Danger if have both dogs and cats

[corona99]

If anyone has both Dogs and Cats, please read. This is a story about my dog Bubba. He is a 90lb Rottweiler/Basset Hound mix. (yeah, I know, but he's so cute)

On September 20 I cleaned out the cats litter box and placed the bag by the door to take out. I went and took a shower before cleaning the rest of the house. I got out of the shower and found that Bubba, who had never shown interest in the litter boxes, had ripped apart the bag and consumed a great deal of the contents. At first I was more angry than anything, but looked it up on the internet.

Clumping cat litter expands to 15 times its size when wet, and takes the consistency of clay cement. I called the emerg. Vet as it was 600pm and he said to bring him in.

We had to wait a bit as an operation was going on then they looked at Bubba. He seemed OK, but they did an X-ray to check and found a huge mass of it in his stomach. They gave him a sedative, them put him out completely and hooked him up to all the monitors and pumped his stomach.

They thought they got quite a bit and no more was coming out so they did a second X-ray to check. Unfortunately they had only got a bit of it out. They did his stomach 2 more times and nothing else would come out. The 3rd X-ray showed that 2/3 was still left and was starting to travel through his intestines. We were now into hour 6 at the vet.

I was given 2 options. I could take him home with antibiotics and laxatives and hopefully he will pass it, and if he developed a blockage then I would have to rush him to vet for emerg surgery. Or they could do the surgery now, but as it is litter it would be a messy surgery and there was only about a 50% chance that he would live. So I brought him home.

I then spent the next 50 hours living in the basement with him. He was very ill after coming out of the anesthesia. He was retching as his throat was very sore due to the tube that was shoved down it for over an hour. Plus he went from no poop, to some soft poop to horrible runs with blood and now he is starting to form up a little, but very small so I am hoping it is not a blockage.

UPDATE: He finally did begin to have regular poops, but it was months before he was back to normal. The vet bill from what did happen was $900.00 and if I went ahead with the surgery it would be about $3000.00.

Please keep your dogs away from the cat litter......I had NO idea it was that bad, but it turns to cement in their tummies. And for some reason, they like it........

[Schwinn]

Wow, I had no idea either. I'm glad to hear it sounds as though he is going to be okay.

That's a VERY interesting mix! Any pictures?

[mona_b]

I'm so very sorry Bubba went through this.I have posted twice on here about how clumping litter is toxic to cats.And how even some vets have said it was toxic to dogs also.I will have to search for it again.

[mastifflover]

I am so glad your dog is okay. I have heard of this and never realized how much it could expand. You are very lucky to have known that he ate it.

[Lucky Rescue]

So sorry to hear this happened!

YEs clumping litter can be dangerous and should only be used with adult cats. Even kittens shouldn't have it because they are often messy, pee and step it in then lick the clumping litter off their paws and swallow it.

And for some reason, they like it........

It isn't the litter that dogs like, it's the "Tootsie Rolls" that are in it.

[sammiec]

I am so sorry to hear about Bubba! That's horrible! I hope he is doing much better!

We have the cat litter in a seperate room... since the day Briggs (dog) came home she was thought that she's not allowed in that room. That's helped us so far. I found that with a covered box it's too dark inside and even if she got close to it (like if I take it out of the room for cleaning) she's afraid to put her head in it!

[Carina]

Oh my....I'm glad he's better, but what an experience!
And thank you for an excellent heads up....I had no idea it could be this dangerous either.
Also, I'd love to see a photo of Bubba.

[corona99]

I have a picture, but it has too many, uhh, well, it says it is too big to post. I have to figure out how to shrink it first....if anyone knows how, plese let me know. I'm not the best with the technical stuff.

Thanks!

[corona99]

OK, I finallly figured it out. Bubba is now posted on the Pictures portion of this site...This is the link (if it works) if not just look for the title..BUBBA

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....7243#post87243

[AMALA]

this is most likely a , pretty obvious point, but cat get sick for that litter too , my sisters got a new kitten and he older, cat would eat the feces of the young cat from time to time, the ;ast time he did it i got very sick ,i never thought abpout the litter expanding in it stomach , but her got no has major digestion problems.

[CyberKitten]

So sorry to hear about your dog and the problems he encountered. That's why tpeople always advise that kittens absolutely not be allowed to do their thing in clumping litter. They are too little to cope with it and they like to taste everything. (Mind you, I have to say my own is very discriminating, and was even at 12 weeks!)

Glad your puppy is fine!!

[Bearsmom]

Originally Posted by LuckyRescue

It isn't the litter that dogs like, it's the "Tootsie Rolls" that are in it.

Yeah, what is it with dogs and the "cat box crunchies"??? I can barely stand the smell, and they're eating it????

Bleh.

[Karin]

Dogs love litter fritters. They love the beginning product and end results too.

Cat food is mostly meat ...dog treats ...or so they think.

Gross.

Cats & dogs living in harmony is wonderful...some seperation is needed though.

[LL1]

That's why some people call the dogs Turd Burglars.

[wAggie]

I have NEVER heard of such an extreme case in my LIFE!

this reads like some sort of spam in my email...

I had 2 kittens, Chocolate's "cleaning" "habit" was to empty out the box for me of their poop every other chance he got.

with that, YES, cat litter was consumed..... *sigh*

he's NEVER EVER gotten sick from any one of those situations..... meh, anyhow:



I'm sorry to hear about ur case... glad ur dog's all better.