BBQ Season - Beware by Nicola Bromley, BVSC CERT SAM

Summer, and the fantastic smell of BBQ smoke permeates the warm evenings throughout the UK. This is a great time of year for everyone to be cooking outside but please beware for our furry friends! At Grove Lodge we see cases each year of accidental ingestion of tasty BBQ morsels that often result in very ill animals and very costly bills! Our most recent case was of a young dog who, unbeknown to his owners ate a small piece of ‘corn on the cob’.

This particular dietary indiscretion often ends up causing an obstruction in the small bowel, as it is not digested. In this example the offending item became firmly lodged in the intestine and the dog had to undergo major surgery to remove it. Luckily this dog is now doing well, but this sort of obstruction can be life threatening.

The problem with foreign bodies such as pieces of corn on the cob or peach stones is that they do not show up clearly on radiographs (x-rays) which makes diagnosis much more difficult and often delays necessary surgery in many cases. We are fortunate at Grove Lodge in that we have the ability to perform abdominal ultrasound and do endoscopy in these more tricky cases but the best answer is obviously prevention. Please avoid feeding or allowing your pets access to bones of any kind – we still see nasty cases of bones becoming stuck in the oesophagus, stomach and small intestine often with devastating consequences.

Also avoid:

• corn-on the cob,
• peaches or avocados (due to those stones),
• richly marinated foods which can cause an upset tummy,
• chocolate (can be fatal especially the dark varieties),
• grapes/raisins (can cause kidney failure in some dogs/cats)
• onions/garlic/chives/leeks (can cause anaemia)
• macadamia nuts (can cause hind leg weakness)

Ensure all BBQ and normal waste is kept well away from your inquisitive feline and canine friends and this way your BBQ season can remain a joyful event!

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