Eating Gravel And Metal!

[Guest burgerandfrey]

We adopted two new greyhounds last Summer who are wonderful dogs, but unfortunately they have some dietary preferences that are getting them into trouble.

 

Our previous greyhound had a thing for trash, but our current hounds generally leave trash alone. Instead they have more peculiar preferences: Lola likes to pick up gravel and Zeke likes shiny things. On a walk in the park the other day I had to pull gravel out of Lola's mouth twice, and after that she was walking on the short leash so she couldn't pick up anything. Zeke usually doesn't go after stuff on walks, but at home he will eat anything small and shiny he finds on the floor. We had a scare when he ate a penny (which can be very dangerous if it stays in their system long enough to leach zinc). We just heard the sound of teeth on metal and before we could see what was in his mouth he swallowed. There was other change on the floor, so we figured that's what it was. We took him to the vet and they advised waiting a day to see if it passed since they couldn't get him to throw it up. Fortunately the penny passed with hardly any wear, but now we have a rule in our house that pocket change goes straight into a special jar... because anything that falls out of a pocket onto the floor might be quickly slurped up by Zeke. In addition to change, Zeke seems to like anything shiny. He has gone after zippers on jackets (pretty much ruined one jacket), and most recently he chewed up the electrical cord on our heating pad (thankfully it was not plugged in). We were able to get him to the vet fast enough for them to induce vomiting.

 

Lola's problem is restricted to the outdoors. She doesn't find gravel inside and doesn't go after other objects. Zeke, on the other hand, has forced us to be much neater people (not necessarily a bad thing). Fortunately he hasn't gone after electrical cords that are plugged in (knock on wood), but just in case we make sure those are neatly wrapped and tucked out of his reach. He has also recently become more of a chewer of found objects. For the first four or five months he never chewed anything other than his own toys and chews. Then he started going over our shoes. We are using some of the bitter tasting sprays they sell at pet stores to discourage chewing of some things, but mostly we just remember to keep our shoes in the closet. Maybe Zeke just thinks we are messy and this is his way of getting us to pick up after ourselves?

 

Does anyone else have a hound who eats gravel, metal, or other obviously non-food stuff? I know some dogs like to chew wood and eat mulch. Come to think of it... Lola has been caught eating mulch.

 

Sean

[TheFullHouse]

My Andy loved chewing wall board. You have no idea how many holes we've had to repair in our walls. I even used Bitter Apple and that didn't stop him. Arrow has chew/eaten so many things I can't keep count any more. He loves electronics....remote controls, PDA's, cell phones and the like. Bullitt chewed all the cords off my lamps in the living room (luckily I had unplugged them when we brought him home just in case) and Mike had to replace them all. Valentino and Saint thought it was cool to chew on the furniture when they first came home but enough scoldings stopped that. Needless to say, our home is quite grey proof now!

[Guest burgerandfrey]

My Andy loved chewing wall board. You have no idea how many holes we've had to repair in our walls.

 

Aries, our previous grey, did chew a hole in the wall after she was first adopted and left at home outside of the crate for the first time. It's amazing that they can chew a hole into a flat surface! Aries also chewed on some furniture. Zeke hasn't been too destructive. My left slipper is a little mangled, and he did ruin one of my wife's shoes... but fortunately it was an old pair. So far he hasn't gone after the remotes or our cell phones, but we do try to keep these things well out of his reach. The odd thing is that, so far, he hasn't chewed anything while we are away. He always does it while we are at home, but in another room. Zeke is definitely a bit of a Velcro boy who likes to always be near me or my wife. If we are eating at the table, he has to be on the dog bed closest to the dining room so he can see us. If we are in the office, he as to be on the other bed so he can see us. When I'm at work he follows my wife around, and has chewed the most stuff up when she is just in the shower. Lola is more independent and doesn't really chew anything. She might drag stuff back to her bed, but she doesn't chew it up.

 

I'm hoping it is boredom or cabin fever and that it will go away as we get back into our Spring/Summer/Fall exercise routine that includes longer (and more frequent) walks, hikes, and runs. We take Zeke and Lola to a fenced in park so they can run every now and then, but it's often too wet in the Winter. They end up sliding and hurting themselves. If our previous grey taught us anything it was that plenty of exercise is the best cure for boredom and destructiveness!

