I think my puppy swallowed cellophane.

[Aisling]

Three days ago, my 10 month old puppy started vomiting and had bloody diarrhea. He wouldn't play or eat, and just lay down quietly all day. I though it was a worm issue from dirty water at the dog park, but after xrays, the vet said he thinks there's a clear foreign material in his stomach. Then I remembered, a few days ago I let my Brian play with an empty Gatorade bottle, and he tore off te cellophane wrapper, tearing it to shreds. I picked up the pieces, but I guess he ate some of it. How STUPID of me not to realize that he would eat the cellophane. I feel terrible.

The vet gave me dog pedialyte, an anti-diarrheal, an anti-vomit, and soft wet dog food to try to feed him. He said we'll wait 3 days, and if he doesn't pass it, he'll have to have a barium scan and probably surgery to remove the cellophane.

This is my first dog, and it's all new to me. Has anyone here ever gone through this? I feel so bad for Brian; he really seems to be in a lot of discomfort.

 

[malibuconlee]

Sorry to hear your puppy is in such discomfort. Ours ate some potpourri as a puppy and almost died from it.

We have two rules for dogs in our house.
#1 - Dogs are Gross
#2 - Dogs are expensive


Good luck.

 

[Aisling]

Yes, they're expensive! But I feel guilty for worrying about the vet fee!

As I write this, the vet tech called to see how Brian is doing. He's the same, not getting better, so I have to bring him in now for the barium scan. Please wish us luck that all will be well without costing me a fortune. I feel terrible thinking about the cost, but I've heard surgery could cost in the thousands, and I'll pay it, because I love my dog so much, but it financially won't be easy.

 

[onelilspark]

Keep him away from Pointsettas at Christmas time too. And socks. My dog loved socks, but would tear pieces off and that's not good.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

And pork. One of my dogs ate the rest of the grilled pork steaks off the counter. Yep she was really sick. Dogs cannot have pork.
Good luck with your puppy.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

What kind of dog is Brian?

 

[sunnyday123]

Turkey. NO turkey. Ever. it um, literally...."runs" out of them.

Also that icicle tinsel stuff.

 

[MAKmom]

I thought the title of this post was My puppy ate my cellphone. I hope he is ok

 

[luvdzne]

I hope you puppy is ok!

 

[SCHBR'smom]

Good luck with your puppy!

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[ShootingStarMom2]

I hope Brian is feeling better soon. It can be really scary knowing your dog ate something and what to do about it. Don't feel guilty about worrying over the bill. I think it's a natural response to an unexpected event.

LuvOrlando must have been a fly on the wall at our house. Our lab chewed a spool of thread and then ate the needle that was looped in it. He grabbed it off the counter. We came home and saw the spool with torn thread and I started searching for the needle. After about an hour of scouring the floor with a magnet we took him to the vet ER and got an x-ray. I knew when they didn't come back with the dog that he had eaten it.

We had 2 options. Put a scope down his throat and try to catch the needle from his stomach with a magnet ($800) or just cut open his stomach and get it out ($1700). I was certain the vet could get it out with the magnet so we did that route. At 3am they called us and said they couldn't get the needle from the first surgery so they needed our permission to do the second. It was actually stuck in his stomach wall. All said and done, and 24 hours of sobbing and worry about the dog AND bill, our dog bounced back fine. I like to call the dog most expensive sewing kit. $2100 all said and done, they gave us a "discount", and 60% was due upon leaving the ER.

Dogs will eat everything, as I learned the hard way. Could you imagine swallowing a needle? I'm thankful he made it through and now he's happily gated off from everything while we're not home.

 

[Jenvenza]

I hope Brian is doing better!

I think raisins are bad for dogs, too.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Yes, they're expensive! But I feel guilty for worrying about the vet fee!

As I write this, the vet tech called to see how Brian is doing. He's the same, not getting better, so I have to bring him in now for the barium scan. Please wish us luck that all will be well without costing me a fortune. I feel terrible thinking about the cost, but I've heard surgery could cost in the thousands, and I'll pay it, because I love my dog so much, but it financially won't be easy.

check out carecredit. we were able to get 6 months (or was it a year) of interest free cash when had to come up with $3K for Q's knee surgery.

Hope things pass, cheaply. and painlessly

Mikeeee

I guess that is one reason to get big dogs. Bigger stuff can pass through them....

 

[Aisling]

What kind of dog is Brian?

Brian is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Thank you so much for all the support and well wishes.

He went in for the series of barium scans today, and the piece of cellophane has moved from the stomach to the lower intestine. The vet said to give it one more day to see if he can poop it out, and if not, he has to have it surgically removed. I also have to watch for diarrhea. If he has hard stools, it's a good sign that the cellophane isn' causing blockage. If it's stll diarrhea, that's not good.

If h doesn't poop good and solid tonight, then it's surgery in the morning.

Thanks again for the responses and experiences. I know you all know how much Brian means to me, since I think most dog owners love their dogs immensely.

I'll post tomorrow to let you know how things are.

 

[froggygrrrl]

Good luck with your pooch.

It's amazing what dogs can ingest and end up being just fine. One of my dogs ate an entire pillow once (case, stuffing and all). She pooped shreds of pillowcase for about a month, but otherwise was fine.

When we were kids we used to have ornament night at school around Christmas. One year one of the ornaments was a reindeer made with a bone-shaped dog biscuit, pipe cleaners, plastic googly eyes, and a little puff nose. It hung on the tree for at least 10 years. A few years ago my mom hung it a little too low and the dog ate every last bit of the decade old dog treat. Mom had to feed the dog mineral oil, in the hopes that the pipe cleaner would be passed naturally, which it eventually did. When that same dog was a puppy he ate my sister's sock (she was a toddler at the time). He needed his stomach pumped for that one. You'd think he would have learned his lesson, but apparently not.

I hope everything turns out well for you (and especially for Brian!).

 

[luvdzne]

What a cutie!

Fingers crossed you find a big pile of solid poop tonight!!!

 

[skuttle]

Brian is a cutie! I'm sure he'll pass it and be fine. We have two 5-month old Boston Terriers. One day we discovered that one of them had eaten (and passed) one of my hair rubber bands as well as one of DS's bright orange Nerf darts! I'm still amazed by the Nerf dart!

 

[JR6ooo4]

don't ask me about the "hidden mickey" I found one time... only hands and feet were visible.

Mikeeee

 

[2BigKIdz]

Brian is adorable, I hope he is better very soon!