Labrador eaten a chicken carcass

[ClaphamGT3]

Hi all. Our lab has polished off a roast chicken carcass - the whole lot.

Emergency vet says keep an eye on him for 48 hours and take him in if he seems in distress.

Would others agree with this? Anything else we should be doing? Thoughts on taking him on a long (10 hour) car journey tomorrow?

Over to the PH wisdom....

[Shaw Tarse]

When I was a kid our lab did the same, also ate the tin foil she was OK


Just keep an eye on your boy

[LordHaveMurci]

Biggest danger is splintered bones isn't it?

Presumably that's not such a worry now it's been eaten, being a lab probably won't even have a dicky tummy!

[HTP99]

LordHaveMurci said:

Biggest danger is splintered bones isn't it?

Yep.

One of ours (can't remember who, probably Daphne as she's a bloody nightmare with food!), managed to get hold of and eat the remains of a cooked chicken leg once, she was fine.

[nickwilcock]

Some friends of mine had a young male black Lab, by the name of Max. Adorable, but he was always getting himself into trouble...

One of his starring moments was when the lady of the house had taken a frozen chicken out of the freezer, to defrost pending a visit from her parents the following day, her mother being something of an old bat. With the chicken sitting on the kitchen work top, my friends went out for the evening...

On their return, Max didn't come bounding up as he usually did - in fact he was found in his "I'm in the $hit" corner, looking rather sheepish. The reason was soon obvious - as my chum described it the kitchen looked like something from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Those bits of chicken which Max hadn't scoffed were over the walls and almost to the ceiling. But his typical "Sorry, but I couldn't resist it" Labrador behaviour was so endearing that they couldn't be cross with him.

Whether the mother was quite so forgiving when given ham sandwiches instead of roast chicken, I leave you to imagine!

But Max suffered no ill effects after having devoured most of a raw chicken carcass.

[anonymous-user]

once he's swallowed it he's probably ok, its splintering of cooked bones thats the main concern.

Raw is generally ok as raw bones dont splinter, my dog (staffy) regularly has raw chicken, although I'd never give it to him unsupervised

[ClaphamGT3]

Thanks all. Unfortunately it was a cooked carcass

[dingg]

I'm now living in Portugal, we go for lunch sometimes to a place on the beach that serves bbqd chicken and pork ribs, their dogs get a daily menu of left over bones and that's about all they get.
They appear to be thriving on it.

[jmsgld]

The vast majority of the time they will be fine, occasionally a splinter of bone will cause real trouble. Sometimes the sheer volume of bone will cause constipation, and can cause some damage / discomfort on the way out.

Keep a note of his defaecation to make sure he's not getting bunged up. If he appears unwell at all then get him to your vet for a checkup as a matter of urgency..

Raw bone doesn't splinter so isn't a problem in that way but is usually contaminated with things like Salmonella and Campylobacter, not usually a problem for a healthy dog but the faeces can concentrate those bacteria so be especially careful with them.