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Pup swallowed a sock....

9K views 33 replies 29 participants last post by  archer66 
#1 ·
I basically walked into the room after leaving him alone for like a minute last night and he looked like was swallowing something. Looked around for what it could have been and I only had one sock left on the bed. He slept all night, had a regular stool this morning, ate all of his food and it has had no effect on his mood. However, he has thrown up three times today already. First one was at 5:30am and it was only a white substance (looked like just saliva). Next was half of his food form this morning at 10am, and then he puked the rest of his food up on the way home from the vet at 11am. I didn't get x-rays done because vet said it might not even show up. Going to be giving him small amounts of highly digestible food over the next couple of days along with small amounts of water to see if he can digest that much. If not, might be making a trip to get it surgically removed.

Anyone else have a puppy do this? I looked around on the internet and said its pretty common for labs to either throw it up or just pass it over a week or so.
 
#2 ·
My pup ate one of my 3 year olds sock a few months ago.... I didn't even know he did it until he puked it up in front of me. Had I seen him do it I probably would of shoved a turkey baster full of hydrogen peroxide down his throat and let him work it out on the spot.
 
#4 ·
Really watch for bowel movements, if he doesn't have any, and continues to vomit, and/or stops eating, acts sick/lethargic, don't wait to get him to the vet. Bowel obstructions are not uncommon. Hopefully he passes it one way or the other without a problem. I've heard of people giving bread to help push it through, pushing fluids to hydrate, stuff like that. Hydrogen peroxide (the 3% solution only, not the hair dye stuff!) has to be given shortly after the ingestion, like within a couple of hours, for it to have a chance. Some things should not be induced to be vomited either, so really need to check with your vet.
 
#5 ·
Really watch for bowel movements, if he doesn't have any, and continues to vomit, and/or stops eating, acts sick/lethargic, don't wait to get him to the vet. Bowel obstructions are not uncommon. Hopefully he passes it one way or the other without a problem. I've heard of people giving bread to help push it through, pushing fluids to hydrate, stuff like that. Hydrogen peroxide (the 3% solution only, not the hair dye stuff!) has to be given shortly after the ingestion, like within a couple of hours, for it to have a chance. Some things should not be induced to be vomited either, so really need to check with your vet.
I just took a dog to the vet this AM for an unrelated issue.

I did so because he started showing some symptoms while I was on the phone with a dog friend. Our mutual agreement: When in doubt - go to the vet!

I've had a couple bowel obstructions requiring surgery with dogs. In each case, the affected dog would not keep food (or water) down for long and the bowel movements were slight trickles or squirts, quickly turning into dry pushes with no results.

My suggestion: Keep a close watch. Don't cut pup loose in a large yard where you can't monitor the bowel movement situation. Air pup on lead/rope if needed.

Don't wait too long to go back to the vet to discuss x-ray and "going in"....

For some reason, bowel obstructions seem to start on a Friday or Saturday, with the day that looks most critical on Sunday. (when most of our regular vets are on down hours, closed, or "emergency" status.)

The cool part of that - if you do have a Sunday emergency and the vet needs to "go in", you may get to assist. Rosie's running around the kitchen right now. 6 months ago I got to see her spleen, her intestines, her stomach, and lots of other stuff. She had one large hackeysack thing in her stomach and some other crud stuck in her intestines. The vet was able to fish the intestine blockage upstream and pull it all out through one incision. The check I wrote for that experience was not small.

Dogs....they'll swallow all sorts of weird stuff.

Good luck! I wish you the best.

Chris
 
#6 ·
I just had surgerey on one of mine. Eating sticks and a tennise ball disapeared (that I didnt know we had).
He threw up his food, but I was more concernd about the shreaded can next to them.
His intestine was backed up and as big as a balloon in 2 spots.
 
#7 ·
Had a certain pup that did this quite a few times with socks and panties (wife never go the idea to actually pick her stuff up off the floor) didn't have to have any surgery. We kept a close eye on him but he did eventually pass everything that he ingested. We consulted back and forth with our vet and she recommended giving him some mineral oil to help lubricate everything coming out. If it does decide to come out the rear end be ready to get your hands a little dirty! Good luck. Hope all turns out well.
 
#8 ·
Take him in ASAP. Linear obtrusions can kill a dog once they get into the intestines. They get caught up in the intestines and cause them to ball up. If that happens, it can be too late.
 
#9 ·
Go to the vet! Friends writing to you on a BBS can't save your dog.

