WARNING TO ALL DOGS OWNERS - Page 1

Our 12 month old German shepherd dog nearly lost his life today. Phill and I were playing with our two shepherds in the field next to where we live. They love to run and play especially with a ball on a rope. How fun can turn so quickly into panic and devastation. Saffie ran for the rope ball then brought it back for a tug of war, before releasing it. When suddenly! the ball detached from the rope which made it catapult straight to the back of his throat. I began to lift Saffie’s back legs in the air, whilst Phill tried to reach for the ball. The more he tried, the further it went down Saffie’s throat. He was now choking badly. We needed to get to a vet very quickly; I rushed home with our other dog Quenna, and got the car. We drove immediately to our vet which was 15 minutes away. It was Saturday they were closed at 1.00pm the time was 3.00pm. I flagged a stranger down on the road and asked if we could use his phone, we had rushed out without one. We phoned the emergency vet who said come straight away, this was another 15 min drive, by this time Saffie’s breathing was slow, he was choking to death with lots of white froth, coming out of his mouth. We arrived at the vets, Phill carried him in and placed him on the vets table, he was so good his tail wagging, for all the attention, he was getting from the staff. They told us to wait in the waiting room, while they operated on him. They did a two pronged attack, they squeezed the throat behind the ball and at the same time they pulled it out.
The vet gave us the ball, you know what we did with it, yes BINNED IT. The vet said we were very lucky because the ball had holes through it for the rope to thread; this is what kept Saffie alive. If it were an ordinary ball (tennis ball) he would have died. We waited an hour whilst Saffie came out of his anaesthetic and was able to take home.
I am asking everyone to think before playing with your dog, do not use a ball, do not play with sticks, which I have never done. I thought I was safe with a rope ball but will never purchase one again. I will stick with our knotted ropes. Please spread this awareness to people with dogs. I would not want any dog owner to go through what we experienced.

Next day Saffie was back to his self, playing with his mum as if it never happened.

Wow...glad everything turned out ok. Sounds scary.

Ball on a rope, ball off a rope, either way, one simple thing will protect your dogs from this experience:  NEVER let your dog play with a ball that's small enough for the dog to get in it's mouth past the canine teeth.  If it can get past those teeth, it can get lodged in the back of the throat. 

It's up to us to make sure we're using the appropriate-sized toys for our dogs. :)

As for sticks, you'll get no argument from me there--too much can go horribly wrong at a moment's notice. Granted, dogs have played with sticks for eons and the accidents and injuries are not common, but when it's your dog that dies from an accidental impalement or a torn esophagus, or experiences a minor injury from a piece of stick getting wedged behind the molars, it doesn't matter how commonly it happens--you'll never let a dog of yours so much as LOOK at a stick again.

I'm glad everything turned out okay.

We'll think twice before playing with a ball on rope............ 

D.P..

1) Tennis balls are the number one cause of choking deaths in dogs such as GSDs and Goldens. NEVER let your dog play with a ball of that size, as Hexe has said.

2) Reaching into the mouth to remove the ball will only tend to push it farther down the throat.  The best way to get the ball out is to go at it from the underside of the jaw.  I used to have a link to an article somewhere that explained how to do this. I think you press forward with both thumbs. The Heimlich maneuver, if you know how to do it, may also work.

I'll try to find that article.

Edit: not the exact one I was looking for, but it gets the point across: blogs.inlandsocal.com/pets/2010/04/tennis-balls-are-dangerous-for.html

Thank you, I sent the link to my daughter, she has a crazed ball GSD.

Are Kool Kongs on a rope safe?

Michele

I'm so glad your boy is okay, how terrifying!  When I was a kid, my brother and I were playing fetch with our German Shorthair Pointer and he got to the stick before it stopped tumbling.  He grabbed for it and it went through the rood of his mouth.  Lots of blood, panic!  My father was at work with the only car so we could not get him to the vet.  The bleeding stopped, thank goodness, and he was actually alright, but it was scary.  I've heard of balls getting lodged in the throat and I never use one that fits in the mouth.  I prefer tugs or Jolly Balls, with a handle. 

Quenna,
I am glad that things turned out ok for you and your dog. It reminds me of friends and fellow club members many years ago who lost a beautiful young Rottie female that way. A tennis ball lodged in her throat and she died in the car on the way to the vet! This has always stuck with me and therefore, some dogs are too ball crazy and should not play with them. If you do play with your dog fetching a ball, always, always throw it away from the dog, never towards it. Others, like my old female were never without a tennis ball at any times and nothing ever happened. My old girl used to sleep with them in her mouth and just "kneeded" them like dough and when she died, I buried her with several of them, so she would never be without one on the other side of the bridge.
Sticks can be dangerous too. Some vets recommend to never ever teach your dog to play with them and to discourage picking them up. Anything from abcessed teeth (happened to one of my young girls) to punctured esophagus can happen. Not good!