Things Labs eat

Like many familiar sayings, “The dog ate my homework” is probably based on a true story. And the dog was most likely a Lab. Besides food, a typical Labrador will eat everything from socks to rocks. They should all be named Mikey (flashback to famous TV commercial).

My Lab, Tank, would eat absolutely anything. A Great Pyrennes foster dog dumped his kibble on our gravel walkway and pushed it around rather than eat. Tank found it and ate the dog food and the surrounding rocks without pausing. The next morning I woke up to the sound of an urping Lab on the floor next to the bed. He heaved piles of gravel and undigested kibble.

An x-ray at the vet’s office revealed Tank had a trail of gravel from his mouth to his rectum; there was no way the doctor could remove the rocks through surgery. It took almost a week for all the rocks to pass through his system.

Another time Tank ate a tube of cortisone cream that was left on the coffee table. By the time I caught him, all that remained was the metal band around the plastic lid. I made him throw it up.

Our neighbor liked to free-feed his Norwegian Elkhounds, and since we lived out in the woods, no one had a fenced yard. Tank went over there one day and came home looking like the Goodyear blimp. The neighbor confirmed all the dog food was gone—about 8 pounds. So again I made Tank throw up (small amount of hydrogen peroxide). I had to run around cleaning up the food as it came up so he wouldn’t just re-eat it. 

To Bee or not to Bee

What brought all this to mind is a story this week here in San Diego about a Lab named Ellie who ate several hundred dead bees. Here’s the story from the Veterinary Pet Insurance web site:

http://www.vpihamboneaward.com/nominees/2010/April.html

I guess their point is that you need vet insurance for your dog. In March 2005 they posted another Labrador winner. This dog ate 23 packages of instant breakfast, complete with the packaging:

http://www.vpihamboneaward.com/news/lab-eats-23-packages-of-instant-breakfast-finds-instant-trouble.html

Labs that stay with me have devoured stuffed animals and the squeakies within, wooden branches, dog beds and rosebushes. I once had a foster dog, Neptune, who pooped navy blue blanket pieces for about a week after I took him out of the shelter.

Though not a Lab, my friend Lynn tells me of a German Shepherd that ate a light bulb. The owner fed the dog bread everyday for a week to ease the glass through the dog’s system. 
So what has your dog eaten?

© 2010 Terry Albert. All Rights Reserved.