. Good luck - I hope she gets rid of it on her own!

Our garbage can is now a heavy metal one, with a close fitting lid that can't be opened up by Newfie noses - only the foot pedal, or knocking the can over. I don't know who makes them, but I believe they are perhaps made in Sweden? I think we got ours in Bed, Bath & Beyond a few years ago.

Hope Daisy has surprised you by now & given up the cob.

 

[GAD]

Thank you everyone who has posted and sent me emails.

She has not produced the eaten cobs in anny manner yet, but has passed some chicken bones which scared me to death. MAN they were shrp little buggers. Daisy seems to not mind though except for the loose stools.

We have our dogs trained to stay away from the garbage, and they are very good about it, but Daisy must have been hungry and feeling quite spunky to have snitched from the trash. Ah well.

So far Daisy is fine, but a little miffed becasue she's not getting milk soaked bread tonight.

We're still on the lookout for corncob, and I will let everyone know what happens.

Thanks again everyone. I love this group of people.

-GAD-

 

[Lynne]

Glad Daisy's doing fine, GAD. Just remember, NEVER underestimate a determined Newf!! If they want something, they usually find a way to get it! Good thing most of them have cast iron stomachs!

Lynne

 

[Annie Milliron]

Hi all!

Glad Daisy is doing ok! GAD, I know exactly how you feel.. the panic, the worry, the lack of sleep, because our Sadie is "Counter Surfer Extrordanaire"!!!! She has epilepsy, and is on phenobarbitol, which makes her very hungry. So... anything within range is fair game, in her 'less than humble' opinion.

She has scarfed down a myriad of things, some that kept us all night with worry. We blame ourselves too, but... having taken all precautions, removing everything out of her reach, the fates sometimes dont cooperate.

Anyhoo... after one particular event, I cant exactly remember which one... but it had to do with a bone I believe, our vet gave us a prescription of something similar to Petromalt... which is used for cats and hairballs. SO, when our dear girl inhales something undesirable, we feed it to her, and she loves it. It seems to help "ease" the item along, which eventually appears somewhere in the yard.

Luckily, we are having fewer and fewer of these episodes... we're always on alert, and... she has learned the meaning of the word "NO".. well almost always anyway!!!

 

[Lynne]

Annie, PLEASE get the name of that stuff and tell us! I think it would be a good thing to have on hand. Maggie likes to play with small boulders and such. We often find 5 or 6 on the deck! Who knows WHAT else she's gotten into?

Lynne

 

[Annie Milliron]

Lynne, I will call first thing Monday morning and get the name of the stuff that our vet gave us. However, after we used it all up, we found something called Petromalt at our local Petsmart. I have seen it at many other petstores as well, and also in most of the pet supply mail order catalogs! It's not expensive, and just a nice safe guard!

It comes in a tube, just like toothpaste. It is malt flavored, and I think it is also available in fish flavor- ick!

Because the dosage on the label if for cats, we obviously increased it into Newf proportions. We just squeezed it on to our finger... (2-3 inches) and let her lick it off, and then repeated. She really loved it.

We gave her the petromalt 3-4 times a day.

I'll get back to you all on Monday, with the name of the stuff I actually got from the vet!

Annie

 

[Jeannie]

I have not been online for a few days and I had to chuckle when I read about the corn cob. Samantha LOVES corn cobs and we have to put them out of her reach or she will eat them. About a month ago she ate about 3 corn cobs. Anyway she just poops them out and I clean up corn for a few days. It has never hurt her at all. They are all in pieces where she chewed them. Annie, I want to know about that stuff. Sound like it will be good to keep on hand with my "trash can checker" girl. One of Sam's "jobs" is to constantly check the trash to make sure nothing good is going to waste. We talked yesterday and we are going to get sticky velco and velco the lid shut!!!!

 

[GAD]

Latest update: Daisy still seems fine.

This morning I found a chunk of corn cob on the rug - my guess is Daisy coughed it up last night.

It's a never ending adventure...

GAD

 

[GAD]

Well - if you ever doubted the stories of the corcobs, I'm here to tell you they're true.

This morning Daisy ate some grass then proceeded to vomit. My wife noticed something odd (We've been watching here closely since the incident), and upon closer examination, discovered that Daisy had puked up a black, rotting disgusting piece of month-old corncob. YUCK!

The piece was about 1.5-2 inches in diameter, and was by far the biggest piece we've seen.

I am amazed that something could stay in her stomach for almost a month like that, but I saw it with my own eyes.

Anyway hopefully that's the last of it. Daisy has taken the whole thing in stride and seems none the worse for wear.

Life with Newfs is never boring.

GAD

[This message has been edited by GAD (edited 08-31-2000).]

 

[Lynne]

You know, I often wonder what we'd find in the stomachs of our garbage-gut Newfs! Fortunately, they usually can eat anything and will more often than not have no problems. But it really is scary, isn't it?
I'm still wondering about the raw corncobs that each of my 4 enjoyed so thoroughly.
No, it's never dull!

 

[mudji]

Just for grins one night, my mother gave the boys some leftover corn, on the cob. Angus was not interested in it at all, but Mowgli stood there and ate the corn off the cob, with his flea teeth just like a human would eat it. It was too funny. Then he started to eat the cob like a bone. That time we let him eat it since he was chewing it up. But... later... when it came back up again, we came to the conclusion that he didn't need to eat the cobs, no matter how small he chewed the pieces.

Now we have to be very careful about where we wave corn on the cob. Mowgli still likes to chew it. It really is funny to watch... My mom turned the cob so he could get to the fresh kernels. We were both laughing so hard that night.

 

[sven]

Wow, I'm glad I found this. We used to give them to Sven, not knowing they were bad.
He's eaten some pretty disturbing things. I once found him eating a Coke can. When i found him, he'd already eaten(not just chewed) half of it. He wasn't bleeding and never had any bloody stools.

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Fred