Another special guest post by Heather Kalinowski!!!

Heather is a pet lover and internet journalist at Trupanion, North America’s fastest growing pet insurance company. Trupanion offers 90% coverage for diagnostic tests, surgeries, and medications if a pet becomes sick or injured.

While cats are normally the species known for their curious natures that get them into trouble, here at Trupanion we see that curiosity – especially about things to eat – gets many dogs into trouble as well.

When a dog (or a cat) eats something that is not supposed to be eaten, we call it a foreign body ingestion. Lucky dogs will be able to pass whatever was eaten without harm, but many times, these ingestions don’t end well. Things can easily get lodged in the dog’s intestines and cause serious harm.

We see claims for a large range of items ingested by pets. And these foreign body ingestions are very dangerous and quite expensive to treat. Many times surgery is required to remove the object.

To give you an idea of the range of items your pet could ingest, here are some of the most recent claims we have seen and the cost for treating each.

Samson – Boxer – 2 Years Old
Swallowed a pet toy that obstructed his small bowel, requiring surgery for removal.
Total claim amount: $3,980.98

Deliliah – Australian Shepherd – 2 Years Old
Swallowed a pin, which penetrated her bowel and led to surgery.
Total claim amount: $5,092.52

Charlie – American Bulldog – Puppy
Swallowed a corn husk, had to receive emergency veterinary care.
Total claim amount: $2,853.90

Sniper – Miniature Schnauzer – 2 Years Old
Swallowed chicken bones, which got stuck in his esophagus and required surgery to remove.
Total claim amount: $5,558.54

Your probably starting to see where this is going, it can be a pricey problem!!!

In all of the examples above, Trupanion repaid 90% of the claim, allowing the pet owners the financial freedom to be able to give their beloved pets the treatment they needed. And these examples are just more evidence of how important it is to closely monitor our pets. Our pets’ curiosity can seriously get them into trouble and it’s our job to protect them from themselves as much as possible.

Has your pet ever eaten anything he or she wasn’t supposed to? If so, what was the outcome?

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