dog heimlich maneuver?

10 years ago

A couple days ago, I was giving my dog some "treats" which were just kibbles of her everyday dog food. Suddenly she stopped eating them and started acting strange, she was bobbing her head and looking around like she was out of it. I got her up to take her outside and she was staggering around but then acted like she needed to vomit maybe so we got her outside and she ran out and vomited three times and was suddenly A-OK as if nothing happened. She then peed and pooped right away and was just like nothing had ever happened. After this happened, I was telling friends and they said it sounded like she had a piece of food in her wind pipe. So does this sound right, like she was choking? If so, have you ever had to do a Heimlich maneuver on a dog? She is a 60 lb dog. How would you do this? It was very scary, I thought she was having a stroke or a heart attack really and didn't know what to do!

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arkansas girl
Original Author

10 years ago

I hope it wasn't a seizure but it could have been. I will definitely call the vet if this happens again. I thought about everything that she had eaten and there was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing new. One thing that did stand out is that right before she sat down for her treats, I had taken her outside to do her business and she was biting at a bug which could have been a bee! I didn't see it before she bit it. But the honey bees are out in the yard on the clover.

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Comments (8)

Nat Kay
10 years ago
I have never done a Heimlich maneuver on my dogs, they are 65lbs and 85lbs - they have gotten food stuck a couple of times, I usually just reach in their mouth and see if I can get out what is stuck - I've been successful in my past attempts, where I couldn't get something out, right after I take out my hand they usually just spit it out. Biggest piece of advise is keep calm, if you panic the dog will panic (they feed off your energy) - a small kibble likely won't block the entire airway, the dog will usually just spit it up itself
pamghatten
10 years ago
She could have had a small seizure .... sounds like some of the symptoms my dog has when he has a seizure.
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socks
10 years ago
Here's a link that might be helpful, good info for us all.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/emergency/common-emergencies/e_dg_choking#
Marigold Flower
10 years ago
Heimlich is needed when the airway is blocked.. Old age has given to me oesophageal narrowing which means that any decent sized bit of food gets stuck but thankfully so far always when it has passed the branching of the airway from the food tube.. if i am careless or forgetful, eg eating while online, and a bit of food gets stuck it is scary and painful but not life threatening. The way forward is to stimulate the gag reflex.. my way is to forcibly swallow water in great gulps and that does the work and the blockage clears up or down. Sounds like the OPs dog knew this... Dogs are clever like that. Took me weeks to work it out..
arkansas girl
Original Author
10 years ago
Marigold, this has happened to my husband also. It all started when he quit smoking...like immediately afterwards.

Yeah sometimes the dogs are smarter than we are! :)
Marigold Flower
10 years ago
Thankful for a sharing! It is scary and gross...And painful. Makes me very careful re food now. Yep re dogs. My old collie used to eat nettles when she was hurting. Emerges they contain a natural painkiller.
User
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
We lost our little poodle last month with this same type of event. He was eating; suddenly acted as though he couldn't breathe, sort of spread his front legs out, walked into our living room and vomited then collapsed. I tried doing heimlich maneuver with no success. We picked him up and immediately left for our vet's office, calling them along the way. He died in a few minutes before we could even get there. He'd had a heart murmur for a couple of years with no other symptoms (we had been told what to look for). The vet intubated him upon arrival and found nothing blocking his windpipe at least as far as the endotracheal tube would go. She thought it was probably heart issues that killed him. Looking back, we had seen him do this type of funny breathing behavior but just thought, as you do, that he'd gotten momentarily choked on a piece of dog food. If you haven't already, I'd recommend a good check up for your dog. I hope she will be fine.