oh Zuzu: January 2010

"It has been a whole week," Zuzu's Papa reminded me. She's sitting right next to me as I write, happily chewing away on the old rope toy she just found hidden under our bed. She sure loves to chew.

Last week, we traveled to Philadelphia to visit our extended family and friends for the holidays. We stayed in a lovely hotel that took dogs, right in the middle of town. The family got together, celebrated, exchanged gifts, ate entirely too much food, and then went our separate ways. Before heading home, Charlotte wanted to do a little sightseeing. As cute as Zuzu is, dogs are not allowed inside the Betsy Ross House, and as cold as it was, her Papa couldn't stand still in the freezing cold waiting for us. He happened to find a wonderful little pet supply store just around the corner - they even had a French Bulldog on their logo. We had to buy the bag with the logo on it for Zuzu (or maybe it was for me).

And we couldn't just buy the bag. We thought about booties to protect her sweet paws from the salty winter sidewalks, but they were a little too snug. Still, how can you leave a precious little pet supply store with just one thing? So Papa picked out a Greenie.

It was then my turn to stay with Zuzu while everyone else went on a tour of the Mint. Zuzu and I got in the car, I opened the package, and gave Zuzu this dark green half bone half toothbrush-shaped...thing. Papa had said: "Oh she LOVES these things" - and he was right! She got right down to business, chewing it like mad - you would think she hadn't eaten for weeks. She was snorting and chomping away, right on my lap, and suddenly I thought -what is this thing anyway? Within 30 seconds all I could see was just the very end of the little green tip sticking out of her mouth. That's when it occurred to me that I didn't really know if a Greenie was food or a toy. I reached in and pulled it out of her mouth - which was quite a struggle. She did NOT want to give it up. It was still all in one piece and she had worked the toothbrush end of it into a gooey, slimy, white mess. I inspected the package and saw that it was described as a treat. Ok, so it IS edible.

I looked in her big black eyes, so desperate to have it back and I thought what the heck? I gave it back to her. It is food for heaven's sake. And it's green. Isn't anything that's green good for you? Meanwhile, I continued to scan the label for any other warnings - when not 10 seconds later all chewing and snorting and swallowing suddenly stopped.

Silence.

We stared at each other and I realized it was gone. GONE. She had swallowed it in one piece.

I thought I saw a flicker of momentary regret flash across Zuzu's face before she lay down on my lap to stare at the dashboard. How long was that thing? 5"? How long is this dog? 12"? Oh Zuzu.

I immediately googled Greenies® on my phone. Apart from links to Greenies.com - where you can apparently order them by the boatload - on the very first page there was a link about Nutro - the pet company that distributes Greenies®.

Back in May Nutro pulled them from supermarkets due to several consumer complaints about people whose dogs had become ill or DIED from intestinal blockage due to their zealous consumption. S&M NuTec, the company that makes Greenies® , were involved in a class action law suit as a result. I looked down at the sweetest dog I have ever known laying on my lap and I just couldn't believe it. I called her vet back home and, after they put me on hold for what seemed an eternity, they assured me that Greenies® are edible and mostly (85%) digestible. They said to watch out for vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy. They told me to make sure that she passes it. She should within 48 hours.

Although health information found over the internet is often dubious, I couldn't help myself. I continued to search the links to the cases of the poor dogs who had died. One of the articles I found, "The Grievance with Greenies" was published by Healing Springs Animal Hospital in Galax, Virginia in 2006. Mind you, they SELL Greenies® in their webstore so they are clearly biased toward the product. Their aim was to provide "veterinarian approved information from a known and credible source on the matter." Hmmm. The newsletter stated that while they had seen many cases of choking and intestinal blockage, none had been caused by Greenies®.

"The claims against Greenies® require more investigation, but seem to have a basis in truth...Eating is dangerous. Dogs can choke on any number of consumable products just as children can choke on hard candies"

It's true. I almost choked to death myself at Ikea on a Swedish meatball. My dear husband saved my life with the Heimlich maneuver. My daughter nearly choked to death eating dinner at the kitchen table. I saved her. But Zuzu hadn't choked. She swallowed it successfully. I was more concerned that she wouldn't be able to digest it.

At the end of the article, Healing Springs advises:

"When you do treat your pets with Greenies®, watch them consume the treat. You want them to chew it to nothing. If they bite off chunks and swallow chunks, take it away from the dog and discontinue use of the treat. Finally, learn to recognize the signs of intestinal blockage."

Oh dear. How about if I watched her consume it whole???

A week later, I still have a hard time believing she has passed it all. I never saw a green poo, although I did wish for one. Papa saw one, but just one. She has been acting her same old hungry/sleepy/playful self. I still think about taking her in for x-rays, having now seen some pretty gruesome pictures of undigested Greenies® extracted from other dogs' intestines.