The common household item I am talking about is chips bags. Ya…that was a punch in the gut lightbulb moment, huh?  Chip bags or other bags along those lines that food would come in are a danger to our pets.  They are a fairly strong plastic to protest the food inside and if pet sticks their head in there looking to get a snack and get stuck. Then the dog or can quickly suffocate. But there will be a few minutes of panic…if you have ever seen an animal with its head stuck in something you know what I mean.

OH my…even as I sit here and type this out I am getting upset just thinking about this.  Because I can see how easily it can happen. I am very lucky ShadowDog is not very interested in things like that, but I know many pets are and will dig in the trash, pull things off the counter and be very 'creative' on getting what they want.

Our best defense against this is awareness.  Honestly, until I was reading the website of Prevent Pet Suffocation I had not thought of this. 

I did find a post at iheartdogs.com that listed some very common hazards for our pets and chips bags were on the top of the list…their collar getting caught was one as well:

  • Cut open discarded chip/cereal/food bags
  • Keep an eye on your pet
  • Avoiding dangling tags and invest in an embroidered breakaway collar or harness

The Prevent Pet Suffocation group adds the following:

  • Keep all trash can lids tightly fastened, locked, or behind a cabinet, especially in the kitchen.
  • Keep kitchen pantry door closed.
  • Learn CPR for pets.
  • Do not allow your pets to roam freely in the house while you are away.
  • Alert all your friends and family about the suffocation dangers of bags.
  • Lobby to companies of snacks, cereal, and dog food manufacturers to put warning labels on their bags.

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