Days ago, a heartbroken woman reached out via social media following the unexpected and tragic death of her dog. In a public Facebook post, a woman named Angela described how her dog, Cadee, suffocated to death in a chip bag.

Angela wrote:

On Saturday we lost our Cadee to what we thought was a freak accident. We apologize in advance bc this is so hard to write about & I’m sure such a downer to read. We had family over and while we were having dinner Cadee got in to the basement and got a hold of an empty chip bag. She tragically suffocated to death and that is how we found her minutes later.

Though Cadee’s family attempted CPR and rushed her to a veterinarian, she could not be saved. Tragically, Cadee’s death is not as unusual as most people would believe. Angela explained:

I did some research and found this is not a freak accident and happens more often that we know which is why we are sharing our story. As she was going in for the crumbs she was inhaling thus creating a suction and the bag becomes impossible to remove. 3-5 pet suffocation’s get reported every week and 42% of those occur while the owner is in the next room. It only takes about 3 minutes for their oxygen to drop to fatal levels. 90% of the incidents reported the owner had never heard of this until it happened to them (us included).

Angela is correct – over the course of the last 10 years of writing about dogs, I have written about this same situation many times. Dogs just like Cadee who found their way to an empty food bag (chips, popcorn, cereal), and then died after suffocating. Many times, the dog has opened a cupboard to access a trash can – or pulled a bag out of a covered trash canister.

Learn more about this deadly suffocation issue here.

Rest in peace Cadee, and thank you Angela for sharing your heartbreaking story with others.