November 16, 2003
A few months and one year. She's grown!
10:30 p.m.
Today was Dusty's 1st Birthday! She received special "Birthday Girl" treatment all day, including two trips to the dog park to play with friends. In the morning, she saw Clancy and Luna and in the evening, the Pug and Ginger.
She also opened three birthday gifts. She got a little purple monkey that plays goofy music, a neato purple ball and a green chew bone. She loved all of them, but especially the bone - she went right to work on it.
Being more familiar with Nyla Bones, I had assumed that this bone was just a big chew bone. So you can imagine my horror when, about 20 minutes later, the bone had dissappeared! I looked all over the place for it, then the realisation finally dawned: Dusty ate it.
I was afraid that she had swallowed it whole and had frightening flashes of emergency surgery and big vet bills, all because I bought her a green bone. I searched the Internet and found a webpage dedicated to a Chihuahua who had died after chocking on a green bone. The colour drained out of my face. I looked at Dusty, sitting there in her basket with an innocent expression, and felt a despair take hold of me.
So I did the only thing I could think of: I called E, who knows a bit more about this stuff than I do.
"I gave one of those green bones to Dusty" I explained, "and it was gone in 20 minutes."
E laughed, "That's all?"
"I think she swallowed it whole"
"She probably broke it apart first. I wouldn't worry about it..."
Turns out, those bones are *meant* to be *eaten*. So basically, I gave Dusty a large, chicken-flavoured dog cookie. No wonder she ate it so fast - she probably was afraid that I would change my mind!
The worst effects of this will likely be the green poo over the next few days!