Puppies are bundles of joy, filled with an insatiable curiosity that often leads them to explore the world around them through taste, touch, and manipulation of objects with their mouths. However, this innocent behavior can sometimes lead to dangerous situations such as choking, where a puppy accidentally inhales an object that blocks its windpipe and hinders breathing.
When a puppy is choking, it will exhibit signs of distress, including gagging, pawing at the face and neck, drooling, rubbing the face on the ground, pale or blue gums (which should normally be pink), restlessness, panic, increased noise when trying to breathe, gasping, coughing, or retching, inability to inhale, fainting, and loss of consciousness.
If your puppy is choking, immediate action is crucial. You can administer emergency first aid to try to clear the blockage and save your dog’s life. If the blockage is removed and your puppy is able to breathe again, it is still important to seek immediate veterinary care to assess for trauma to the respiratory tract and avoid any complications from the choking episode.
Choking in puppies occurs when a puppy accidentally inhales an object that blocks the windpipe and prevents air from getting into the lungs. The causes of choking include bones, fragments of toys or other household items, rawhide chews, rocks, cat toys, baby toys, and balls that can completely block off the windpipe. Even kibble and treats can be a choking hazard if your puppy eats very fast or tends to swallow foods whole.
The symptoms of choking can appear similar to other respiratory conditions, but the treatments are very different. If first aid for choking is administered to a puppy who is not choking, this can cause injury to the throat or respiratory tract. Other respiratory conditions that may be confused with choking include reverse sneezing, laryngeal paralysis, and respiratory infections like kennel cough that can appear as retching, gagging, and coughing.
If your puppy was recently eating, chewing on something, or playing with a toy and suddenly appears to have trouble breathing, it’s time to check if it’s choking. If you suspect your puppy is choking, try calling your puppy’s name or getting your puppy’s attention in some other way. If the puppy is able to stop the current behavior and return to normal behavior, choking is unlikely. However, if your puppy continues to show symptoms of distress or discomfort, it is likely the puppy is choking and requires immediate assistance.
Treatment involves seeking immediate veterinary assistance by taking your puppy to the nearest veterinary clinic or emergency hospital. If you are too far away from a veterinarian and your puppy is struggling to breathe, you can attempt the following first aid measures to remove the obstruction.
If your puppy is conscious, keep the pup cool and calm and transport to a veterinary hospital as quickly as possible. Do not insert your fingers into the puppy’s mouth and try to dislodge the item. You can severely injury your hands and fingers when the puppy is conscious, due to fear and panic and the puppy’s own struggles to remove the item. Perform a standing Heimlich maneuver: For a small puppy, hold your pup’s back against your stomach (head up, paws down), and find the soft hollow under the ribs. Your closed fist should fit into this spot. Pull up and in two or three times toward your own stomach, using a thrusting motion. Remove the object once it is expelled.
If your puppy is unconscious, pull the tongue out straight and open the mouth widely. The saliva will be very slippery and using a cloth can help to grip and move the tongue out of the way. Perform a finger sweep and check for any objects at the back of the throat. Use your finger in a sweeping motion from the side of the mouth to the center to try to dislodge the obstruction (without pushing the object further into the throat). You can also use tongs or pliers to try to grasp the object and gently pull it out. Be aware that there is a firm bone and cartilage structure in the throat (the Adam’s apple) that is normal and must not be pulled out, so be certain that you are pulling on a foreign object and not the bones in the throat.
Preventing choking in puppies is the best way to reduce the risk. Supervise your puppy’s playtime, and do not allow access to toys or items that are small enough to swallow and large enough to block the pup’s throat. Immediately discard and replace damaged and chewed-up toys. Secure cabinets, drawers, and containers that may contain easy-to-swallow items. Monitor your puppy’s growth. Toys that were appropriately sized when the pup was smaller may become hazards later. Keep your puppy away from cat toys and baby toys. If your puppy eats very fast and swallows kibble whole, use slow feeder bowls to encourage chewing. Choking often occurs in situations like playing fetch with balls in the park. Do not allow puppies to play with any balls that will fit down their throat.