You Will Not Believe What Your Pet Eats

(CBS)  The dog ate my homework and that was just for starters. Shocking X-rays reveal the strange things that wind up in the stomachs of our pets, reports CBS-2's Dave Carlin.

CBS 2 got the inside story. At the Dewitt Clinton Dog Run on Manhattan's West Side we met dog owners with "tails" to tell.

Carol Sumner's beagle "Snoopy," "ate half of a rubber ball once," she said. "I was just hoping it didn't get stuck there but fortunately it came out."

Patricia Smith's dog is named "Richmond."

"He ate my phone," she said.

Kevin Jenkins, whose dog is named "Arnold" said, "He eats paper towels for some reason. He's obsessed with them."

Veterinarian Amy Zalcman is an expert in figuring out the unusual things canines and cats consume. Showing us a series of 10 X-rays, we saw that dogs are often money hungry. One dog had swallowed a stack of coins.

"The penny when it gets digested can cause trouble with their red cells and the red cells get destroyed," she said.

CBS 2 HD was shown the X-ray of a Bull Terrier puppy who ate a kitchen knife and survived.

So did a cat that swallowed a needle, which was lodged at the back of the throat. The surgery to remove it took place before the needle traveled to the cat's brain.

Other X-rays revealed a tiny metal engine from a toy car, a pencil, earrings, a collection of rocks and more.

Making his CBS 2 HD debut was my own dog, "Lou." Lou likes rip the stuffing from his dog toys, which is a dangerous habit because the material he ingests could cause obstructions and they won't show up on X-rays.

That is also true of other things dogs like to eat, namely socks and underwear.

You may say "not MY pet," but remember they will never confess. The X-rays, however, never lie.

General warning signs your pet ate something potentially dangerous include diarrhea, vomiting, weakness, pale gums and collapse.

Local Video from CBS 2 HD in New York

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[BanfieldPetHospital]

Check out some more strange food items at http://ow.ly/1pz0h. Dr. Tim Kolb at Banfield, The Hospital of Easton Market, OH discusses cases where he had to treat for ingestion of a foreign object.

-Banfield, The Pet Hospital
http://www.banfield.net
http://www.sitandstayblog.com

[barbaram99]

People have told me about dogs that ar eyes for us blind..I would rather use my Canadian made white cane which is better made than our American made one.
Back to the pet issue..When Zoey's master went on holiday we sat her and she stayed with us as she knew us..Once he brought down dog food and we opened the bag..I said no way..It smelt awful..I went to store and bought her dog food that I thot she would eat..Kept the bag I bought here so when she did visit. In the house she did not wear her coller till she went out doors. She got a some turkey after she ate her dog food as it was Thanksgivens or Christmas..It is true they have different diet needs than people..That is way the dog food. Alot of people treat their pets as people which they are not..
Labs are used as dog guides for the blind..I know about the older pop bottles of years ago.
I don't wear nyoon/panty hose..What was not the her/his quarters dog proof..Zoey was an older dog but still when she use to visit it was safe for her..She had one bad habit..She would drink out of the toilet.We closed the the lid.So we put water down for her ..She had rules when she visited.. She passed on in Jan of 07.She would head for the trash can..She got a NO. That was another reason we kept food for her.

[drthvader]

I think an animal in anybody's life is great. Sounds as if you loved Zoey. My cats eat catfood and sometimes the wildlife from my wooded corner lots. I never like it when they kill baby rabbits, squirrels and
various birds, but they are predators. I hate that part of them, but I adore them. They also like peanut butter when they can beg it from me and I'm a softie when it comes to them. I also have a visiting cat named stubs. My cats are like Garfield from the comic strip, they will snatch anything. They, then act so hurt when I scold them. I can't help it I gotta hurt their feelings sometimes.

[erasmus111]

by barbaram99 May 20, 2010 5:31 PM EDT
..I would rather use my Canadian made white cane which is better made than our American made one.


I remember you saying that you had a white cane made in Canada. I don't mean to brag, Barbara, but we make a lot of good things here. Hahaha!


"She would drink out of the toilet."

I hate that. I don't think that it's good for them because of what we clean them with. Although I have started using vinegar. It disinfects and isn't toxic.

Some people actually train their cats to do their "business" in the toilet. : )

[barbaram99]

I am not a dog owner..They will eat stuff on the ground..They eat poop..It don't surprise me..Pet owners have pet proff their quarters as if a small child lives there. They have to learn the word no and it is up to ye to baby/child/pet proof yer place. I know nothing of cats other than they are all over the place. A lady I knew has a cat and Vincent loved to tear up newspapers and so she kept them out of her apt. I don't think he ate it..Vincent just tore it up and made a mess.I was visiting a person who had a dog..I was told to give her bones from my meal..I would not. His dog would visit us and we would have her down..She hated fans..The computer never bothered her. I walked her once and she was hard to walk..I was mindful of what was on the ground and she knew my tone of no..It was firm and different.I had dog food for her..Her master told me she would not eat it..I told him to just leave her be and she will eat it..Yep the dog did.When she was alive he fed her God only knows what..We did dog sit..We loved Zoey..We did not mind..She is still missed.

[erasmus111]

by barbaram99 May 20, 2010 3:37 PM EDT
I had dog food for her..Her master told me she would not eat it..I told him to just leave her be and she will eat it..Yep the dog did.When she was alive he fed her God only knows what..


Some people think that they are loving their animals and being kind if they feed them their human food. They are KILLING them with their so called kindness. My mother-in-law fed her dogs meat, that's it. They suffered horribly with calcium deposits. My neighbour only fed her dog chicken. I told her that it wasn't getting the right nutrients from just eating chicken. She told me that he wouldn't eat anything else. I told her that he would if she quit feeding it to him. And I was right because when they went on holidays, and I was looking after him, I fed him good old fashioned dog food. He ate it.

Another reason the poor thing didn't eat properly was because his collar was too big and they had all these tags hanging off it. It dangled into his food and he had to keep backing up and going at it again. One time I went over and his paw was stuck in the collar (because it was too big). I fixed it though. I tightened it up a bit and took all the extra tags off it.

Some people just shouldn't have pets. : )

[erasmus111]

I had a cat that ate paper towels.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that for cats, you should never leave anything out that is long and stringlike. Like wool, string, thread, TINSEL. For some reason they are attracted to it. I had a cat that ate a very long shoelace once. Ones like you use for roller blades. The only way that I knew it, was I found it in the litter box. I was horrified.

The problem is that when they start chewing on it, they just keep on chewing because they can't spit it out. So they will keep chewing and swallowing until they come to the end of it. I stopped using tinsel on my Christmas tree because of that. They say that the tinsel gets wrapped around their intestines, or something, and it will kill them.

[erasmus111]

Another thing that is deadly for cats...FABRIC SOFTENER. If they lay on anything with fabric softener in it or on it, it can make them sick.

[drthvader]

I'm happy to learn about the fabric softener since I didn't know. There are two lively cats at my house who own me and eat everything.

[peguesplace]

Just about anyone who has had a Labrador retriever will have tales of things they have eaten.. I've had Labs for twenty-odd years and am still amazed.. The dog I have now eats paper towels.
Once I took a half-eaten Coke bottle(old green glass) from a Yellow lab.. One morning, years later, his son was happily crunching on a mayonaise jar..
The worst was a pair of panty hose.. Didn't know about them 'til the poor critter started dragging his behind on the ground and whining... It finally passed, with some help from me..(Ugh!) Six feet long.. Stood on the end and the dog pulled away from me.. The poor fellow was mighty relieved(pun), to say the least...

[drthvader]

HaHa...Do you still have labs?