I will try to make this brief, but sort of a long story. I was recently made aware of a new way for dogs to get into trouble outdoors.Especially Labs because they like to eat everything. My boy, Baxter Black was playing in some usual, fenced in woods with a Dal friend. This Dal has just lost his sister Dal from acute pancreatitis. She suffered horribly & vet was stumped at the cause. Suspected Lepto. - The vet also suspected that she ingested a large dose of fat, perhaps Thanksgiving leftovers. But it remained a mystery until ( I suspect ) today.
Baxter was just a few steps away from me, sniffing in the woods, like usual when it looked like he ate somthing. I hollered to "drop it" and thank goodness he did. As I grabbed the about 4"x5"x2" thick chunk of mess, I realized it was wild bird food, mixed in FAT! Suet it guess it is called, people feed it to help birds esp in rough winters.I thought this was impossible b/c the owner of the land doesn't feed birds, and we were in the woods! Turns out a neighbor had an elaborate wild bird feeding station next door.Quite a distance away. I think a squirrel must have dragged his prize into the woods.
I just fear this could have been the "fat" culprit that could have killed our poor Dal friend. I contacted my Vet right away, she agreed with my suspicion and even though I am 95% sure Bax did not ingest any of the suet, she recommended I feed Bax a bulky meal of oatmeal right away. It would help absorb the fat & drag out the seeds etc.- If Bax vommited ,she rec Pepcid 2xday. And contact her right away.
Thankfully Baxter seems fine, resting as the pipes in our house thaw so we will have heat again!
I used to LOVE winter here in the northeast .
Just PLEASE be ware of this odd danger, I had not encountered in my many "Lab years".

Thanks Sandy for the heads up! What a freak thing, would never had thought of that as being a danger.

I stopped feeding suet to the birds for just this reason. The wind blew down the suet bag and my dog got the suet. If you see this happen it's good to induce vomiting.

I am sure this could be a problem...but I have had many dogs eat those over the years, without any issues. I wouldn't purposely let any have it, though. Could be the difference between a sock eating dog that throws them up, and one that needs surgery. Sometimes we just get lucky.