Can anyone please offer me any advice. My labrador puppy who is nearly 5 months old, yesterday had to be taken to the vets to have a sharp stone removed from his rear end. The pup showed absolutely no distress prior to going to the toilet and within 15 minutes he was in a very bad way. I took him to the vet immediately and couldn't believe the size of the stone that was removed from him. I am really worried as I don't know when or how he could have possibly swallowed something as big as this was. The pup is fine today despite cutting his rectum but is going to the toilet okay. But I am really panicking about the kind of damage he may do himself in the future should this happen again. Our garden and home is clear of debris or anything that could cause damage and I can only think he had been digging (as he enjoys doing) and came across this. He is also eating snails and I don't think this can be good from him.

Will he ever grow out of this? Is this normal?

Claire x

Yes this is normal for pups but can be dangerous as you have already found out, my 5 month springer is just the same although we havent needed to go to the vets just yet, usually he spits them out and picks them up again but I beat him to it. I have tried moving things but he just digs and gets more. They do eventually grow out of it thank god.

Hi Franc, yes he should grow out of it and yes it is normal.
Puppies are very much like children and you need to keep them away from dangers as much as possible.
I caught one of mine chewing on the hoover cable one morning, and it was plugged in. Have never left it like that since, but he's grown out of chewing things now.
I'm glad he's ok, it sounds like you've had a nasty shock. Just keep a closer eye on him in the future.

With reference to the snails, there was an article some time ago in Dogs Today about a nasty worm (can't remember if it was heart- or lungworm) being picked up from them, and from eating frogs/toads who eat the snails, so it may be worth checking with your vet that there are no known cases in your area. The article was referring to continental Europe, but one of the posters on Champdogs said they had known a case in England. :(
LynnT
Edited to say that it is probably extremely rare, so don't panic too much.

There have been threads on CD before about snails and their toxicity ...so I went and had a Search on CD and I found this [link http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?tid=7105&hilite=Snails#35368]Snail Thread[/link]

and also this [link http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?tid=8713&hilite=Snails#47984]2nd Snail Thread[/link]

Hope that helps :)

Melody

Sorry it has taken a while to reply but thanks everyone foryour advice and especially to Melody...your always so helpful...at least I know of the dangers with snails now.

Thanks
Claire