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During our usual off-leash walks in the forested path in front of our house, Jessie will sometimes veer off for a second - she might follow a scent of something - but immediately catches up to me when I call or whistle for her. But tonight... she veered, I called, I whistled, she didn't come. Highly unusual for her. I knew where she was - she went off behind a pile of shrubs and sticks beside the river - so went back to get her. Found her, called, she looked at me sheepishly - she had something in her mouth. Thought it was some stringy river reeds or something. She came over to me - told her to leave it, she dropped it - I see this black icky thing with feet - it was a dead, rotting, stinky bird. Now I know she's a retriever and it's in her nature to retrieve dead ducks, etc., but EWWWWWWWW! I just got out of the shower, but can still smell it lol... It was so gross I heaved lol... Figures it was right before dinner lol.. Of course the first thing that came to my mind was the story my sister-in-law told me a few weeks ago - some friend of hers dog died in his lap while he was driving to the emergency vet clinic - the dog had eaten a dead animal and became listless and very ill. Of course I'm at home freaking. Asked hubby to get the peroxide. Now we didn't make her barf, but I just got her to drink tons of water, and fed her as usual, and am keeping a close eye on her. So far she seems o.k. - no unusual behaviours, etc., so think she's o.k.

Anyone else had this happen to them? i.e., dog catching mice, rats, birds, live, dead or, ugh, rotting? I've got a surgeon's stomach when it comes to blood and other various bodily functions, but it'll take a while for the smell of that rotting bird to get out of my nose LOL!

Okay....I have to admit I did get a little chuckle! Two years ago my husky x , while out for a walk with DH, came upon road kill a-la-racoon style in the bush off the bloor ramp off the danforth. Needless to say he got a nasty case of the runs a few hours later- at least my floors were ceramic! So he got a big sudsy bath (oatmeal, aloe, baking soda) and smelled like clean laundry. But DH was heaving while cleaning up the runs as it was super stinky

Yeah I know what you talking about its just somthing I think dogs like. This passed spring I took the gang out for a hike and they found a dead deer that was killer by the wolves. And Bear my female shepherd thought it was the greatest thing in the world. She roled in it and than tryed eating it. It was so grows. I tryed my best to get her out but she just roled in it and well I ended up having to bath her. But trying to keep her away form it was hard now that we knew it was there( it was only 25 feet form ythe property line and we have 3 acres) witch was not far at all really. And I didnt want her to come in comtacted with the wolves either. Because they where still around. We herd them. But yeah ever once in a while my dogs will find something dead and I try not to let them have it,but there are times that I find them already enjoying it. Alls I do is call the vet and ask them what to watch for and let it ran its course. They do get sick form it but it gose away in a day.

So no your not alone in this.

Bayley has eaten a few dead things with no ill effects but this is since she\'s been on raw, so maybe her digestive juices are working better than before. It\'s funny she\'ll eat something on the trail but put a piece of nice raw chicken in front of her and I get the\'you expect me to eat that!!\' look. dogs..honestly!!

My first dog lab/spaniel mix I swear went out of her way to find the grossest stinkiest stuff to roll in and usually at the far end of the trail, not near any water and so by the time you get back to the car the smell and gunk has really settled into her coat. Not to mention with the oils in her coat it would take alot of shampoo to get her clean. Usually the stuff was unidentifiable, stinky sometimes green-black in colour..just plain disgusting and I would\'ve taken the smell of fresh skunk over it. Bayley isn\'t really into rolling in smelly stuff.

Cool - o.k., I feel a bit better LOL! But you'd think a rotting animal might have worms, parasites, etc., festering in it - ewww gross lol... - so you'd think dogs could run the risk of becoming quite ill from eating it. I suppose it also depends on exactly WHAT it died from. Guess that's why dogs have such strong stomachs and digestive systems, eh?

YUCKY!!! about a month ago jazzy did the same thing, only it was rolling in a big fat rotting pickeral fish or some kind of big fish..

hour long drive home after that.. with stinky fur.. my ma doesn't like spending money on stuff but we were looking for a salon to get her a bath before we left, but it was too late.. about 8:30 at night..

The barf smelled worse than the rodent that went down her gullet. Uh boy. That was gross. Diarrhea was the biggest thing preceded by amazing farts.
So far Ella has shown no interest in dead things. Scout used to roll in them and get the smooshy gooshy, rotten, maggoty stuff on her hackles. So oily nothing would take that smell away.

Have fun!

Lindy hasn't done anything yet (thankfully pinecones and rotting grass are her thing-which my house is covered in I might add), but Baillie always got into things he shouldn't and a dead baby bird was one of them, so I understand your "yuck" factor.

We figure he found it under the raspberry bushes and as a gulper he had to have swallowed the thing whole. Anyway, I agree with Scout6, barf smell and diarrhea was a thousand times worse than any dead bird I had ever found in the yard. It must have blocked up his gut because even though he would attempt to eat and drink it would come back up (was on raw at the time but it was so large it didn't make a difference). We ended up having to give him iv fluids for several days because he had become so dehydrated. Finally after two days of this gross disgusting sickness he threw the bird carcass back up (on my lap I might add - while I was trying to put his car harness on him). Anyways, after he threw it up he had one day of rice and cottage cheese and some more fluids and he was back to normal and back on his raw diet no problems.

Just be thankful you caught her when you did and that there was still something for her to drop!

-Karen

Keymo\'s first \"unintentional\" Raw meal, was a rabbit foot he found when we made a pee stop for him.
The parking lot had recently been plowed after a heavy snowfall (remember snow? BOY it\'s hot!) and I guess the rabbit didn\'t make it !
Yikes !
I guess it wasn\'t a \'lucky\" rabbit\'s foot for HIM !
I got most of it away from Keymo, but he got a lot of fur stuck to his lips

omg great stories - I'm lol big time here at work LOL! Karen, was your laptop at least closed? LOL