Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by Diana

Hello everyone. I am just sick this morning over our breakfast occurance. Macy is 3 months old and we are housebreaking, so I was so excited when she went to the back door and barked to go out. This was a major milestone. My excited was stopped short when I heard my daughter run in the house to say macy had a bird in her mouth. I ran out there to try to save the bird, however the more I tried the more obsessed acting Macy became. Not aggressive towards me but determined to mark her claim on this poor bird. Needless to say she consumed the WHOLE thing. Bones and all. After I got over the disgusted feeling I soon turned my concentration on the health of my 3 month old baby Macy. I called the vet and she said this was normal behavior for some dogs and to watch to make sure she has a bowel movement. She may develop diarrehea and to give her Pepto Bismal. She also informed me to watch for any abnormal behavior. She has only had 2 rounds of shots and is to go Friday for her 3rd. Im worried sick that she will develop some disease. That was an awful big bird compared to her little body. It was a baby bird but shes only 3 pounds. Has anyone had any experience with this and is there a reason to be overly concerned which I am. My husband says she'll be alright but I just have this fear. We lost our 10 yr. old dalmation this year and Macy has filled up our hearts again. I guess this is why I have such a big fear. Thanks in advance.

DISCUSSION:

Diana, I know how you feel about the bird. Before I got Lucy I had a dear, sweet silky terrier--gentlest boy in the world. One day we were walking and he spied a baby bird that had fallen from its nest. Before I could blink he had it and killed it. I was sick. You kind of hate to think your "child" could do something like this. As for Macy, since she is so young, what I would watch for especially is that her bowels are regular. Also, if she starts throwing up TAKE HER IMMEDIATELY to the vet. When Lucy had been with me for only a couple of weeks, she started throwing up every few minutes and getting "flatter and flatter." I took her to vet...we xrayed her and she had what looked to be a pine needle in her tummy. She must have picked it up on a walk (it was winter and often walks were in the dark). It did pass, but I had to feed her rice and chicken for a week or so. I would worry about the bones from the bird causing some problems--a blockage of some kind. Let us know how she is. And remember, she didn't know she did a "wrong" thing.
-cathy brown

Hope you're darling is doing okay. My little Sweet Pea is a terror on small prey. Birds, or bird parts, generously left by the cats, mice, shrews, little frogs or lizards--it's awful. Trying to get the hapless victims out of her mouth is worse! She tends to gulp just when I think I might succeed in taking them from her. And, she's so happy with her "prize," trotting so joyfully, and then sooo angry at me for trying to get it from her! Horrible brat-dog!! I love her madly and worry she'll get deathly sick. She hasn't though. Perhaps, she figures rightly, after that behavior, I'll look more kindly on rug-chewing and paper shredding.
-Maria

I know it's hard to think of our dogs as anything but canines, but the reality is that they are and they think like canines. It's a normal behavior for them to do this. Notice the next time your dog plays with a plush, how they shake it in their mouth, indicative of what would happen if the toy was real--they don't have those long sharp teeth for nothing. We have some friends that live on a ranch in Temecula, CA. They have a couple of Whippets. One of the Whippets, Pepper, job is to take care of the mice, which he successfully does. He knows when his name is called what it is for. The owner tells me the only problem she has with it is when she hears the bones crunching. As discusting as this sounds in our human ways, it is the way of a dog. I know I would be appalled to see my dog eating a living thing, especially a baby, but I couldn't rationalize it in my eyes, but in my dog's eyes. When I was little we had a Boston Bull Terrier named Buddy. He had one white eye and one black eye. He was very gentle with me. I was a terror to that dog when I was little. My mother would put Buddy in my playpen to keep me away from him! Buddy never bit me. If I crossed his line of tolerance, he would gently hold my hand in his mouth, but would never bite me. One day when my grandmother was babysitting me, I went running down the hall and exclaimed to my grandmother, "Look at all the pretty yellow feathers on the floor by the fireplace grandma!" My grandmother came running and said "Oh my God! Buddy ate the canary Jingles!" Buddy got scolded and got what my grandmother thought he deserved anyway, he threw up! Someone must have left the cage door open and Jingles flew out. Buddy did only what was normal for Buddy being the dog that Buddy really was even though we treated him as human.
-Vicki

Hi, Diana---how's Macy doing??
-Maria

Hi Maria. Im glad to say that Macy is fine. It didn't seem to affect her one bit. Never changed her bowles or anything. What a scare that was for me. Thanks for your concern. Very kind of you.
-Diana