Plant Answers

Cotton Ball Remedy For Eaten Glass
(also helpful for cooked chicken bones that dogs get into)

What do you do if your puppy (or mischievous older dog) gets into your
holiday decorations and eats some of the glass ornaments? This
potentially lethal mishap can darken even the brightest holiday
season.

THE PROCEDURE
Before the holiday go to a pharmacy and buy a box of cotton balls. Be
sure that you get cotton balls not/the "cosmetic puffs" that are made
from man-made fibers. Also, buy a quart of half-and-half coffee cream
and put it in the freezer.

Should your dog eat glass ornaments, defrost the half-and-half and
pour
some in a bowl. Dip cotton balls into the cream and feed them to your
dog. Dogs under 10 lbs should eat 2 balls, which you have first torn
into smaller pieces. Dogs 10-50 lbs-should eat 3-5 balls, and larger
dogs should eat 5-7. You may feed larger dogs an entire cotton ball at
once.

Dogs seem to really like these strange "treats' and eat them readily.
As the cotton works its way through the digestive tract it will find
all
the glass pieces and wrap itself around them. Even the teeniest shards
of glass will be caught and wrapped in the cotton fibers and the
cotton
will protect the intestines from damage by the glass.

Your dog's stools will be really weird for a few days and you will
have
to be careful to check for fresh blood or a tarry appearance to the
stool. If either of the latter symptoms appears you should rush your
dog
to the vet for a checkup but in most cases, the dogs will be just
fine.

An actual experience: I can personally vouch for the cotton ball
treatment. While I was at the vet waiting for him to return from
lunch, a terrified woman ran in with a litter of puppies who had
demolished a wooden crate along with large open staples. The young vet
had taken x-rays, which did show each of the puppies had swallowed
several open staples. He was preparing them for surgery when my
wonderful vet came in and said no surgery. I watched him wet several
cotton bails, squeeze out the water and pop them down their throats.
Within 24 hours every staple was accounted for.

This was a lesson I learned in the mid-1960s and have had to use
several
times on my brats. I wet the cotton bails and smear on some liverwurst
and they bolt it down and ask for more. The cotton always comes
out with the object safely embedded."

"Copyright reserved to Sandy Brock. Permission is hereby granted for
any
nonprofit reproduction by any person or group"