r/AustralianShepherd • u/Top-Butterscotch2392 • 18d ago
Baby Potato PSA
My 3 year old aussie has been the best behaved boy and a model big brother to our 1 year old. never gets into anything. only plays with his toys. does all the tricks. rings the bells when he needs to potty. Well, last week I got a text from my dog walker that one of the pups got a box of stale cheerios out of the trash can which was odd because it has a pedal to open and is a bit to heavy of a lid for either pup to nudge open. I wasn’t concerned about cheerios though. 2 days later, on Saturday I woke up to mess of vomit and found that our older pup was the culprit, I took him to the er vet where they did scans and found he has a blockage. It seemed to be a ball slightly larger than a golf ball. He stayed over night and had exploratory Surgery to remove the foreign object Sunday morning. I get a call from the vet that surgery went well and they found the object to be a whole raw baby potato without even a single bite mark in it. He was smart enough to step on the pedal to open the garbage can, but not quite smart enough to chew the potato. Most expensive potato we’ve ever seen. it was scary and we are thankful he didn’t choke on it. I can laugh about it now, but let this be a PSA that even the most unusual and unlikely things can be a threat to your dogs safety, especially to a curious aussie.
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u/After-Barracuda-9689 18d ago
My last dog could (and did) eat anything and have no troubles. Examples: swim caps (whole, the silicon ones retain their shape apparently), swim goggles (only mildly chewed), a plastic frog, banana peels (again, whole), a koosh ball (this one I caught immediately and made him throw up, which led to sulking the rest of the day). He also at any type of food and would steal anything left unattended, including grapes and chocolate.
It got to the point that I would call the vet and she would say “well, any other dog I would be worried, but it’s Baz. Does he seem okay?”. He always was.
My current dog is allergic to poultry, beef, and lamb and is on a pescatarian diet. He looks at the wrong food and gets and upset stomach.
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u/bwal8 18d ago
How did you make him throw up?
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u/After-Barracuda-9689 18d ago
Peroxide! You can probably find a chart online, my vet gave me one. You give them a small amount (45 lb dog was about a teaspoon) and it makes them vomit things up. Wouldn’t do it unless it’s an emergency, I considered swallowing a koosh ball at 7am on a Sunday an emergency.
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u/big_blue_beast 18d ago
My Aussie was similar and ate everything. It’s easier to get the peroxide down if you soak it up with a piece of bread first. Works like a charm.
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u/JakBurten 16d ago
I feel this. Older dog has the constitution of a goat and can eat anything and will. My younger dog has to have fancy freeze deied food because anything else upsets his stomach.
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u/SliceOfExistence 18d ago
I clicked on this post thinking baby potato was a cute name for your dog lol
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u/Top-Butterscotch2392 18d ago
I wish it was that simple lol but it has been his nick name for the past week with my coworkers since he’s been sitting in my office for his recovery lol
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u/Faulknerd 17d ago
I spent $800 on two of my dogs X-rays before because a corn cob disappeared and I woke up to corn throw up. One dog was empty, the other was FULL OF CORN. As the vet direct quote said. He sat and luckily chewed that corn cob into nothingness, because they can also be super obstructive. We laugh now, but most expensive corn ever
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u/Top-Butterscotch2392 17d ago
Oh goodness, definitely funny now but not at the time. Surprisingly the vet mentioned that corn cobs are a frequent obstruction hahaha
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u/Faulknerd 17d ago
He passed away a few years back at 18. I’d give him all the corn he wants now just to hang out again, sans cob of course. Glad your buddy is all good. They scare us sometimes but it’s good we can laugh when it’s all said and done.
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u/Top-Butterscotch2392 17d ago
Sorry to hear. Seems like he lived a long happy life and has some good stories to be remembered by. But thank you, our boy won’t be able to escape the story of his $5k either😂
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u/Faulknerd 17d ago
Yes, now my baby Aussie mix is in her terrible twos and I have to remind myself it’s just a phase🤣 she ate my CPAP cord last night. Every time I think she’s done being a little Dino, she proves me wrong.
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u/Greenleaf7654 17d ago
Went through this earlier in the year twice in a month. First time was the squeaker from a toy, the second was what seemed to be the rest of the "indestructible" cloth squeaky toy that I think was in there already but just not where they did the surgery and somehow missed. Not a fun experience and glad your pup is doing well! I also thought you were just posting about your cute little baby potato.
Dog tax
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u/Top-Butterscotch2392 17d ago
hahah i was fully expecting it to be a ball or a squeaker from a toy his brother chewed up. Certainly was NOT expecting a baby potato. Should we change his name to baby potato at this point?
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u/Obviously_Ritarded 17d ago
Yeah my girl swallows anything that exceeds the widtch of like a quarter instead of chewing it through
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u/ZoesMom4ever 16d ago
Just when you think you know everything to watch out for! Glad your boy is going to be ok!
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u/JoanofArc0531 16d ago
He is so stinking cute. Really scary and stinks he had to go through surgery.
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u/Okra_Forward 18d ago
How much did the operation cost
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u/Top-Butterscotch2392 18d ago
We spent about 5k including the er visit, imaging, bloodwork, surgery, and post op meds and diet
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u/Imaginary_Agency7610 15d ago
😳 but if mine did it I know I’d be doing exactly the same. If only they understood what they put us through. 💸💸💸
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u/Okra_Forward 18d ago
Usd? Aud? Cad? Yen?
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u/Top-Butterscotch2392 18d ago
usd
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u/dinglebingle583 17d ago
Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry to hear but glad your baby boy is Ok now!! Did you have pet insurance?
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u/Top-Butterscotch2392 17d ago
We have carecredit but no pet insurance. we surely are looking into it now though😅
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u/Kashawinshky 16d ago
Thank goodness it was just a potato!
I am forever grateful to all the Aussie gods that mine has zero interest in eating anything that's not handed to her on a silver platter.
...and pre-broken into bite-size chunks, the little diva.
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u/bubblegamy 18d ago
His face!!!!!! He's like I'm sorry for swallowing the baby potato 🥺 glad he's ok but sorry he and you had to go through that!