Friday 17 June 2011

What Did Your Dog Have For Breakfast.

You either like dogs or you don't; Me, I've had dogs most of my life and they never cease to amaze. Their capacity for eating anything that stops moving is bordering on the ridiculous. Plus Buster our bull terrier loved balls so disaster was never far away. We replaced gear knobs with regular monotony. He chewed them into small pieces with consummate ease but fortunately spit out the pieces; a nuisance and expensive but comparatively harmless. Not so harmless the day he chewed the handbrake. And down the drive he went, One bemused dog, one bent garage door, one less than immaculate Lada bumper. And that was on a good day!


My daughter Sarah, son-in-law Jeff and grand daughter Helena fancied a dog. You would have thought they would have opted for a poodle, a whippet or a Jack Russell when they looked for a dog; So what did they choose. Ramsey has a pedigree longer than mine. (not difficult, mine is non existent.) He is handsome, amusing, lively and he is no angel. Plus he is also a bull terrier so what do you expect. Trouble, surely not!


He's in the main lively though he has always been erratic, up and down, so to speak. Difficult to feed on occasion, prone to diarrhea and stomach upsets. There again, if you insist on eating anything and everything, what do you expect. Except that surely a dog wouldn't eat eat the cable belonging to the Wii, that would be going too far. Not very digestible and would make you unpopular because now nobody can play. But X-rays and a stay at the vets confirmed suspicions.


A hopeful, anxious wait ensued; time passed but the cable didn't. What a to do; what to do. The decision taken out of Jeff and Sarah's hands as the dog took a decided turn for the worse. Return to the vets, a skillful operation expertly undertaken Empty stomach, empty wallet. And the complete reason for Ramsey not feeling too well was revealed.


The photograph reveals the full extent of Ramsey's penchant for devouring objects not of any nutritional value. I am not sure of each and every object, but they include; cling film, bottle tops, pump bag string, material containing a zip, piece of blanket, leaves, shoe laces, the cable for the Wii and the wrist strap for the Wii.


Ramsey doesn't like his new muzzle. He's been trying to eat it. But otherwise he's far more lively than he has been for a while. He has his stitches out this week. I personally wouldn't have bothered with stitches; I'd have opted for a zip. Are your pets better behaved or cheaper to run!

37 comments:

An English Shepherd said...

Thats a very impressive amount of stuff to eat !

VioletSky said...

If I were a dog person, I would want one with a more discriminating palate!
My poor cat has pretty much stopped eating, which is not a good sign. She is getting on for 16, but until the last few months has been very easy to please. She will have nothing to do with salmon, however!

Holly Diane said...

Poor guy! I can't believe he ate all of that!

Warren C. E. Austin said...

Awesome.

Fortuitous for me my Rott, Staff, and their children all preferred Soccer balls to anything smaller, save the occasional Football should one be found.

Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada

Midlife Roadtripper said...

I'm not certain whether to laugh or throw up. What an array of choices. Certainly has a varied diet.

I vote for the zipper.

quilterliz said...

G'day Ken. No wonder the poor boy wasn't feeling well. I am pleased to say that our dog doesn't have the same aquired taste as Ramsey. They are beautiful animals. Take care. Liz...

Valerie said...

Oh my, what a collection. My dog ate or rather swallowed stones but his favourite pick-up was golf balls. He could smell one from a great distance, then he'd ferret in the undergrowth until he found it. And ate it.

Andy said...

Tilly the naughty Spaniel has a similar penchant for continual grazing, but bizarrely on fruit in the orchard and vegetables growing in the potager plus the odd mole she catches regularly.

Spotting her trying to hide in the French beans whilst munching away is so funny it is difficult to chastise her.

But, having read your post Ken, I now consider myself very fortunate!

Glad the dog was OK.........

The bike shed said...

I had dogs all my life until recently, and since not having them I've increasingly decided they are pretty disgusting really. They smell, eat rubbish, shit in inappropriate places, bring muck in the house, bark and fart... Trouble is I'd still quite like a whippet.

Sueann said...

OMG!! That is truly a stomach full of trash!! Ha!!
He does eat anything!!! Wonder of all wonders!!
I don't do pets! This is one reason...vet bills are outrageous!!
Hugs
SueAnn

Zikki said...

Oh my gosh...poor pooch! The worst thing my one dog ever ate was the complete wiring system for a vintage Harley Davison motorcycle parked in the garage. I did dog sit once and the owner said he chewed socks. Imagine my surprise when I walked the dog and his poop came out pre-wrapped inside a white sock hahaha.

BeckyG said...

Thank you for that, Ken. I needed the giggle. My bet is that Ramsay won't change and you'll find more odds and ends inside him before long. It must be like putting your hand down the back of sofa and seeing what you come out holding.

Becky

Unknown said...

One of my dogs has the same problem when it comes to eating anything and everything so I strongly suspect a trip to vet is in her future. She used to chew through car seatbelts in a matter of seconds.

Ayak said...

