So I have a 3 year old chocolate lab who likes to swallow golf ball sized rocks or larger. This has been happening since she was a puppy and has resulted in one abdominal surgery when she was 1 to remove a rock from her intestine. Then when she was 2, we had to give her subcutaneous fluids and pain meds to try and have her pass another rock. The vet didn’t want to perform surgery as he was worried about the amount of scar tissue build up that would result in essentially the same area as the first surgery. The vet cannot figure out why she enjoys swallowing rocks so much.
When she goes outside to do her business I will either go out with her to watch her or watch her through the window. I cannot leave her outside unattended for very long. Even when I take her on walks in my pasture I have to watch her like a hawk.
I live in an area where we have rocks in abundance so removing rocks from the back yard is virtually impossible. I have removed easy to get loose surface rocks but she will dig to try and find some. She also has a genetic defect where her right ear is not attached to her head/skull by the cartilage, it’s just free floating, so a muzzle does not work.
I would love for her to be able to run and play when I work outside but I can’t trust her to not swallow a rock when I’m not looking. If she swallows one big enough she will have to have surgery again but I am worried the scar tissue build up would be too great and she would eventually have to be put down before her time(too much scar tissue and her intestines will not function properly).
Does anyone have any advice on how to train her out of this behavior? Has anyone had this problem and figured out why their dog had a rock craving? (On a side note, she also eats her own poop, but I am working with her on this issue and it seems to be slowly working.)
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/kctlnb/dog_eats_rocksneed_some_advice/
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