Less than 10 days after we launched Help Shelter Pets, we lost one of our Pomeranians (Binka) to a freak accident. I gave her a piece of chicken jerky (Waggin' Train) like I had so many times before. But this piece got lodged at the base of her esophagus and would not go into her stomach. The vet performed surgery on her to try to push the piece through to her stomach. Binka hemorraghed and died. We are so sad, this is a great loss to us and our other two dogs, Meko and Jacquay.
So we are appealing to all of you out there who have small dogs (Binka was 8 years old, weighed 7 pounds, and had a very small body.) Never assume that anything you give them, especially the tiny dogs, is OK, especially if it has any hard pieces (this was chicken jerky!) We have to understand that sometimes our dogs don't do the things we think they will just naturally do, like chew their food. I've noticed that their goal in eating anything is to get it into their stomach as soon as possible. We are constantly changing the things we give our dogs, and Wagon Train chicken jerky is now off our treat list. Tiny pieces, that's what small dogs should all be given, and nothing, ever, that may not fit through their esophagus without causing damage.
It has been our privilege to have spent almost 8 years with Binka, sharing our lives with her and having her be a part of our family. There are so many things she did that made her so special to us. And although we will always remember her and all the joy she gave us, our grief is deep and causes us great pain and distress.