Chocking with Bully Sticks
 

We almost lost our 2lb yorkie on Friday when she had 3 pieces of a bully stuck in her esophagus. She loves them and the pet store had recommend them for her but to my surprise I found out yesterday they are not good for dogs under 5lbs. I feel horrible for not doing better research before I gave it to her. Does anyone know what would be good for such a small yorkie that she can chew on?

Bully sticks aren't if they aren't contaminated or to small. If she go 3 pieces stuck they musta been already small and she swallowed them? Or it was old an gooey and she swallowed these pieces?? I give Moki a Bully and make sure he chews supervised. To small I throw it away or when it's to old or gets gooey . He needs to chew and he wont chew anything else. He will go after baseboards if he doesn't have any. Which is worse if he swallows splinters

Maybe a chew that is larger. It would be harder for her to break a piece off.

Mine don't get bully sticks anymore, after one almost choked to death

TG she's ok! Did the bully sticks break apart in 3 pcs, that is so dangerous! Is she still a puppy? Mine are all grown up & don't need chews anymore since they're not teething...but if she's still teething & needs a chew, I would try the himalayan chews. They last a lot longer & it doesn't stink. It's a hard cheese made out of yak's milk. They need to chew on it to soften it & kinda grind it off. Recently, I learned that you can put the smaller pcs in the microwave for 35-40 mins (I think?) & puff it out into bigger pcs.

They was the bigger bully sticks, and she chewed it so quick and did not see her break it off like that..

Thank you for the suggestion on the Himalayan chews, I might try them. She is 7 months old and still has her baby teeth so she still likes to chew.

Glad she's okay. I believe that all chew type things are choking hazzards, JMHO. Not worth the risk...

Thank you! I am finding that nothing is worth the risk.

I buy 12" long bully sticks for Gracie. She is about 10" long so there is no way she is getting it caught in her throat. I always take it away from her when it gets to be around 4".

I have seen various chew products for dogs in department stores and pet stores that are very dangerous. They are small enough to get caught in the throat and they have pieces that will break off. Vets will tell you that they have many cases yearly of dogs with these products lodged in the throat or stuck in the stomach.

Whatever you buy for your dog to chew make sure they cannot bite pieces off and that they remain big enough that they will not fit in the mouth.

I don't know what brand of bully stick you purchased but they must have been thin for her to be able to break into 3 pieces. There are some bad pet treat and chew companies out there that sell some poor quality products. Even though these dogs are small they can still chew a pretty thick chew product. Never buy them small chew products and make sure that the product is hard and will not be easily softened.

I agree, some bully sticks are more like food in that the dog can chew them too easily. They should be hard as a bone, and the dog should gnaw on them not chew them. If your dog can eat one in a couple of days or less, it's too soft. I hold Joey and Ralphie while they are chewing on their sticks, and they chew for about an hour each night.

So sorry this happened to you, and glad she's all right.

It depends on where you get them Ive had some that got from a pet store that got soft fast and others that I bought online that didnt

Thank you so much for all the great responses. Right now we are going to hold off on any chew things until she gets better and off all of her meds. With all of this it did end up giving her a few ulcers in her stomach also.

Sorry that happen. I am glad she is ok.

When they get smaller do you toss them away or you let her eat the whole thing?

I am so sorry to hear that you had this close call but grateful she made it. I had a 3 lb. Yorkie who stopped breathing, almost choking to death on a piece of rawhide she swallowed and then had lodge in her throat so no air could pass. With these tiny dogs, one can't be too careful to watch what they are chewing and take it away if they are getting close to chewing through a piece enough to try to swallow. Anything that they swallow but don't choke on, could still pose a problem if it lodges in the intestine and becomes part of all of a blockage.

Tibbe only gets the very thin, flat rectangular rawhide chips now that I let him chew along the edges but if he starts seriously working on one and loosening up a large flap or something, I either toss it in the trash and give him a new one from the bag or cut off the bigger loose piece. He's only allowed to chew the edges to softness and not chew until he has a large area soft or about to be bitten through for fear he'll swallow it. I usually toss his chips chewed or not every day or two and put out new ones for him. Mostly he plays with them or carries them around in his mouth and hides them, digs them back out of the hiding place 15 minutes later and re-hides them.

