Argh! Ruby ate a bird!
F'rhevinsake, Ruby apparently found a baby bird, carried it quietly into the bedroom, and ATE it. Like...ALL of it.
I'm sitting in the family room working and I hear, coming from the back of the house, crunch crunch crunch crunch.... Not inclined to get up in the middle of what I'm doing, I holler "RUBY! What ARE you doing?" She comes trotting happily up the hall, looking innocent as the new-blown snow.
I should've known. This is Arizona. There is no snow here. It's only just cooled down to the 80s.
So a couple of hours later I drag off to go to bed and what do I find next to the bed but a sprinkling of gnawed-looking feathers?!!
It's 10:30 at night. I'm having heart palpitations (altogether separately from the bird episode) and cannot safely drive the car, because I've come very close to passing out with these accursed palps. So schlepping her to an emergency vet is not in the cards.
Apparently it's unlikely to hurt the dog, other than to make her throw up, possibly: http://www.askavetquestion.com/answer_np.php?id=3637-dog-ate-a-dead...
But since it looks pretty likely that she will barf, she's not going on the bed. Interestingly, Cassie, who has taken up her position on the bed, has come to the same conclusion and refuses to let her come anywhere near the bed. The pup comes out of the bathroom (where she's built a nest), Cassie barks crabbily at her, and she runs back to the bathroom nest.
I think that's where she's going to have to stay for the night.
Anybody have any experience with a dog this size eating a complete baby bird, coyote-style?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by susan on
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How did Ruby do with the bird? Although I would freak out, I probably wouldn't have been to terribly concerned. People give them raw chicken wings and such, and its considered good for them. Hope all is well.
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Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on
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She was fine. She did not barf. She didn't even burp. No doggydiarrhea, no unusual BMs that I can find. After much lobbying (as in you are not going to sleep until i get my way), she weaseled her way back onto the bed. So I was mighty glad she didn't woof up whatever critter she'd consumed.
And eventually I figured out that it wasn't a baby bird; it was a hummingbird. The feathers are distinctive -- not downy but long, slender, and stiff. She acquired it after dark. Hummers go into a torpid state at night, almost like a mini-hibernation. They'll roost near the ground (sometimes) inside a shrub or bush...and Ruby's favorite playhouse in the backyard is a Meyer lemon whose limbs come down to the ground and form a wonderful canopy for her to hide in. If a hummer ill-advisedly decided to spend the night there, all she would have had to do is pluck it off the branch.
A hummingbird has a long, sharp beak that could, if she didn't chew it up well, puncture her intestines. But CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH must have meant she was chewing it thoroughly, because so far she's showing no sign of a gut problem. I think it would have occurred by now if it was going to.
Dogs DO get punctured intestines from eating raw chicken bones. And yes, so do wolves and coyotes. I hope Corgi Humans will refrain from feeding their dogs chicken bones. Please.
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Permalink Reply by Julia on
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Oh, my my, what a familiar story! First thing I will say is "Don't Panic." Since it's been several days, you must be past that, anyway. My bird dogs, spaniels, will catch birds on the fly and have them crunched up and swallowed before I can catch them. My corgi never caught a bird, but I did once catch her hiding half (yes, half) a bunny under my bed. The bird dog wasn't fast enough to catch her. This was not her only bunny. The only problem we've had is the worms that bunnies give to pups when eaten. I don't know of any parasite issues with birds. Kudos to your pup on her speed - hummingbirds are fast!
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In her younger years, Cassie almost caught a bird on the wing. Corgis when in their prime can be very fast. LOL! Rabbits! Now, if only you could get her to skin it and fricassee it in garlic, onion, and tomatoes for you....
I doubt if Ruby caught the hummer on the wing. It was after dark. Hummingbirds take shelter after dark in trees and shrubbery -- often fairly low to the ground -- and pass into a torpid state. A cat or a dog can just pick it up and carry it off when it's in that state. Occasionally a cat will carry a living hummingbird into a house and drop it at the human resident's feet. Said human may be surprised when the bird wakes up and takes flight.
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