The vomiting is a very good indicator of an obstuction and if it is, the longer you wait, the worse it will be. After a time, the sock may come unraveled and the peristolic action cause part to enter the intestine while part remains in the stomach. The thread between them will act like a garrot and saw right through the tissue.
 
#10 ·
I would not wait. The longer the pup can't hold down fluids, he will start to dehydrate, and the movement in the intestines will all but stop, and then the intestines start to die. You can loose a pup this way.
 
#11 ·
I am with everyone else, that if he is still throwing up, can not keep anything down, take him in. However, we were taking care of a pet Golden one time, eating fine, acting fine, bowel movements fine, no throwing up, then on the third day she pooped out one of her owner's socks and a large mess of stool. The owners were not even phased, they knew that she had eaten the sock before they sent her to our house. She did it all the time supposedly without incident:mad:.
 
#12 ·
The trouble is, you just never know. I had one throw up polyester stuffing. It could have only been eaten 2 weeks prior. But her daughter, when she ate a string rug, intestines were start to darken in about 4 hours. Luckily, they pinked right up when the rug material was removed.
 
#16 ·
This happened to me when he was one he took a sock from the bathroom floor I called the vet he said can't hurt so Hyg Peroxide we went. He threw up 2 go figures no idea where the other one came from. He must of swiped it from the laundry basket when she walked by.
 
#21 ·
He is fine now. Basically got back from the vet and started feeding him a little water/food about a half an hour apart and alternating between the two. Eventually he puked it up. I have never been so excited to see him puke something up in the middle of the living room!! ($1000 surgery just went back into the savings account) But, either way, still glad I went into the vet. Definitely going to be picking up some hydrogen peroxide soon though.
 
#22 ·
VERY glad to hear!
 
#23 ·
My previous dog had three or four full body xrays before he was 18 months old. Never had to have surgery, but we did discover that stomach acid and intestinal peristalsis make a very effective gold cleaner when he swallowed my wife's necklace and pendant.
 
#24 ·
Glad to hear it ended well. We had a similar scare at our house about this time last year. Our pup ate a sock during a weekend visit from the trainer's kennel. Hydrogen Peroxide didn't work in this case and so it became a wait and see kind of thing. The original plan was to drop him off at the trainer's kennel the next day which we reluctantly did after a few discussions with him (basically wanted to be sure he didn't think we were dumping our problem off on him). Anyway, the next day I received a text with a photo of a sock that had come out the back end asking if we wanted it back.

I know some say 2 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide does the trick. My dog seems to require a bit more but I'm sure every dog is different. I've had to do it twice and the best technique seems to be dose once, wait 10 minutes,if no result then dose again.
 
#25 ·
Definitely going to be picking up some hydrogen peroxide soon though.
I think 'picking up' your socks might be equally as important! <g> Seriously - you got lucky this time.
Don't know size/age of your pup but especially if he is small I would be very cautious giving him
peroxide for something large as a sock - you don't want him trying to regurgitate something
that may choke him. So - never hurts to call the vet for advice first.
 
#26 ·
Definitely going to be picking up some hydrogen peroxide soon though.
I think 'picking up' your socks might be equally as important! <g> Seriously - you got lucky this time.
Don't know size/age of your pup but especially if he is small I would be very cautious giving him
peroxide for something large as a sock - you don't want him trying to regurgitate something
that may choke him. So - never hurts to call the vet for advice first.
Pick up the socks and you won't need the peroxide unless you want to bleach him out to be a yellow dog!
 
#27 ·
The best way I found to keep my pup from eating socks, is to get rid of the damn KIDS!!!! :p Good thing my kids use those small tiny socks that barely reach your ankles. Jackson is only 7 months old and he has thrown up 3 of them and pooped out 4 of them. I swear I am going to beat my kids on the next one!!!

That pup will find anything and everything and it all goes in the mouth and he is lightening fast and sneaky quiet. I started making him wear a bell in the house and it drives everyone crazy but they are getting the picture! I tell them if you are not going to watch him and keep him at your side, put him in his kennel - they then say they feel bad - I remind them how bad they will feel if he eats something and needs surgery. Works for a day or two and then they forget.

My next step is to throw out all soxks!!!
 
#30 ·
I am glad to hear he puked it up. When Zucker was a pup she swallowed a felt scarf. One minute it was there the next it was not...I just knew she ate it. I forced about 2 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide down her throat and within 5 minutes she began throwing up. I saw a small bit of the scarf and grabbed it and pulled it all the way out. So thankful for the internet and free advice!
 
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