Sticks and Stones May Break Your Dog
Surprisingly a large number of people are still putting their pet's life at risk by throwing sticks and stones for them.
A simple game of 'fetch' while out walking, or skimming stones along the beach, could potentially cause serious injury or death for your dog.
Aside from the instant injury of a stick becoming lodged in the ground at a lethal angle, ready to impale your dog as it races to retrieve it's 'toy' - dogs can choke, bleed to death, or die of lethal infections caused by playing with sticks.
Sticks can crumble and splinter leaving small particles lodged in your dog's mouth, without immediately obvious symptoms. These dangers can pose a risk of infection which, left undetected and untreated could potentially be fatal.
Skimming stones into the sea is a familiar pastime during days out on the beach but what seems like another risk-free game can lead to serious illness and injury.
Most dogs are great when it comes to catching flying objects and can easily intercept pebbles. Many pebbles that are smaller than the dog's throat can be accidentally swallowed, while larger ones can crack or dislodge your pet's teeth.
Slab fractures can be caused when the dog bites down on a hard object with enough force to break off a flake or slab of tooth. Objects that are hard enough to do this include bones, sticks and stones and this damage can lead to removal of the damaged tooth.
The oesophagus of the dog is larger than the outlet of the stomach, so pebbles that are small enough to swallow may actually be too large to pass through the digestive tract.
A swallowed pebble may go unnoticed until it produces symptoms but since time is always of the essence, delays in diagnosing an obstruction due to a lack of symptoms can prove fatal.
Apart from the obvious danger and distress that sticks and stones pose to your dog's well-being, the cost of treatment can also run into the £100's and £1000's.
While many pet owners have invested in good quality insurance for their dogs, there are companies that will not cover the cost of all the treatment and many pets are still uninsured.
With an abundance of alternative toys readily available, including rubber throwing toys, suitably sized balls or a Frisbee, the game of 'fetch' does not have to stop, it just has to be safe, for you and your pet.
Many dogs will go out for a walk in the park or a run on the beach and head home in completely good health after a day of chasing stones and retrieving sticks BUT for others it may be the last game they play.
Are you still prepared to take the risk...
We asked Hillside Vets for their opinion on the dangers of throwing sticks for dogs.
It is thought that stick injury numbers may equal the number of dog's involved in road accidents annually and the average vet may see 1-3 stick injuries a year. We would urge owners to use rubber throwing toys (e.g. KONG Safestix) or a suitably sized ball instead.
For owners, the risk of throwing sticks involves thousands of pounds worth
of vet bills if the damage is serious.
For vets, these are one of the most frustrating kinds of injury as they can be prevented by simply not throwing sticks.
Many stick injuries are minor, involving scratches to the skin or lining of the mouth but some are more horrific, leading to paralysis of limbs, life-threatening blood loss and acute and chronic infections.
The main problem is that sticks can be very sharp, as well as being covered in bacteria, fungi and yeasts from the environment. This means that, as the dog runs onto them or grabs them in its mouth, the end of the stick can easily pierce the skin, going through it to penetrate the tissues at the back of the mouth, tongue, throat, oesophagus or neck and chest. Commonly, pieces of stick break off and remain inside the neck.
A study at the Royal Veterinary College showed several dogs involved in the study died as a result of their stick injury and these deaths almost always involved resistant bacteria and infection that spread from the neck to the chest. What this research shows is that dogs that are allowed and encouraged to play with sticks can sustain serious injuries that result in bleeding to death, paralysis or acquiring infections that will kill them days or weeks later.
The cost can be huge, treatment may run into the thousands of pounds and they may still ultimately die.
Hillside Vets are based in the village of Corfe Mullen, three miles south of Wimborne, in Dorset.
For more information visit www.hillsidevets.com