This is a topic that came up over the weekend with a client I worked with awhile back. She had made numerous emergency trips to the veterinarian or emergency hospital after her dog swallowed various items. If she could get her dog to stop swallowing things whole, she told me, their lives would be so much easier. This is actually not all that uncommon.
If you have a similar story, you should know there is a name for it…Pica. And there could be real medical reasons for its occurrence such as gastrointestinal disease, anemia, liver disease, pancreatic disease, diseases causing excess appetite (such as diabetes), neurologic diseases, poor diet, being on medications; or it could be due to a behavioral issue. The medical should definitely be ruled out. This is a link to an article about Pica in dogs by Best Friends Animal Society.
