What do you do
if your puppy (or mischievous older dog)
gets into your holiday decorations and
eats some of the glass ornaments? This
potentially lethal mishap can darken
even the brightest holiday season.
BEFORE the
holiday go to a pharmacy & buy a box of
cotton balls. Be sure that you get
COTTON balls...not the "cosmetic puffs"
that are made from man-made fibers.
Also, buy a quart of half-and-half
coffee cream and put it in the freezer.
Should your dog
eat glass ornaments, defrost the
half-and-half and pour some in a bowl.
Dip cotton balls into the cream and feed
them to your dog.
Dogs under 10
lbs. should eat 2 balls which you have
first torn into smaller pieces. Dogs
10-50lbs should eat 3-5 balls and larger
dogs should eat 5-7. You may feed larger
dogs an entire cotton ball at once. Dogs
seem to really like these strange
"treats" and eat them readily.
As the cotton
works its way through the digestive
tract it will find all the glass pieces
and wrap itself around them. Even the
teeniest shards of glass will be caught
and wrapped in the cotton fibers and the
cotton will protect the intestines from
damage by the glass.
Your dog's
stools will be really weird for a few
days and you will have to be careful to
check for fresh blood or a tarry
appearance to the stool. If either of
the latter symptoms appear you should
rush your dog to the vet for a checkup
but, in most cases, the dogs will be
just fine.
