# If your dog ever swallows a duck head...



## Guest (Apr 20, 2009)

you probably don't have too much to worry about...

I had a couple of crates of flyers on the bumper of the dog truck. When we got home from the hunt test last night, we left them there because it was pouring rain and very late.

This morning, I let out the little bitches in heat... Three of them. One of the ducks had died (was dead when I got them) and apparently its head was hanging out the crate.

I'm out there with Melissa, who works for me. And Melissa was calling Dolly and telling me she had something in her mouth -- typically cat or goose crap. But then Melissa announces that Dolly has a duck head in her mouth.

Well, Dolly has a bad possessive streak (not aggressive, she just won't come near you when she has something she wants). And as I called her, she came to me, but proceeded to GULP DOWN THE DUCK HEAD!!!

My first visions were of the ducks head plugging up her intestine and I thought about how funny it would look on x-ray and how much money it would cost to have it removed.

Then I thought... Maybe I should make her throw it up??? But would it come back up???

So I called the vet who proceeded to tell me that his dog had done it once. And that the skull and beak are actually quite soft and pretty digestible. So just give her some bread that might wrap around it and help it pass.

Well, that was 8am this morning... No duck parts have exited yet. I'm hoping they get digested. I'm really not in the mood to pay to have a duck head extracted from my dog!!!

-K


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## Jess (Apr 20, 2009)

If you're worried about sharp bits causing problems I've heard the cottonball remedy works wonders in a pinch. 

Spread PB or liverwurst on cottonballs and have your dog down them. The sharp edges of the object will catch the cotton blunting them and make it easier to pass without as much trauma.


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## Juli H (Aug 27, 2007)

I bet you won't have any problems with it Kristie....

give her at least 24 hours to pass it...Do you know if she chewed on it at all? 

An actual duck skull is not very big - I bet it will be in pieces when it comes out...

I had a chessie/lab mix that was notorious for eating birds if she had the opportunity...she once ate 3 ptarmigan that were in the back of the truck (I was not there - or she would never have had the opportunity!)....

Juli


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## John Robinson (Apr 14, 2009)

I used to work as project manager right next to a waterfowl refuge, so was able to hunt before going to work. This worked great with my old Golden Kimo. We would hunt for an hour or so in the morning, then I would go into the office at 8:00. I'd come out around 10:00 to air Kimo, and at lunch and the afternoon. I did this many times just leaving the dead ducks in the back of the truck with Kimo, never had a problem, nor even considered that the dog might eat a duck. Then we got Cody. 

The first time I did this with Kimo and Cody in the back of the truck, I came out at ten am and as far as I could tell, someone had chopped the duck's head off with a meat cleaver, left the totally pristine green head in the truck and stolen the body. That seemed pretty implausable, but there was no blood, feathers, feet, guts, not one sign of a duck left there. I kept my truck clean and had nice carpet in the topper, it was still clean, not a drop of blood. And both dogs looked totally innocent.

Only later that night as Cody cried as he pooped pieces of bone and feathers did we know for sure. I never left him alone with dead birds after that, though he was fine in a duck blind, which is more than I could say for my hunting buddy's lab. If my dog was able to pass a whole duck, wings, feet and all, I think a mere duck head would be a piece of cake, so to speak.

John


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## Colin Moody (Dec 16, 2008)

I've had one swallow an entire squirrel, didn't even chew once. Vet said to wait it out, never had a problem passing it. Pretty amazing the kinds of things they are able to digest.


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## Sissi (Dec 27, 2007)

What about giving her some sauerkraut?? It would speed up the digesting process.


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## Happy Gilmore (Feb 29, 2008)

Sissi said:


> What about giving her some sauerkraut?? It would speed up the digesting process.



Hate to clean up the airing yard after that adventure.....most rotted duck carcasses I have seen yield only small fragments of scull and a soft, sort of squishy beak......hope it all comes out alright....I'm always finding assorted rainbow colors of stuff in Kaie's pooh. Black Kong, Red Kong, this's and that's...I watch her closely but, I think she is the same way. She sees something she wants and eats it before I can take notice and get it away....

I was always so worried with her as a pup. Lost my last Chessie to torsion....probably why she learned to woof down anything interesting quickly....

Hope it all comes out nicely.....Paul


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## Fowl Play WA (Sep 16, 2008)

When Gunner was having some hard mouth problems, he ate the leg off of the pigeon. Out it came a few days later. Harleigh had fun making sure it passed. Every day she'd run around with the scoop picking up piles. I wish he'd eat something else.

Have you ever noticed how I don't have any fun stories about Stryke? He doesn't seem to lead such an adventurous life.


