What should you do if your dog eats a towel?
While our immediate response is usually one of shock, we need to get over it right away and assess the actual damage done.
Figuring out the size of the towel that was swallowed should be the first thing you do. In many cases, a small piece of towel is pretty harmless and will be passed out by your dog in a couple of days.
It might even vomit it out right away.
The real problem is if the cloth swallowed is big in size. I mean, there is no universally accepted dimension for “big”, so you need to judge it yourself.
Think about the size of the cloth versus the size of your dog, and what would happen if you were the one who swallowed something like that.
Would it cause you any trouble or damage?
Observe how your dog behaves in the next few hours to the next two days (if you are waiting).
Is it eating normally? Is it pooping normally?
Keep an eye when it passes motion and see if the cloth got passed out along with its poop.
If you notice your dog behaving strangely, such as choking, vomiting, diarrhea, or it stopped eating, it may need to be evaluated by a veterinarian right away.
Your vet will assess your dog’s condition and determine whether they need to be hospitalized, and will likely want to perform some tests on your pet, including a blood test and possibly an X-ray or ultrasound scan, depending on what symptoms present themselves.
If the object consumed was poisonous (or if it appears to be), then your veterinarian may also need to administer an antidote or perform emergency surgery on your pet.
What problems can happen if your dog ate a piece of towel?
If your dog eats a piece of cloth, it can potentially cause blockage in its intestinal tract.
A blockage is when the intestines get clogged by something that shouldn’t be there. This causes problems like:
I just lost my 9 year old Belgian after he swallowed a few pieces of a blue bath towel sold by Wal-Mart, imported from Pakistan. It started late Thursday night with vomiting, took him in for an exam Saturday morning as he continued vomiting and went off food and water Friday. Vet and I both examined the towel and didnt feel there was any way the small amount missing could cause a blockage, he palpated and said the spleen seemed to be enlarged- indicating maybe hemangeosarcoma. As the dog needed some dental cleaning I thought maybe there was a bacterial issue there, so we tried a 3 day shot of antibiotics. Diarrhea started around that time- just total liquid Monday morning I took him back and he was in worse condition, off food/water, vomiting and continued diarrhea. His temperature was 100.4, heart strong and normal so I said lets do the surgery to open his stomach and also examine the spleen which was said to be enlarged. We opened the stomach and there was a wad of the towel completely blocking the outlet of the stomach, that was removed and he was closed up. We smiled at the good fortune it wasnt cancer. They gave him a lactated ringers drip, and polyflex injection and I took him home 3 hours later awake but still out of it and unable to walk. Diarrhea continued- mostly just leaking out, but vomiting had stopped. I let him rest comfortably and checked on him every few minutes and saw he changed position but didnt touch the water. I went to bed at 2 AM and he was still resting, awake, alert but lethargic and of course still groggy from the anesthesia and post surgical pain but turned his head and looked when I walked in the room to check on him up till that point. Only thing that concerned me was he seemed to lack much of a blink response at all, but since he had ointment put in them during the surgery I wasnt concerned about the corneas drying out, they looked moist and normal. He wasnt panting or anything and just kept his jaw shut, so I wasnt seeing anything indicating distress or breathing issues. I got up at 8:30 and fully expected to see him alert, awake, and probably a huge puddle of urine and worse, instead he was still laying in the same position he was in at 2 AM and his jaw was open and thats when I knew he died sometime after I went to bed. I believe he died between 4 and 5 AM as he was already cool to the touch and a fair amount of urine that leaked out was mostly dry on the tile floor. This is so sad of an accident, but my vet and I both feel something in the blue dye in the towel may have reacted with the stomach acid and produced a toxic by-product. I have the towel and plan to send samples somewhere for testing. My dog never chewed things up, even as a puppy he was gentle with toys, but for some reason he ate part of this towel, goes to show how letting your guard down can cause death when you least expect it.
Dog Eats a Sock: Obstruction Signs and 3 Remedies
I just lost my 9 year old Belgian after he swallowed a few pieces of a blue bath towel sold by Wal-Mart, imported from Pakistan. It started late Thursday night with vomiting, took him in for an exam Saturday morning as he continued vomiting and went off food and water Friday. Vet and I both examined the towel and didnt feel there was any way the small amount missing could cause a blockage, he palpated and said the spleen seemed to be enlarged- indicating maybe hemangeosarcoma. As the dog needed some dental cleaning I thought maybe there was a bacterial issue there, so we tried a 3 day shot of antibiotics. Diarrhea started around that time- just total liquid Monday morning I took him back and he was in worse condition, off food/water, vomiting and continued diarrhea. His temperature was 100.4, heart strong and normal so I said lets do the surgery to open his stomach and also examine the spleen which was said to be enlarged. We opened the stomach and there was a wad of the towel completely blocking the outlet of the stomach, that was removed and he was closed up. We smiled at the good fortune it wasnt cancer. They gave him a lactated ringers drip, and polyflex injection and I took him home 3 hours later awake but still out of it and unable to walk. Diarrhea continued- mostly just leaking out, but vomiting had stopped. I let him rest comfortably and checked on him every few minutes and saw he changed position but didnt touch the water. I went to bed at 2 AM and he was still resting, awake, alert but lethargic and of course still groggy from the anesthesia and post surgical pain but turned his head and looked when I walked in the room to check on him up till that point. Only thing that concerned me was he seemed to lack much of a blink response at all, but since he had ointment put in them during the surgery I wasnt concerned about the corneas drying out, they looked moist and normal. He wasnt panting or anything and just kept his jaw shut, so I wasnt seeing anything indicating distress or breathing issues. I got up at 8:30 and fully expected to see him alert, awake, and probably a huge puddle of urine and worse, instead he was still laying in the same position he was in at 2 AM and his jaw was open and thats when I knew he died sometime after I went to bed. I believe he died between 4 and 5 AM as he was already cool to the touch and a fair amount of urine that leaked out was mostly dry on the tile floor. This is so sad of an accident, but my vet and I both feel something in the blue dye in the towel may have reacted with the stomach acid and produced a toxic by-product. I have the towel and plan to send samples somewhere for testing. My dog never chewed things up, even as a puppy he was gentle with toys, but for some reason he ate part of this towel, goes to show how letting your guard down can cause death when you least expect it.