06/12/2024
We'll preface this with the fact that Clover, the sweet corgi in this story, survives.
We know stories like this can be difficult to hear and sometimes we try to skip over things that may upset us — but this is such an important story to learn from. It could very easily happen to anyone. And it happens to dogs and cats (and wildlife) more often than you know.
Clover's owner had let her out to the yard just as he had done for all the dogs he's shared his home with over the last 20 years. When he called her in ten minutes later and she didn't come back, he went looking for her. He found her with a chip bag over her head; she was unresponsive and things were looking dire. After trying CPR, she was rushed to the vet and on the way, she miraculously came-to. After 6 hours of monitoring and testing at the vet, they were very lucky to be able to bring her home.
While Clover was incredibly lucky to have survived, she may have suffered permanent hearing loss.
"When Clover was around one she poked her whole head through a Frito's bag. She was a puppy and we thought it was the cutest thing so I took a pic — being ignorant that one year later she would almost die from the same thing.
I think it's an important picture because I'm sure others would have also thought it was funny. Unfortunately it's not."
We are so grateful to Clover's owner who shared their story with us in the hope that it will prevent this tragedy from happening to anyone else.
At least 2–3 pets are lost each week in the U.S. to chip and other snack bag suffocation – and these are just the ones that get reported!
Pet Suffocation Awareness Week is Dec. 1 – 7, 2024
Please help us spread this important awareness. Download our posters and share our social media posts and graphics to get the word out so that no other animal has to go through this ever again.
Learn more and find shareable graphics at www.PreventiveVet.com/pet-suffocation