Well my two dogs are angels in comparison. I'm amazed at the contents of his stomach..I'm surprised it didn't kill him.
My smallest dog likes the baby tortoises that appear in our garden. Fortunately she doesn't eat them..just picks them up in her mouth, brings them indoors and deposits them on my bed.

I just love dogs!

Akelamalu said...

My brother had a bull terrier when he lived at home with our parents. It ate almost everything it shouldn't have, including the leg off the kitchen table! LOL

Anonymous said...

WoW! I've (fortunately) never come across a dog that eats things like that...but I am currently looking for a dog to call my own. Wish me luck! Great post, by the way! :)

Hilary said...

Unbelievable. This dog makes a crazy little JRT I know and love appear absolutely sane. Ramsey is going to put that vet's children through university.

Star said...

So unbelievable! It's been so long since I had a dog (or any kind of pet) that I just didn't realize they would do such a crazy thing. Your comment about him trying to eat his muzzle made me laugh out loud. Thanks so much for your wonderful posts. Your humanity and sense of fun help make my days brighter.

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Shammickite said...

Hilarious! I'm glad ramsey doesn't live at my house.
BTW I've recommended your post to Hilary who looks after Post of the Week, so you may be hearing from her on Wednesday.
We had a big black dog of very mexed ancestry a long time ago.... he roamed afar and came home with marvellous treasures, including a lobster (we live nowhere near the sea), a full cow's leg, and half a piglet. The front half.

Moannie said...

Good Grief!!!!!

Thank fully Milou is quite a picky eater.

English Rider said...

You'd think Darwin would have intervened to breed a cast iron stomach into such an indiscriminate eater. (and a zipper). I'm a collie-lover and this just adds on to the long list of why I like them. They are not Kamikaze dogs.

ADDY said...

This was so funny. That is an amazing array of stuff they got out of his stomach. My dog loves eating twigs/branches/whatever wood he can find on his walks. I am surprised he doesn't have splinters all the way along his gut. In fact, that probably explains the irritible bowel he now has in old age!

Rock Chef said...

I used to have an Irish Setter who loved to eat pebbles - one night he was sick and brought up a pile of them. He stopped after that!

Kerry said...

A zipper! You should patent that idea.

Sueann said...

Ha!
Congrats on your POTW award
Hugs
SueAnn

Dave said...

A good story Ken. Congrats for getting Hilary's POTW - Dave

Out on the prairie said...

I never heard of a breed who eats things like that. I remember a shepherd at my vet who ate a beach towel,pretty much whole.

TexWisGirl said...

oh my goodness! at least my dogs mostly just chew on old dead things they haul in from neighbors' pastures (cows, horses, cats, skunks to name a few...)

congrats on your POTW!!! God help that dog!!!

Reena said...

Go with the zipper! At least now I know what kind of dog NOT to get. LOL
congrats on your POTW ... Hillary's awesome!

Grumpy Old Ken said...

Just a quick one. Problems as my next post indicates. Thanks for all the comments, the most interest I've had for a while. Thanks for pointing out my 'award', thanks to Hilary herself, cheered me up in a fraught week. See you soon.
Grumpy as ever.

Hilary said...

It was Shammickite who led me to your blog and made the wise reccommendation to include your post in my Posts of the Week selection. I'm so glad she did. :)

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rhymeswithplague said...

I once had a dog named Natasha (we called her Tasha) who ate, among other things, a string of Christmas lights and a pair of women's pantyhose. This is not to imply that our house also has men's pantyhose (it does not).

Grumpy Old Ken said...

Thanks everyone. Was quiet enough at the beginning of the week. Unfortunately Ramsey thought it too quiet so he broke his tail for a bit of attention. More expense, though treated only by painkillers. It's a dogs life!

Grumpy Old Ken said...

Thanks everyone. Was quiet enough at the beginning of the week. Unfortunately Ramsey thought it too quiet so he broke his tail for a bit of attention. More expense, though treated only by painkillers. It's a dogs life!

BeautifulMystery said...

We have a pit bull and a boxer puppy. The pit is now a little older, but when she was a puppy, she chewed on everything also. She got into the habit of chewing on the wall, and taught my then doxie how to chew on the wall. After we broke her of that, she went straight for the couch pillows. We are two couch pillows short, and I am sure the next people who move in to the apartments will find out that under a short layer of dirt, the remains of the those pillows will be found. From there, she chewed on the screen door. I mean literally the door part of the screen. She got mad that we left her out there when company came over. We just didn't want her jumping up on them. Just because you like dogs, doesn't mean every one else does. Then from there, she got into chewing on the cords for everything. We had to replace our vacuum cleaner, our child's electric swing, and the cord for one of our laptops. She stop shortly afterwards when she tried chewing on the lamp's cord and got a shock. Now the boxer likes chewing up our son's plastic balls that goes to a couple of his toys. So I have to keep my ear out for the sound of plastic against puppy teeth. I know your pain though. If anyone wants to check out my blogs, my url is http://rissaness.blogspot.com/ and http://lifesastory11.blogspot.com/