Benji bites off more than he can chew!
“My dog has a bone stuck on his jaw!” came the emergency call last Friday night. Small fragments of fragile bones and sticks quite commonly get stuck inside the mouth but Benji had got himself into a much more unusual situation. His owners had given him a hollow bone stuffed with treats to keep him occupied for an hour or so. But such was Benji’s determination to get every last scrap out of the bone, he had managed to force his entire lower jaw, teeth and tongue into the bone cavity. The bone was now completely stuck! Despite Benji (and his owners) being admirably calm, the bone proved impossible to remove with Benji awake.
Fortunately, with some lubrication and gentle manipulation with Benji under a general anaesthetic, we were able to release Benji from his treat. Incredibly the bone had caused no injuries to Benji’s teeth or jaw and he was up and about an hour later as if nothing had happened.
We definitely encourage the use of chews and food toys to keep dogs entertained and calm when they are left alone for short periods. Many dogs feel anxious or unsettled when their owners depart and providing a food toy can turn this experience into a positive one. I have never encountered a problem with this particular bone type before and think that Benji and his owners were just very unlucky. Nevertheless, I will now advise owners to double check that the cavity inside these bones or inside Kongs and other puzzle toys is either much larger or much smaller than the lower jaw.
But dogs will be dogs, and if there is trouble to be found we can be sure that they will find it! That's why Acorn House has one of its own vets on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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