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## BOB_HARWELL (Jun 7, 2008)

She may quack when she passes gas.

BOB


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## Guest (Apr 21, 2009)

y'all are too funny... We'll be anxiously anticipating this morning's bowel movement when the dogs get out in about 45 minutes. I will certainly keep interested parties up to date. If it looks funny enough, I may even take a lovely picture. 

Was just thinking that if it DID come out in some recognizable form, maybe some other dog would come up behind her and scarf it up... now that would be fun. lol


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## john k (Jan 23, 2008)

this is one of those post you don't want to be eating breakfast when you read ;-) 
:barf:


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## Chris Atkinson (Jan 3, 2003)

I remember a movie where Tommy Chong followed his labrador with a baggie. 

I know an old field trialer who had a hardmouth problem with a dog that he had trouble curing in field trials. His solution was to put a whole dead duck in the dog's box before a trial (that morning) and walk away.

He never mentioned any blockage problems. He did say that this dog was good for no hardmouth for an entire day after getting the opportunity to eat that first one each morning.

Chris


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## Don Smith (Mar 23, 2004)

Sounds kinda familiar, Kristie. When I was laid up a couple of months ago with the broken ankle, the friend taking care of the kennel dogs and my flyers told me that one of my flyers had died. A day or so later, when I opened the back door to let the indoor dogs air, Abe, my old guy, ran back to the flyer pen. I saw him messing at the fence, but couldn't tell what he was doing. Well, he finally came running back to the house --- *with a green head in his mouth*. First time I've ever had a delivery to hand _in the house_. The drake head went straight down the disposer.


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## Scott Harris (Mar 16, 2005)

Kristie, 
Good one and it also points to the fact that as dog trainers its a bit weird how much time is spent worrying, waiting, etc for poop........... I consisder it one of the more relaxing parts of the day if the weather is good (how sick is that?.It sounds like a pretty safe one and you have see it all,but dogs always suprise us for better or worse dont they? I do many two week boot camps and on day one or two many of the dogs pass a sock,underwear, bedding, or parts of some cheap toy they should not have had. Those do scare me. Take care and we will be on edge waiting for the big moment. Maybe the dog food makers that put duck in their food will pay you big cash for a pic of you and the dog......... fame and fortune. You may need to lie about how it improved behavior, the coat, and all that other good stuff. I cant remember but it may have been Seinfeld that said when life from outer space shows up they will think the dogs rule the earth since we follow them around picking up their waste. I could be wrong on that one.

Scott Harris


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## Lisa Van Loo (Jan 7, 2003)

Too bad, Kristie, now your dog is ruined and will suffer from blood lust all the rest of her days.

True story (and some of those on here can back me up). There is a wingnut on another board who swears that if you feed duck-based dog food (like Taste of the Wild) to your dog, your dog will just kill and eat the birds you shoot.

If I was a 2x Pulitzer Prize Nominee, I couldn't make up stuff this good!

Lisa


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## lennie (Jan 15, 2003)

Kristie...........If swallowing duck heads is a problem, I sure hope there is a den of foxes this morning with a lot of constipation......(See my thread..."Grr need to vent....it's springtime I guess").

Hope your dog is okay, 

Earlene


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## Pat Puwal (Dec 22, 2004)

I remember years ago one of our Chesapeake bitches, Tory, ate a pigeon (except for the bill and feet). It kind of happened in one one big gulp. She was fine. She had just returned from the trainer for force fetching! After the one pigeon she quit eating anything like that so it must have gotten it out of her mind once and for all.


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## dreamer2385 (Jan 21, 2007)

Try the kitty stuff for hair balls, it is good to help the system pass things easier,,, 

maria


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## Guest (Apr 21, 2009)

lennie said:


> Kristie...........If swallowing duck heads is a problem, I sure hope there is a den of foxes this morning with a lot of constipation......(See my thread..."Grr need to vent....it's springtime I guess").
> 
> Hope your dog is okay,
> 
> Earlene


Yeah, I saw that!! LOL I'm so sorry... It's like the time we had just picked up 100 ducks and put them in the pen. Sunday morning, the next day, I looked over to the duck pen and noticed that it looked like the ducks were OUTSIDE the pen.... They were. And not only that, they were in groups of 2-6 all over our 8 acre lake... that was fun...


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## Happy Gilmore (Feb 29, 2008)

Lisa Van Loo said:


> Too bad, Kristie, now your dog is ruined and will suffer from blood lust all the rest of her days.
> 
> True story (and some of those on here can back me up). There is a wingnut on another board who swears that if you feed duck-based dog food (like Taste of the Wild) to your dog, your dog will just kill and eat the birds you shoot.
> 
> ...



