# Dogs eating bird seed



## JennyLynn (Feb 13, 2012)

I know it is not the same with all dogs, but just a word of warning . My dachsund ,(weiner dog) was eating any seed he could find dropped on the floor coming from the bird cages. Well he ended up very sick and was losing the use of his back legs and in pain, I thought he was just getting old but insisted he have a trip to the vet since this seemed to get worse over the last two weeks. The vet said without labs he couldn't be sure so over $400 dollars later, he asks if we had any other animals in the household, yes 2 other dogs and 3 tiels. He asked us directly if he had been eating things coming from the cage dropped on the floor, (yes I sweep every day, i mean every day), I told the vet he had been scavenging as anyone who knows this breed they will literally lick the carpet clean just from a leftover smell lingering. Turned out we almost lost our dog, he has a intestinal infection from bird food , possible bird droppings also. Long story short dogs are not meant to ingest the seeds . His intestines where so swollen, that it has pushed against his heart and his heart is enlarged from the pressure , we came close to losing him. Close to 600 dollars later he is on a special diet, pain med, antibiotics etc. Just wanted to let others know not to take the chance, I will be getting a seed guard tomorrow as well as vacuuming daily and the dog will still not be in the room, I have baby gates in place over the doorways. Lesson learned !


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## RowdyTiel (Jan 24, 2013)

What a frightening experiennce! If I get a tiel, I'll make sure my Golden is no where around the area of the cage. Thank you for the warning, JennyLynn! I hope your doxie gets better soon!


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## anthrogirl80 (Jun 2, 2012)

OMG! Thankyou for letting me know this, my dog tries to eat stuff from the cages all the time. In fact Kevin throws things out of his cage just to watch the dog eat it!


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## urbandecayno5 (Oct 24, 2012)

Thanks for the info!
My 10 year old sheltie likes to pick up stray seed the vacuum doesn't get. He has reoccurring Lyme disease and arthritis in his back legs as it is
Definitely going to be super careful and watch him like a hawk when he's in my tiels room


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## Sheldonsmom (Sep 11, 2011)

Huh? how can his intestines push against his heart as there is a diaphragm, liver and spleen in front of his intestines. The only thing I can imagine is he had an intestinal blockage. Guess it doesn't make sense to me. I have been in a vet clinic for 20 yrs and my dogs will ingest anything from the little amt of bird seed on the floor, chicken poop outside, rabbit they catch etc. Plus I see dogs every day that have eaten worse things than bird seed and poop.


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## JennyLynn (Feb 13, 2012)

That was my exact reaction at first, I mean the dog will turn around and try to eat anything. Just relaying what the vet said. X-rays don't lie, everything was swollen and pushed organs where they had no room,basically displaced them, so it enlarged his heart . He had huge amounts of gas pockets everywhere and the vet did give him stuff to expel the gas and make him poop frequently while the infection is clearing, so your guess about blockage is probably part of it exactly.I have seen him eat squirrels, dog poop, branches,grass, anything you drop on the floor so I was surprised too  Just wanted others to know so even if it's a 1 in 100 chance , nobody wants to be that 1.


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## urbandecayno5 (Oct 24, 2012)

Your little dog ate a squirrel ?


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## JennyLynn (Feb 13, 2012)

I was sitting in the living room and heard a crunching noise , once I figured out what it was I was running around screaming like a little girl, he caught and killed a squirrel and was sitting next to me eating it! Yuck! Yuck!


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Thank you for the warning. My dog loves to eat the stuff the birds drop. I have birds of all sizes too so she eats nuts, nut shells, pellets, seeds, poop, etc. I try to stop her but will be much more careful of it now.


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## Charlie's Mom (Jan 16, 2013)

wow that is awful...I hope he recovers competely. so sad. My dog does not go near the tiel "stuff" but he used to eat chicken pooh, I amost vomitted when he did it the first time, he stopped but my Vet warned me that birds carry a different bacteria that is harmful to us and our pets.. Who knew.

thanks I will be sure to watch him now too..


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## candogseatoranges (Jul 4, 2021)

Can dogs eat oranges?

Can dogs eat *mandarin* *oranges?*


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