"There Are Bad Days And Then There Are Legendary Bad Days..."

"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow; but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing." ~ Agatha Christie

We have no children. We love our animals. I'm sharing this story here because it might prompt others to be more aware, as I should have been. Basically, we nearly lost Snow today.

He's fine now but as most people who come here know, we have a big rubber ball for him and a small one for Tia...so yeah, you know where this is going...

I throw them together and I shouldn't do that. Won't be doing it again. Snow grabbed Tia's this afternoon and started running back, breathed in at the wrong moment and that was all it took. It went down. But not down enough. It got stuck up top of his airway. I tried very hard to force it back up and pull it out, but his muscles and swallow reflex were too strong. As were his teeth.

Took me 90 mins (in a borrowed car with him trying to vomit up the ball the whole way, but that's another story), to get him to the vet in Busselton. (Our local vet was closed.) Fortunately Snow hadn't swallowed the demon ball the whole way down...also fortunately, the ball he swallowed had a hole in it.

Dr Nigel, our wonderful vet, spoke to us afterwards and he was also shaken.

The only reason Snow had not died - because the ball was blocking his entire airway - was because the hole had allowed air to get through and the ball got stuck the right way (so air got through). As soon as they medicated him and he relaxed, the ball slipped and he started turning blue. We thank the stars for the wonderful nurses and for Dr Nigel from Busselton Small Animal Hospital, who had taken a course on just such emergencies only last year, and instead of waiting for equipment, just got his hand down and, after four goes, managed to retrieve the ball and free up Snow's airway. 🙏

...So he's home and fine, a bit sore and on antibiotics for a few days...but alive.

Not a cheap visit but we still have our darling dog. The moral of the story? Only throw large balls for large dogs. Always.

With our permission, Dr Nigel made a short video about this at the surgery, with Snow still passed out on the floor. As I type, that video has now been shared well over 17,000 times. The number of people who have commented that they have lost their dogs in this awful, tragic way (choking on a ball), just floored me. So please, take note of the lesson. Large balls, with holes. For your dog's sake and your own.

(Postscript : As of the end of August 2017, Dr Nigel's video with Snow had been viewed over 27,000 times.)

If you are able to follow this link, here's Dr Nigel's video...worth a watch...

https://www.facebook.com/123256661035489/videos/1795515080476297/?hc_ref=ARQDvVElPZrRvIXRRnd-y3XyxPtJywROjMj1ek-ULdnFgaueBNCiGYPU5lKh5sEvFsM&pnref=story

All photos (c) KA Waddington