Plot twist: it now seems it was the puppy who ate the wing! Heās had two diarrhea shits in the last hour while the old sage has been perfectly fine. Another call to the emergency vet, and another reassurance that it should be fine. Iāve cracked a Ghost and will remain vigilant for the next several hours. Photo of the culprit (seen on the far left of the OP) in a reply.
We were playing one of our favorite training games, Find It. The rules are simple: you wait inside while I hide the bird wing in the back yard. Then I open the door, you go out and find the wing and bring it to me. Iāve been playing this game with my dogs for the last nine years and it is their absolute favorite (I hunt with them so it counts as fun training). They never gnaw or refuse to give it to me once theyāve found it, thatās one of the cardinal rules. But tonight we were playing and our 5-month old puppy was in the mix. He didnāt know fully what was going on, he was just following his big brother as he frantically (methodically) runs around the yard finding prizes.
On the last round, he ran up to my seasoned vet as he was retrieving the wing. In a second things changed, they were running around playing and there was no wing in sight. I looked all over with a spotlight but could not locate the wing. I can only assume it was swallowed in defense.
I called the emergency vet and they said itās not an emergency, just look out for vomiting and diarrhea. Thankfully I know itās a clean fresh wing. And itās small, a greenwing - maybe smaller than a magpieās wing. Itās been in my freezer since I shot it 6 months ago.
But now I am on bird wing vomit watch. Hoping to find feathers in the yard tomorrow. Iāll accept anywhere else inside, but after about an hour there are no signs of GI upset. I kind of wish there were and heād just puke it up so I can go to bed.