How to Handle Your Dog Swallowing a Potentially Toxic Food or Substance
While no pet parent wants to think their dog could end up in contact with something they shouldn’t, the realization that they have can put you in a panic. Acting quickly in these situations and being prepared is one of the best ways to help your furry friend.
Go To Your Veterinarian Right Away
Your vet will be able to determine the best treatment options based on what your dog has eaten. Typically, if your dog ate a food item like chocolate, or onions your vet will likely induce vomiting to get the foreign bodies out of your dogs’ stomach. If your dog swallows an object like a small toy or pieces of a remote, your veterinarian will probably order some X-Rays. They will determine what is in their stomach and how to deal with it. If you can’t reach your local vet, take your dog to the nearest emergency animal clinic.
In more severe cases, your vet or animal care professional may have to remove the object with an endoscopy. The vet will insert a long tube down your dog’s throat and into their stomach to remove the item or blockage. It is better to have these foreign bodies removed through vomiting before passing through the intestines. If objects get lodged in the intestines, it can create significant complications.
What Will Happen at the Veterinarian’s Office?
Treating a dog that has accidentally swallowed an object can vary widely from simply plucking the object from the mouth or throat while sedated to performing gastrointestinal surgery that may require the removal of large portions of bowel. The potential severity of a swallowed corn cob or sock cannot be underestimated.
A veterinarian will be able to perform a physical examination and use X-rays, an ultrasound, or an endoscope to determine if your dog swallowed something and what it might be. Based on what it is and where it is in your pet’s body, your veterinarian may recommend surgery, endoscopic removal, or other forms of treatment.
What do you do when your dog eats something it shouldn’t?
Dogs eat weird things. But when is what they eat a problem? Of course, there are people foods they shouldnt eat, such as onions, raisins, and chocolate. But what if they gobble down something thats simply inedible?
My Jack Russell terrier, Dash, is one of those culinarily undiscerning dogs. Edible, inedible—its all the same to him. He just likes to chew up stuff and swallow it. He can no longer have balls, because he gnaws at them like a crazed termite until he breaks them into tiny (or not so tiny) pieces, which he then ingests.
Last summer, Dash chewed up a hard chew toy, which he swallowed bits of and later threw up. But he didnt vomit up everything. Little did we know, a piece sat in his stomach for a month or so, then blocked his intestine. He stopped eating, looked unhappy, and was generally not his obnoxious/charming self, so we took him to our vet, who, after seeing nothing in an X-ray, referred us to an animal hospital.