What happens if my dog eats the leather from a baseball?
In some cases, eating baseball leather can cause your dog to vomit or have diarrhea. If your dog eats a lot of leather, it may also become constipated. Leather is not a nutritious food and can be harmful to dogs if eaten in large quantities.
In addition, leather is a choking hazard. If your dog swallows a piece of leather, it could become lodged in its throat and potentially block its airway. This is especially dangerous if your dog has a habit of swallowing things whole.
Can It Cause Blockage in The Dog’s Gastrointestinal Tract?
One of the fatal dangers involving baseball leather ingestion in dogs is gastrointestinal blockage. Since the dogs cannot digest the leather pieces, they will get stuck in the stomach/intestine. Once the gastrointestinal blockage begins, your dog might have trouble eating or drinking anything.
The first symptom to show when this problem starts, your dog might start vomiting incessantly. Also, they might have trouble passing stools. If this situation persists, you will see a big lack of energy in your dog with sudden weight loss.
Such cases need immediate care by visiting a vet. Doctors will find out the object with the help of x-rays or ultrasound. Upon finding the foreign object, vets may suggest ways to remove them at once to make the situation better. Surgery might be the first option feasible when the leather piece is causing too much trouble.
Hence, with the threat of GI tract blockage, do not allow your dogs to chew on baseball leather pieces ever. Also, have a close watch on what they put inside their mouth at all times. Else, take them to a vet for a thorough evaluation once this incident happens.
Is Baseball Leather Poisonous To Dogs?
Baseball leather has no materials to create toxicity in dogs. But, there are reports of rare cases of leather poisoning in dogs. It happens due to the presence of certain dyes and metallic substances in leather. In the case of baseball leather, the white dye can be harmful if not of the best quality.
You can see a variety of chew toys made from leather just for the use of dogs. Although, those are made from the highest quality and remain non-poisonous. Hence, always have superior quality leather baseballs in the house.
While these are rare cases, it is still not safe for dogs to ingest baseball leather as the primary problem associated is choking/gagging. If the piece of baseball leather dogs ate is big, the chances of the piece getting stuck in the throat are high.
Hence, it can cause difficulty in breathing and create further troubles. Hence, it is better for dogs to stay away from non-toxic substances as well.
What do you do when your dog eats something it shouldn’t?
If you can find some ball in most American homes, it’s a baseball. The same goes for animals where dogs are the most popular housepets, and as we all know, dogs love balls!
This often creates scenarios where your dog is nibbling or playing with the ball, and that’s often harmless. However, what if your dog goes a bit too crazy and eats a part or most of a baseball?
Your dog can’t eat a baseball as its leather cover can absorb fluids in the dog’s stomach, creating an obstruction that can be dangerous, especially in large pieces. Baseballs rubber or yarn isn’t beneficial either and should not be eaten. However, playing catch and slight nibbling won’t do any harm!
In essence, you shouldn’t let your dog eat a baseball in a way that any part gets off from the ball. Biting and playing is okay, as you might know, because playing catch with a dog and a baseball isn’t something unusual and it’s quite fun for you and the dog.
If your dog has eaten a large part of a baseball, it might be a good idea to contact your vet about it and see what they instruct. Making your dog vomit on your own can also create obstructions, especially if the dog has just eaten a large piece of leather or rubber from the baseball.
Although dog’s bowel systems are known to filter the most unusual and dangerous things, but not always. Below, you can find a quote from a licensed veterinary technician Angel Alvarado.
If your dog starts to vomit on its own, stops eating, or shows symptoms of pain, then you should take your dog to the vet. Depending on the size of the baseball’s part and your dog, it can take even a week for your dog to pass the baseball’s cover.
You can feed your dog foods with high fiber counts, such as plain pumpkin, mashed potatoes, bread, or sweet potatoes, to accelerate the passing through the bowel process.
Finally, your dog’s size always affects how dangerous the baseball’s cover is or will be. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the dog, the less risk it presents. However, as a large dog can swallow considerably larger pieces of leather or rubber, it isn’t certainly harmless for large dogs either.