Every owner knows that dogs love to get into things they shouldn't: garbage, mud, clean laundry (and dirty laundry), and basically every "fun" human item.
Unfortunately, these everyday items can be extremely harmful for dogs. When they eat things like garbage and human food, it can make them very sick. If they ingest laundry, it can cause an intestinal blockage and require surgery.
Most pet owners know the main dangers, but there's one you may not have considered: chip bags.
Chips themselves may not be that dangerous for dogs. Of course, it depends what flavor they are and how much sodium they have, but they're typically nontoxic. The bags, however, can be extremely dangerous.
One young couple had their worst nightmare realized in mid-February 2018, when their sweet dog suffocated inside a chip bag. Read below to see Christina Young's warning for all dog owners.
Photos: Facebook / Christina Young; Public Domain Pictures / kai Stachowiak
Christina Young posted a heartbreaking message on her social media accounts on February 26, 2018, describing what happened to her dog, Petey.
Within just a day, the post had over 99,000 reactions on Facebook and over 115,000 shares.
Christina wrote:
One week ago I kissed my baby boy goodbye on my way out for work.
But I had no idea it would be for the last time.
Although I still can’t even wrap my head around what happened @cville7 and I feel we have an obligation to share what happened to Petey to hopefully prevent it from happening to any of your babies.
So we apologize in advance bc this is so hard to write about & I’m sure such a downer to read.
Last Monday, Christian beat me home from work by about 10 min & was surprised when Petey didn’t greet him at the door like usual.
As he walked in further he saw our sweet boy laying lifeless with a stupid chip bag over his head.
He was able to get them off the counter that we will forever blame ourselves for leaving out.
He ate every chip out but of course went back for crumbs… with there being nothing left inside every time he would go for more he would inhale making the bag tighter & tighter around his head.. ultimately resulting in suffocation.
Petey was SMART so I didn’t understand why he couldn’t get it off with his paws. But after doing research the stats on how often this happens is shocking.
3-5 pet suffocation’s get reported every week and 42% of those occur while the owner is in the next room. It only takes about 3 minutes for their oxygen to drop to fatal levels.
With this happening so often we were so surprised by the lack of awareness on this topic out there. Especially bc I was a very overprotective dog mama.
In fact 90% of the incidents reported the owner had never heard of this until it happened to them (us included).
Chip bags, cereal bags, bread bags, popcorn bags, dog / cat treat bags seem to be the most common.
So I just ask that in honor of my boy Petey that you be extra careful, warn other dog owners & give your fur babies some extra love today and everyday after this.
I pray none of you ever have to experience your heart breaking this way.
We love you papas you were the best boy in the whole world & we will remember our good times forever.
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