Is coal dangerous for dogs?

whatanidiot

My 9month old staffie is obsessed with coal I honestly have no idea how he even manages to get it but it seems like everytime I turn around he has another piece in his mouth. He knows he's not to eat it cuz I just have to say no and he drops it and puts on his sulky face But I'm worried it might be dangerous for his little tummy :(

purejuice

My 5 month old staffie does the same, she loves coal or turf and if she is left alone she will go in the bags and pull it all around the living room, she has never had a bad belly with this but as far as i know she has never eaten a full one

EGAR

Hi there, several of mine are holy terrors when it comes to coal or brickets. Needless to say, I tell them off but every now and then they manage to sneak a piece of either and eat it. No ill side effects apart from black poo and in Phoebe's case slight constipation (she is prone to it).

If the dog eats more non-food items than just coal, I would be worried about Pica.

January

One of my JRTs took a bad reaction to smokeless coal a couple of weeks back... shaking uncontrollably and vomitting, had to bring him to vets and he had to put on drip overnight and given activated charcoal, apparently there's some film covering the smokeless coal that is harmful to dogs...

dvet

Another thing to watch for is if he swallowed a big lump without breaking it up, it could get stuck in his gut... this happens to a lot of dogs who eat stones, balls etc (even random things like knickers/socks!!), it makes them get pretty sick 7 they usually need surgery.

Can you keep the coal in some sort of lockable bin/put it out of reach? Or otherwise make it taste bad somehow.. although I can't think what you could put on it that wouldn't stop it from burning! (edit: pepper?? :O)

dvet

p.s. what do you feed him? sometimes if they are missing something in their diet it makes them eat strange things!

whatanidiot

Thanks for the replies He eats Red Mills Leader puppy food, he gets this twice a day, once in the morning and once at night and he loves it (he prefers to get treats of course ). It's little pieces of coal that he's eating, nothing big that'd hurt him. The coal isn't kept where he can get at it

Bunnywabbit

I used to eat coal as a child, and Im still here.. Yeah that probably doesnt help..

dvet

whatanidiot wrote: »

Thanks for the replies He eats Red Mills Leader puppy food, he gets this twice a day, once in the morning and once at night and he loves it (he prefers to get treats of course ). It's little pieces of coal that he's eating, nothing big that'd hurt him. The coal isn't kept where he can get at it

At the risk of sounding silly... where is he getting it from then?!

If it's from the fireplace, you could put up a fireguard when you're not in the room.

whatanidiot

dvet wrote: »

At the risk of sounding silly... where is he getting it from then?!

If it's from the fireplace, you could put up a fireguard when you're not in the room.

haha sorry that was me being dumb....yup it's the fire he gets them, more when the fires being filled he takes little pieces that fall and hides them in his bed I've been doing spot checks to catch him

whatanidiot

EGAR wrote: »

Hi there, several of mine are holy terrors when it comes to coal or brickets. Needless to say, I tell them off but every now and then they manage to sneak a piece of either and eat it. No ill side effects apart from black poo and in Phoebe's case slight constipation (she is prone to it).

If the dog eats more non-food items than just coal, I would be worried about Pica.

Thankfully it just seems to be the coal he does enjoy picking up rocks and throwing them in the air though He's in a destructive mood at the moment which I'm hoping he'll grow out of, he no longer has his lovely fluffy bed....just fluff hehe