Chip bags and food bags are a suffocation risk to pets
I love My Girl, but if left to her own devices I’m pretty sure she would eat herself into oblivion. The kid acts like she’s never had a complete meal in her life. Meanwhile I’m ready to blow a gasket with each person who asks if she’s expecting, after they get a glimpse of her paunch. Don’t people know you’re never supposed to ask a lady if she’s pregnant?!! (Did I mention My Girl is a chihuahua-dachshund rescue and not a human child?) Anyway, I’ve been focused so much on her eating food ad nauseam that I hadn’t stopped to consider the dangers of what the food may be in. Turns out I’m not alone. Bonnie Harlan founded the nonprofit Prevent Pet Suffocation after her four-year-old pup, Blue, suffocated in a Frito Lay Cheetos chip bag. Harlan had never thought of chip or food bags as hazardous, but since losing Blue twelve years ago she’s been on a mission to raise awareness. Fox 8 recently spoke to Harlan and others about spreading the word on pet suffocation:
“Watching movies, fell asleep, left the chips there and woke up and there’s Kita laying on the floor,” said Kameron Cordes, whose puppy died this past year.
Kita had suffocated on the chip bag.
It sounds like a freak accident but is far more common than people realize, says Bonnie Harlan, who founded the non-profit “Prevent Pet Suffocation” after her own dog Blue died on a chip bag, after getting into the trash while she was running errands.
“Pet Suffocation is actually very common, the problem is most people have never heard about it until it happens to them,” said Harlan.
Bonnie shared her story with Fox 8 News and says thousands of other heartbroken pet owners have shared their ordeals with her on a Facebook page.
“I typically hear from 3-4 devastated pet owners per week,” she said, “My vet said I could have warned you about 100 things, but a chip bag would not have been on the list,” said Harlan.
Kameron’s veterinarian was also unfamiliar with pet suffocation.
Both dog owners have been trying to warn as many people as possible including vets.
“It might save somebody’s life,” said Cordes.
Some owners were just in the shower or even the next room when their dog or cat got a hold of a chip bag or pet food bag. Veterinarian Dr. Randy Hutchison … explains why it’s impossible for the pet to remove the bag once it’s on their head.
“It’s the length of their muzzle that causes the bag to go along the length of their head and as they’re breathing in, the moisture they create makes the bag even stickier and it sticks to their head at that point,” said Dr. Hutchison, “And the harder they breathe the tighter it gets.”
Losing a pet is not like losing a member of your family, it is losing a member of your family. “Death by Cheetos bag” may sound like an SNL skit in the abstract, but the reality is absolutely horrific. The article went on to include a list of safety precautions, one of which was to learn Pet CPR, something I’m ashamed to say I don’t know — yet! But most of the tips basically boiled down to keeping food (or anything you don’t want your pet getting at) in secure containers. It also helps if you treat your pet as if they’re a wanton vandal and protect your home accordingly. I love My Girl very much. I just don’t trust her, on her own.
Photos credit: Prevent Pet Suffocation, Camilo Ospina, Magda Ehlers, Arkay and Галина Ласаева on Pexels
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