No Bones about It

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

11 Jul 2008 01:10 PM

I have an ongoing beef with residents of this apartment complex who don't treat it like a home. The people who don't pick up after their dogs are a big part of my irritation; people who are irresponsible with garbage are another.

I've lost count of how many time Moose has found some kind of vaguely edible treat on the ground -- bread, fast food wrappers, bones, and more. I hope the litter is accidental, but when I think of how often Moose has crunched down on a chicken bone in the parking lot, I fear that it's not.

I'll say one thing for the big goofball -- he sure can move quickly when he finds a delicious "ground snack". Sometimes it's a kitty snack, sometimes it's something near the dumpsters.

Yesterday evening he found a huge chicken bone in the grass near a dumpster and managed to chew and swallow most of it before I got it away from him. I hope the splinters of bone don't harm his digestive tract -- I'm keeping a close eye on him for symptoms of injury.

Maybe someone thinks they are being kind by leaving "treats" out for the dogs (and cats) who live at the complex. Maybe they don't realize that some kinds of bone (like chicken and turkey bones) are no match for a dog's powerful jaws. The splinters of bone can cause some serious damage on their way through the digestive system. Even if the bone doesn't splinter, smaller bones (like those from most fowl) can be a choking hazard.

I really hope someone isn't deliberately trying to harm dogs and cats here at the complex by leaving bones outside the dumpsters. I hope it's just someone being careless, dropping their food waste on the ground (because it'll break down eventually) rather than walking to the nearest trash receptacle.

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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