That there's funny....A local hunting board had a guy describing how he knows of all these dogs that were fed raw diet and became aggressive.....good stuff on that commentary.....


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## Fowl Play WA (Sep 16, 2008)

CBR KAIE said:


> That there's funny....A local hunting board had a guy describing how he knows of all these dogs that were fed raw diet and became aggressive.....good stuff on that commentary.....


That local hunting board is fun to read. Makes me feel really smart. I'm sure a good portion of those morons are from my hometown, which makes me even prouder


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## TroyFeeken (May 30, 2007)

My dummie ate the head off an old mallard mount once, went right through, no problem. But then again I think she has a stomach of steel. Multiple DVD cases have gone missing, DVD and all along with grill brushes, portions of plastic yard rakes and the list goes on and on and on.


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## LeadMaster (Dec 17, 2008)

I threw a frozen wood duck for my dog to retrieve. It was a little too frozen and the head snapped off like a stalk of celery. Banks picked up the head, then the duck and brought it to me, he then dropped the duck, chomped the head and swallowed. I wasn't concerned and didn't check his crap; that was 3 weeks ago and he never skipped a beat. I wouldn't worry at all.


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## toddh (Nov 3, 2005)

How about gophers? Is Hantavirus a concern in dogs?

#1 dog has chomped two of the bugger's this last week. The last thing I've seen of them is the tail sticking out from between her lips...


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## D Osborn (Jul 19, 2004)

About 11 1/2 years ago I heard a noise outside of my house, and looked to see Whistler being dive bombed by Blue Jays. So I went outside to rescue him and he had a baby blue jay. I rescued it, it was wet but fine and put it in a box to take to the wildlife people. I waited an hour, put him back out. Same thing. Put back up, took the two birds to the wildlife place, came home, let him out. Heard it AGAIN. Went back out, called Whistler. He came, he sat 7 feet in front of me. I started walking towards him, and he looked at me, and one BIG gulp later, and one less Blue Jay kid. I swear to you the damn thing was chirping as it went down.Guess he got tired of me taking them way.
At 12 1/2 I think he would do the same thing
BTW Kristie, I NEVER saw any parts, but a friend told me if it wasn't cooked he was fine, the bones are soft.
And no, he was NEVER a bone cruncher later in life. Took off with a few birds, but never ate them
Of course, same thing with ALL the knobs from the volvo dashboard. And the zippers. and the front of an anitigue bedside table, about a week ago
BTW, when he goes, he will be THE Dog Who Did No Wrong. Ever. So enjoy the Whistler stories while you can!!


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## Brian Cockfield (Jun 4, 2003)

My first FT dog caught a mockingbird alive and swallowed it whole before I could get it out of her mouth. The bird was chirping and flapping on the way down. It scared the crap out of me and I immediately called my vet. He said no worries that it would pass. I didn't worry about it and she was fine. Poor bird.


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## ErinsEdge (Feb 14, 2003)

> True story (and some of those on here can back me up). There is a wingnut on another board who swears that if you feed duck-based dog food (like Taste of the Wild) to your dog, your dog will just kill and eat the birds you shoot.
> 
> If I was a 2x Pulitzer Prize Nominee, I couldn't make up stuff this good!


Maybe it was my second cousin. When his dog (which was really my dog) was pregnant and she wasn't eating so I told him to give her some meat and he said he had lots of pheasant in the freezer but then she wouldn't retrieve them, she would eat them. I assured him it would be fine. When she had the pups, he was letting her sleep in bed with HIM and I told him she had to stay with the pups. He said she was a bad mother because she was a good pheasant hunter. 
Needless to say that arrangement did not work and will not be repeated, but she was a nice dog.


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## The Snows (Jul 19, 2004)

Kristie,

I forgot about this until I read Demi's note about the blue jays. 

I was doing some training with one of our younger dogs years ago, when he found and picked up a small quail. I called him in and as he headed towards me he started to crunch the bird. Trying not scold him and say "No" as he had found a bird and was starting back towards me, he got so far then in one gulp the bird was gone!

I must admit I did the poop patrol thing as I was concerned that we might end up with a blockage, but as everything appeared to pass through I figured the incident was over. What I did not anticipate was a feather quill. About a week later we discovered a substantial lump on his lip and while trying to carefully inspect it the lump exploded leaving this "interesting" little piece of flexible white cartiledge. 

Took the dog into the vet to have them take a look and the vet looked at me and said "well it's too pliable to be bone ... maybe a feather quill??" At that point I think I rolled my eyes with the comment "Don't ask!"


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