 

Sean

Edited March 3, 2010 by burgerandfrey

[Guest Sunset123]

My Andy loved chewing wall board. You have no idea how many holes we've had to repair in our walls. I even used Bitter Apple and that didn't stop him. Arrow has chew/eaten so many things I can't keep count any more. He loves electronics....remote controls, PDA's, cell phones and the like. Bullitt chewed all the cords off my lamps in the living room (luckily I had unplugged them when we brought him home just in case) and Mike had to replace them all. Valentino and Saint thought it was cool to chew on the furniture when they first came home but enough scoldings stopped that. Needless to say, our home is quite grey proof now!

 

Our trainer mentioned that Bitter Apple is good for licking problems but not very good for chewing, but you can get a scent-based detractor (as opposed to taste) that works better.

[JohnF]

I think many adoptees eventually get to a chewing stage once they start to become comfortable in their new home. With our Peggy it started with hoarding trainers and hairbrushes on her bed so if something was missing then that was where it would be. The chewing and shredding began with taking things from an indoor trash can. The most dangerous thing she took was an electric razor from a shelf which mercifully only got chewed and I found all the little metal bits in her bed. Enough was enough with that as they aren't cheap to replace and it she'd swallowed metal parts the vet would have been involved. Active dog proofing measures were instituted: More exercize and playtime (a LOT more), dog proofing of loose items either in drawers or to above dog height, more use of the Kong for treats, citronella essential oil on anything chewable that couldn't be moved. It worked. Of course she was only 18months when she came here and still had a puppyish mind. Now a year later we get the occasional hoarding but not the chewing.

The worst thing any of my dogs ever damaged was a very rare book that got taken out of a visitors bag while I was giving them a coffee, that was one of my Borzoi hounds... same one that removed a whole cooked chicken from the table and took it down the bottom of the garden while I was calling people to to table. Don't ask! They're just so sly and as with Greys of a certain height with a concertina-like reach.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

I would suggest learn how to induce vomiting. It is very simple. Go to your nearest pharmacy, get a 1 tbs syringe and the largest bottle of hydrogen peroxide. The next time one eats something they shouldnt get the peroxide and draw one full tablespoon of peroixide: take them outside, stand with them between your legs, squeeze with your legs so they cant move, then tilt the head back, pinch the mouth open, then slowly squirt (if you squirt too fast, it will spray out of the mouth and not get into the stomach) into the back of his throat. Close his mouth and rub his throat, if he doesnt swallow, keep his mouth closed, head tilted back and blow into his nose, this will induce the swallowing. Repeat this 2 additional times (for a total of 3 tablespoons). Wait 5 minutes, if no vomit, repeat. Wait an additional 5 minutes, repeat. If you cannot get him to vomit after you have given 4 doses (3 each dose) and wait an additional 10 minutes after the last dose, then you need to go to the vet to have them induce with more powerful drugs. I had a greyhound foster that would ingest toys (24" long), socks, etc. It would usually take 4-5 doses and 25 minutes to get him to vomit, but he was a big guy at a race weight of 85 lbs. My little girl, which I have had to induce a few times, will go after the first dose.

 

Chad

[Guest burgerandfrey]

I would suggest learn how to induce vomiting. It is very simple.

 

Thanks for the tip. We had actually induced vomiting using hydrogen peroxide several times with our previous greyhound, but in these two cases with Zeke we were not sure if it was a safe thing to do and our vet is right down the street. In the case of the penny, my wife was not sure if it was a penny or something sharper that might do damage coming up. An x-ray showed that it was just a penny, but had already gone too far to throw up. We had the same fear of the electrical cord... wondering how large the pieces were and if he might choke as he threw them up. Maybe we shouldn't worry much about that since he did get them down after all, but our vet is just down the hill from us so it is very easy to take our dogs there for emergencies. They also don't charge much for inducing vomiting or even for x-rays. But yeah... for most things I agree that it is better to get them to throw up as quickly as you can since some objects can do much more damage in the intestines than they can do in the stomach or esophagus.

 

We used to travel and visit family with our previous greyhound. Since they did not have greyhounds themselves, their homes were not as greyhound-proof and once our dog swallowed some chocolate they had sitting on the counter (they thought it was out of reach for a dog). We got her to vomit it up, but didn't find out before she was able to ingest some of it and was sick for days. Since then we always travel with our dogs with a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a syringe for squirting it into their mouth in case they swallow something bad.

 

Sean