Here’s a bit of a cautionary tale from Ann, one of our experienced small animal vets, who works at the Stechford branch of the Pet Vaccination Clinic in Birmingham.

In the last two days, Ann has seen two seperate cases involving dogs suffering from the after effects of having consumed a bone which is being sold through a well known value for money supermarket chain as a pet treat. In the ‘good ole days’ people fed rock hard butcher’s bones to their dogs, but cooked bones can splinter!

Thankfully both animals survived, but were at best extremely uncomfortable and all the while the worry for both our vets and the pet’s owners is that shards of undigested bone can perforate intestines, which can be very nasty indeed. Most ‘bone treats’ sold thorugh pet stores seem to cause less sinister side effects (mainly constipation) as they don’t shatter when chewed on, but occasionally they do as in these two cases – so our advice is think twice before giving bones to your dog.