— By Dr. Perry Jameson
With four growing children in our (Jameson) home, someone is constantly eating. The recent discussions of the environmental dangers of plastic bags have made me feel somewhat guilty. So much of the food we consume comes in some sort of bag that eventually ends up in the trash and then landfill. We also take food out of one plastic bag and put into a smaller bag to send in school lunches or take to the beach for a picnic.
These environmental concerns had my family trying to find ways to reduce the plastic bags we use. Recently, however, I found another reason to have as few food-filled plastic bags in my home as possible.
The May 15 edition of the Journal of the Veterinary Medical Association had a column warning veterinarians about the dangers of plastic bags to pets.
The dog or cat puts their head into the plastic bag to eat whatever remnants of food remain. They inhale, tightening the bag. The more they attempt to breathe, the tighter the bag becomes. In less than five minutes, they will suffocate.
Dr. Jason Nicholas started Preventive Vet to spread the word about this and other preventable pet dangers. At his website, www.preventivevet.com, there are terrible stories of pet parents returning home to find there cat or dog has been asphyxiated by a plastic food bag.
I cannot even count the number of times I have come home to find pieces of a plastic bag on my dog Flipper’s bed. My biggest worry until now was that he would swallow some plastic and develop an intestinal obstruction requiring surgery. At least I would have the opportunity to help him with this problem. But with suffocation, by the time I realize what has happened, it would probably be too late.
Dr. Nichols has gathered information from more than 1,000 pet parents whose dogs or cats had suffocated from a plastic bag. Chip and snack bags are the most common culprit (72 percent), followed by pet food and treat bags (11 percent) and all others, such as bread bags and Pringles tubes (11 percent).
About 25 percent of the time, owners reported the pet had gotten the bags out of the garbage. However, 22 percent found the bags on coffe etables or side tables, 13 percent off of a kitchen counter, 6 percent outside and the rest from multiple other locations.
One of the most disturbing findings for me was that 18 percent of the people who were not home when this occurred were gone for less than 15 minutes.
Preventive Vet recommends keeping these bags out of your home by storing food in plastic containers and serving in bowls instead of just eating out of the bag. When disposing of the bags, cut a hole along the bottom and side of the bag to reduce the risks of suffocation. I never throw a six-pack ring from canned drinks way without cutting all the rings to protect wildlife. I need to take the same approach to plastic bags to protect my pets.
If you find this has happened to your pet, remove the bag as quickly as possible. Check for signs of breathing. The chest should be moving and you can feel air being exhaled from the nose or mouth. If they are not breathing, open the mouth and look to see if a piece of the bag is blocking the airway. Be careful as you can be seriously injured if they bite down.
If your pet is unresponsive and not breathing, start performing CPR immediately. There are several YouTube videos that show how to perform this on your pet. If you are a pet owner, you should learn how. As soon as possible, get your pet to a veterinarian, even if they appear to recover normally. Going without oxygen even for a short period can cause problems that may not be visible initially.
Dr. Henri Bianucci and Dr. Perry Jameson are with Veterinary Specialty Care LLC. Send questions to petdocs@postandcourier.com.
