A Shiba Inu dog ate more than 70 ibuprofen tablets but his owner rapidly induced him to vomit and saved his life, amazing many on Chinese social media.
The owner, Liu, from Xiangtan in central China’s Hunan province, discovered her Shiba had escaped from his cage and eaten more than 70 ibuprofen pills while she was out saying goodbye to a friend.
“On returning home, I found the cage opened,” she told news platform China.com.cn in mid-September. “I found the chewed-up medicine box ... and I instantly realised he must have swallowed the pills.”
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
Liu usually stored medications safely in a cabinet, but she left this pill box on a table because it had just been handed to her by her departing friend.
“It was a box containing 100 coated pills,” she posted. “The coating was sweet, and my dog naturally has a fondness for sweet things, so he likely mistook the pills for candy.”
Liu immediately administered a lot of soapy water to induce her dog to vomit and promptly sought veterinary care.
While the medical check initially indicated nothing unusual, her dog began vomiting and expelling the ingested pills on the way home. His condition worsened that evening.
“That night, he suddenly vomited a large amount of yellow fluid,” Liu said. “He appeared disoriented, unstable and somewhat faint. I immediately took him to the hospital in the capital city of Changsha.”
Due to the timely rescue, the dog was stabilised after treatment costing roughly 5,000 yuan (US$700). The attending vet noted the importance of Liu’s decision to induce her dog to vomit which prevented more severe complications. Her pet Shiba soon recovered.
“The little dog doesn’t understand why everyone is so concerned about him, but he loves me,” Liu wrote.
She later posted a video on her personal Weibo account featuring her dog in good spirits, sporting a protective neck cone and playing with a Corgi.
Her story struck a chord with pet owners on Chinese social media.
“My Border Collie ate all the folic acid I had prepared for my pregnancy!” one owner noted.
Another posted about the difficulty of feeding a pet dog medicine: “If I hide it in a sausage, the dog manages to filter it out. Yet this one shockingly sneaks the medicine.”
A third observer had some advice: “When owning pets, it’s crucial to maintain a safe environment; otherwise both the pet and one’s finances will suffer.”
More from South China Morning Post:
- ‘Ponytails are seductive’: China school chief reprimanded for accusing girls who wore jewellery or had nicely done hair of trying to attract boys
- ‘Awesome baby!’: toddler in China helps grandmother transport corn harvest on toy tractor, delights social media
- Frugal elderly couple in China save by wearing old clothes and US$2 shoes, move hearts online with US$1.4 million donation to hometown
- Strongest swimmers wanted: China semen bank lures university students to donate with cash and contest to find ‘most vigorous’ sperm
- No makeup: China high-speed rail accused of ‘singling out’ women and cosmetics in public service video about ‘uncivilised behaviour’
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2023.
