My dog ate a chicken bone today

[YearOfYouRemember]

Courtesy of the cat stealing it from the food caddy and then dropping it on the floor. She's swallowed it fine, no coughing or choking but it's suddenly dawned on me that there's might be an issue when it passes through. Can anyone reassure me please? DDog is perfectly fine at the moment. It's her first bone in case it's not obvious .

I've sadly lost a couple of entire chicken carcasses to my dog. I think it's the choking that's more of a risk. Is it a big dog?

Call the vet. The risk is of the bones splintering in the stomach. Hope everything is ok.

Sometimes, rarely mind you, the bone can splinter and damage the insides.

Some people give their dog a slice of bread to cushion around the splinters

She's a golden retriever. Dh is away. I'm here with the kids. Vet is shut. Should I sleep downstairs with her?

It was a drumstick if that's any help

Give her a slice of bread now

Sorry, thank you by the way. Forgetting my manners with the worry.

Bread even though it happened hours ago?

When my dog had a chicken bone I gave him a bowl of cooked rice, again to cushion it round. He was fine.

She's eaten all her tea at 6 as normally answer is now asleep. I have rice and bread but given it's been hours since she had the bone isn't it too late? Would be when dh is away.

She will be fine. Go to your own bed. That already-soft bone (remember, it's from a 5 or 6 week old bird) is currently being reduced to bendy pulp in her stomach. Dogs are occasionally not great at swallowing bones but are generally excellent at digesting them.

A raw bone or a cooked one?

Our family dog did this (ate lots of bones from what I can remember), but on one occasion he couldn’t poop for a couple of days (think he’d swallowed a bigger bone than usual though) so had to take him to the vets. Ended up having to have surgery. Hopefully yours will be fine - just keep an eye on toileting.

A cooked chicken drumstick.

Agree with villainousbroodmare - now that the bone has been down a few hours I would assume she is digesting it nicely. It'll be well on it's way to being rubbery and bendy by now as the digestion takes place. Bones don't come out the other end still hard. If they come out at all, they come out soft. Mostly, you never see them again in any recognisable form.

If she were mine, I would simply keep a closer eye on her than normal and make sure she toilets as usual, but otherwise go to my own bed. Any sign of a blockage would warrant a vet call (i.e. if she looks like she is struggling to poo or if she doesn't poo for an unusually long time or if she tries to regurgitate something and nothing comes up).

Ok, just wanted to check in case it was a raw one, which would have been absolutely fine (but I'm sure you knew that).

Our Rottweiler/German shepherd mix has stolen a few chicken bones from leftover takeaway boxes left on the street before (makes me so angry) and he has always been fine. Fingers crossed for your dog.

Gosh I think my heart stopped then, missbattenburg. With relief I think. So no need for bread and rice now? Can she still have her bonio and dentastick? I'm assuming yes as she's had tea since the bone and that is biscuits.

I’m sure with drumsticks is that they are a weight bearing bone so more dense than a wing or neck and the danger of it is damaging dogs’ teeth.
I think now it’s down it’ll be fine!

Thank you everyone. I'll know for future that bones go straight outside in to the green bin and not in the caddy. Still don't know how the cat opens the lid.

Just dawned on me I've not thought about the cat and how much bone he might have eaten!

My dog had eaten chicken bones for 11 years and is still going strong. Don’t worry!

Thank you BBCK and everyone. Feeling very silly now .

I wouldn't bother with rice and bread now and assuming she is behaving, eating, toileting as normal I would giver any treats she normally has. e.g. If she has a dentastix in the evening then I would go ahead wit that as normal.

Don't feel silly. We are all told so often about the danger of cooked chicken bones but without knowing the specific risks it can be hard to understand exactly what the risk is and what to look out for.

My dog is a terrible scavenger and we live in an urban area full of chicken shops and other takeaways. He has often managed to get cooked bones and I haven’t been able to wrestle them out of his mouth, It’s really scary . But he’s been fine.

She's not been to the toilet since but she wouldn't usually poo late afternoon onwards anyway. She's behaving normally.