Dogs’ Erroneous Eating Costs Millions in Veterinary Bills, Trupanion Says

Dogs have eating patterns that they inherited from their ancestral relatives. They dislike bitter tastes, but other than that, everything tastes delicious.

According to Petfinder, dogs are scavengers. They love trotting along, sniffing the ground looking for something to chew and swallow even if it is ingestible, and that is every dog's trait.

Most of the dogs around the world are not well-taken care off. Most of them are feral creature wandering around human settlements, feeding on garbage.

Dogs have a very powerful digestive system and dogs that are used to survive on garbage can eat anything without harming themselves. However, a pampered dog that has the same trait is not safe from gastrointestinal distress once ingested something that it should not.

Trupanion, a pet insurance provider based in Seattle, Washington, said that dog's improper eating behaviour has resulted in over 6,000 claims. It has a total payout of more than $4.2 million to their customers' veterinary bills.

Foreign body ingestion claims are increasing every year. In 2015, Trupanion paid 10 percent more foreign body claims compared to 2014.

Their data shows that the claims are frequent among dogs that are less than three years old, although it can happen at any age. There is also an increase that occurs to those dogs that around 8 years old and another small increase to dogs at around 14 to 15 years old.

They also found that there are specific breeds that just can't stop their bad eating habits. These are the Bernese Mountain Dog, Doberman Pinscher, Goldendoodles, Golden Retriever, and English Bulldog.

Those breeds can cost their owners an average of $1,400 annually just for the treatment of foreign bodies. Some owners even pay more as the cost of veterinary care increases too.

Meanwhile, data shows that the claims also happen to cats. Although the claims are 10 percent fewer, cats are more expensive to treat.