Devastated pet owners warn of deadly dangers of snack bags

Chrissy Young and Christian Villarreal got Petey, a pitbull mix, three years ago.

He was a part of their family. A few weeks ago Young and Villarreal returned home from work to find him unresponsive, his nose was in a tortilla chip bag.

"We had the bag of chips that was fairly made of cellophane, and it had been on the countertop," Young said. "We had been snacking on them. We had come and gone throughout the weekend and he never messed with them."

The two rushed Petey to Four Seasons Vet Hospital in Spring, but it was too late.

Dr. Allison Erkman says she has heard of cases like this, but it was a first for their clinic.

"Anything on the counter within their reach or a trash can that's easily knocked over. Dogs will follow their nose to just about anything. I think if they find it tasty enough they'll go into it," Dr. Erkman said.

The vet says while they may never know exactly what happened. The bag may have gotten stuck behind the dog's ears after eating chips, and a dog's first instinct is to shake their heads first, before pawing at something.

"He was a very agile and athletic dog, and I thought very smart, so that was a hard thing to understand after doing the research and seeing how quickly it happens," said Young.

It was tough for this Tomball couple to come home tonight without their Petey, but they hope by sharing their story it could save another.

"Obviously knowing how many people and all the positive messages and prayers we've received helps us to feel like we didn't lose him for nothing. Maybe a piece of him will live on forever," said Young.