my choking scare
 

I didn't post about this when it happened because it really shook me up and I didn't want to talk about it. At the beginning of the month I was giving the dogs their Heartguard. I usually cut each into thirds and I give Gracie and Sugar their's and my daughter takes her dog Spike into another room and gives him his. They get so excited it is just madness with all three jumping on each other and trying to steal each other's "treat". My daughter wasn't home so I decided to make it easier and just cut the heartguard in half. Oh God, huge mistake. When it was Sugar's turn he inhaled it and started choking. I could tell he was choking but hardly any sound was coming out of him meaning hardly any air was getting in. I honestly did not know what to do. I grabbed him upside down and shook him a little tiny bit but he is barely three pounds and I was scared to death I'd hurt him worse. I was crying and screaming for my husband and he came in and checked Sugar and said he was breathing and give him a second to see if he'd work it down or up. I was honestly shaking like I was having a seizure- I thought I was literally going to pass out. Sugar was foaming at the mouth and I was frantically looking up the emergency vet's number because of course this was a Sun. night. Anyway he did work it down and obviously is fine.

My husband told me after I had finished having my meltdown that he could tell Sugar was getting air (he was holding him and could feel he was breathing) and if he wasn't he would have tried heimlich which on a 3 lb dog would be terrifying. He got his other half of his Heartguard much later that night cut up into 8ths. I was up half of the night checking on him because I couldn't convince myself he was okay. It was really awful. Please be careful with Heartguard or anything if your dog is a scarfer like Sugar.

I usually give all 3 dogs one half of a Petrodex dental chew everyday but I have been scared to death to let him have anything except dogfood after this. I haven't even let him have a flossie. What do you do when a dog chokes? How can I make sure this doesn't happen again?

I'm not sure what you do, I'm anxious to hear from others. I have a scarfer too. My friend brought some chicken jerky treats when she was visiting. My husband noticed that her dog would really chew up the pieces of jerky, while my Chewy would just swallow the pieces whole. We decided it probably wasn't a good treat for him, we were afraid he would choke on them. Anyway, thanks for the reminder!

Wow how scary. I am glad Sugar is okay. I had a choking scare with Jewels with the heartquard also. It was the whole thing and was forcing her to take it like I have to every month. Anyway I put her on my knee and patted the back of her throat and she swallowed it . Now I cut it in half

I'm glad you posted this, thank you! It reminds me to do two things:
1. Cut up Kalina's Heartguard (the first time I gave it to her I gave her the whole thing and she's was about 2# at the time).
2. Post an emergency Vet #, which I have no idea where it is or who!!
That must have been a scare.

You are probably doing the best thing by breaking them up into small pieces. Those Heartgards make me nervous too because they are SO dense. Juju wouldn't eat them...she's real small too. I told the Vet and he gave me small PILLS instead. I'd rather deal with getting her to take them. Maybe you could try that.

wow almost the same exact thing happened to us i was taking laceys heart guard out of the package and she grabbed it out of my hand whole inhaled it and couldnt breath at all. i tried to do heimlich on her it didnt work, she was starting to fall over and pass out she still couldnt breath. hubby came and tried to shove it down her throat and then she was able to make a couch sound kind of, but then foam was comming out of her nose. neighbor works at the vet ran lacey over there she couldnt get it to go down so we called the vets home and ran her in it went down all the way by the time we got her there but he still did x rays to make sure she was ok. i freaked out this whole time, i had just had a human baby die from strept and pulminary adema that i was watching in sept and cant take stressfull things like that still. lesson learned now i take the heart guard out and cut it up at the counter so she cant snatch it outt of my hand. grrrrr

That would have been so scary. Everyone who uses Heartgard you could get Interceptor and make it lots easier on yourself. They are pills but they are about 1/2-2/3 the size of a large pea. Ellie does wonderful on them.

Wow iam so happy she is ok, Any choking experience can be so scary, I took molly over to play with my sisters baby last week end and she gave her a chicken jerky stix, she started choking right away, i didnt know what to do, i freaked and put my finger in her throat while my sister is yelling , dont do that, you will push it down further, omg i was releived when she thru it up, never again will sge get a treat like that, those are dangerous,

I'm glad he's ok, and I'm sure he'll be getting bitty size pieces from now on.

OMG that must have been so scary to witness your baby choking, I too would have been freaking out...like others have stated, I would stick to cutting it up into small pieces. Glad to here he is okay...

oh what a scare! I always freak out when I think that Bengi might be choking. Thanks God Sugar is fine!!!!!

I'm sorry it happened too. It must have been terrifying :)

Still, I would like to hear what to do if a dog (especially a small one) is choking?

Oh, how scary!

Here is a doggie heimlich: http://warreneckstein.com/pettips_hm.html

I can't tell you how glad I am that Sugar is okay. Whew...that would have been terrifying. :eek:

Anyone who can tell us the first aid for choking dogs would be my hero also.

Thanks for all of the responses and thank you so much Wylie's Mom for the link- I'm going to go read it after I post.

I'll definitely cut his heartguard into tiny pieces from now on but I'm nervous about any treat now. I guess I'll stick with tiny treats that wont hurt if he does happen to swallow them whole. It stinks because now I can't use the dental chews. They loved them and I really loved them because it kept their breath completely neutral and scentless and they have the enzymes that are supposed to help with tooth health. Not worth the risk though.