Glad you posted the warning and glad your baby is okay - we just can't be too careful with very small dogs such as most Yorkies are in trying to manage their chewing while keeping them safe.

I started buying Tink the smaller deer antlers. These are very hard and they last forever. I have to give Tink something to chew on or she will find something else. She really likes to chew even at almost 3 years old.

The Sticks I get are thick. No way a Yorkie can chew quick. Takes 5lb 6mo Moki a couple days with some adult teeth JME. If they will chew something else try that. But only thing Moki will chew...thats not wood

i give my baby bully sticks but i cut the loose off when she chews to excess and i also throw them away when they get 1/2 to 3/4 the way down. i watch and they only get a bully when monitored so i am there is something happens.

In March 2012, Mickey swallowed a 6 inch bully stick!
Had to rush him to the ER vet within 5 min of him doing it.
Luckily, it was removed with surgery.
No more Bully's here...
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...t-surgery.html

Yeah I guess all dogs are different. Moki isn't a gobbler and won't try to eat the whole thing. But is they do that will a bully they may do that with anything??

I imagine a dog is way more likely to swallow the bully, greenie or rawhide chew than any object lying about as we give them those and they know they are theirs to chew with the object of eating them. That's what is so scary about chewies and things - we give them to the dogs and they see them as something good to eat as most of them smell good to them. And most chews get soft after a bit unlike a plastic ballpoint pen or something. None of my Yorkies ever chewed on anything else that wound up within their reach but they sure chewed their chewies - and tried/try to swallow when something was/is within swallowing size. And it is such a shame since these dogs love to chew things that smell good, have that chewie texture and get soft after a while! No doubt the chew things that aren't hard nylabones are dangerous to many dogs. But none of my Yorkies would or will touch a hard nylabone!

As w/any treat, supervision is required & it must be taken away when it gets too small.

Yes, when it gets around 2.5-3", I toss it. Wish I knew that I can nuke it in the microwave to make a whole new different puffy treat out of 'em...I probably threw out in total, a dozen pcs! loll

Mickey had never swallowed anything big or smaller before.
One minute it was there and he was chewing gently and the next it was gone.
It is hard to know what is "safe".

Lil' Miss Izzie looks forward to her bully stick every Saturday....it has become a weekly routine here. I give her the 6" bully sticks and she manages to finish it up with an hour...I have never had any problems with her and she is always very careful with her chewing....Guess she is just tired of hearing momma say "Chew It Good Princess" :-) I always monitor her when she is enjoying her "weekly treat" and so far in the past 5 years have never had any problems...

Gracie was always looking for something to chew before I got her the bully sticks. No matter how hard I tried to keep things out of her reach she would find something she should not have and start chewing. Plastic pens. shoes, paper, wood. She would search my closets, tables, anywhere to find something to chew. I was so concerned that she would finally find something that she would choke on or swallow and get a blockage.

The 12" bully sticks have been a blessing but I did go through several brands before I found one that was really safe. The Best Bully company that I buy from has very solid sticks that she cannot bite a piece off of. Any dog that has any chew product should be watched closely. I don't get to concerned until the stick gets down to about 6" and it takes at least a week or more for her to get it down that far. I do check the size a couple of times a day. Once it is 6" or under she can only have it when I am right there with her. Thankfully she stopped the destructive chewing behavior once I gave her the bully sticks and I have not found her chewing anything she is not supposed to have since.

Most chew products have labels that warn not to give them unsupervised but I think not many people pay much attention to the warning.

:thumbup::thumbup:

Same here, I stopped giving Peanut any type of chews: Bully sticks, Texas Toothpicks... he was getting stick from them-

Not worth the risk for us!

I buy the 7" Bully Sticks, and have given them to all my Dogs, however...

When they get short, like less than 1.5", I always take them away from my Guys. I "suspect" that the "shorties" have been swallowed by both Snickers and Becca at times, but, beyond just slowing/interrupting their intake of food, there has been no other consequences. They will digest in a day or so.

BUT ! :D...
Since I got Ichabod, and he's still rather small (2.3 Lbs), I can turn the 1.5"ers over to him for another .5" of consumption. You know that those sticks usually run about $0.25 inch.

Am I frugal, or, am I frugal. ;)

PS: I assure you I keep a VERY close eye on them (how short they get) and discard them.