pet care & health
This braai staple could be the death of your dog.
By Venecia Valentine
A harmless treat or lifethreatening mistake? Every year, a large number of dogs undergo emergency surgery after swallowing something many pet owners never knew was dangerous.
Jaque Le Roux and a happy( and now healthy) patient
As veterinarians and animal welfare professionals, they regularly see pets rushed into an animal hospital after swallowing objects that should never have been within their reach.
“ Over the past six months alone, we have performed numerous emergency surgeries to save the lives of critically ill dogs and cats that had swallowed a variety of indigestible foreign objects,” says veterinarian and AWS Hospital Manager, Jaque Le Roux. And the biggest culprit by far?“ Mielie cobs.”
They were followed by brittle cooked bones and even raw bread dough, but nothing has caused more preventable suffering than discarded sweetcorn cobs.
What makes these cases particularly heartbreaking is that the owners never intended to harm their pets. Almost all were shocked to learn that a simple mielie cob could prove fatal.
24 www. petpals. co. za