Dog owners beware of real dog bones which have been smoked. They sell them in pet stores, big box stores such as Home Depot or Lowe's and at other places treats for animals are sold. I have a terrier/benjii mix and he loved that bone. Matter of fact he nearly loved that bone to death. He was so proud of the bone, he'd carry it around from room to room stopping periodically to show it off to the cats. I never even thought about the bone being dangerous for him but as I said, it nearly killed him. During the night he took the bone under the bed and chewed close to 2/3 of it. We noticed the next day he wasn't quite as perky as normal so started to really watch him. He got up in bed with us and started shivering so I covered him with his favorite blanket. Towards lunch time I noticed he hadn't moved to get a drink of water or to eat anything. I started to look for the bone and found where he'd thrown part of it up and found the other part he hadn't eaten. Normally my vet doesn't work on weekends but he feels a special affinity for my pup since he was the one who saved his back leg after he was hit by the car (freak accident, I thought he was with fiance and fiance thought he was with me but he'd really snuck outside to take care of business). Our vet ran two tests and both came back showing he was extremely dehydrated. Three days later and a stay at the vets along with an intravenous drip to rehydrate him, my pup got to come home. This little treat didn't come cheaply since it ran us $350.00 for round the clock monitoring, rehydration and follow-up testing to see if he was rehydrating. So, beware of the real bones which have been cooked and smoked.
Sorry for hijacking your thread but I always want to get the word out about the danger. We weren't the first to run into this problem but we were one of the lucky one's since we got him to the vet in time.
BagCam, If I thought for one minute these animals would be reunited with their owners, I'd sign the petition in a heartbeat. The problem is the conditions they find themselves living in. They have to do whatever they can to survive and that can mean killing smaller dogs for food, reverting back to pack behavior and essentially losing all of the traits that make them our beloved pets. The chances of pets being reunited with their owners is very slim. And remember, they've reverted back to at least a semi-wild state in order to survive. Even if the pets were united with the owners, they've been through so much they won't be the same animal they were before. As much as it hurts me to say this, euthanasia is the most humane and loving thing one can do in this situation. Even cats turn feral very quickly when they have no one to take care of them. It doesn't take long at all for both cats and dogs to revert. Once they've reverted they can never be trusted because they will have acquired street smarts and won't be hesitant to fight for their survival again. Thankfully some shelters and many hotels are know allowing pets in provided they are properly caged.
Puppies and kittens stand a better chance at readjusting and becoming good house pets. Better to use your energy for the little ones than to try and reunite pets with their previous owners.
I didn't mean for my post to become so long and I'm sorry I seemed to be writing a book.
I'm appalled by the attitude that ten days of surviving on its own ruins a pet. I've rescued feral cats as well as dogs that have been on the streets. It is quite doable.
The throw-away attitude some are showing here is pretty sickening and ill-informed. Do you tell anyone with a missing pet that they are better off putting the pet down if it has been gone for more than ten days????
Thousands of pets are STILL IN THEIR HOMES. Many owners left food and water for a week, thinking they would be back in 2 days at the most. They didn't realize what would happen, and that their dogs and cats would be trapped inside with no food or water. And packs of dogs running loose for a week are not wild dogs, they're just desperate to survive.
Any animals not rescued or killed will die horrible deaths of starvation or dehydration or heat exhaustion. If they can't be rescued, then being shot is definitely more humane than the alternatives.
Thanks for posting that information.