Hello, my name is Catherine. I have long loved animals and have had several of my own over the years. Sadly, I saw two of my cats suffer with feline cancer, one of my dogs had arthritis, and, of course, we faced the usual calamities and injuries pets often face. However, I have had to navigate this on a relatively restricted budget, and through the years, I have gotten quite proficient at that. I work at a library and love doing research on pets and veterinary care as well as a range of other topics. I also love to write so decided to put my info in a blog. Please, explore and enjoy!
Keeping Your animals Healthy and Happy Without Overspending
Two Tips to Follow If You Ever See Your Dog Swallow an Inedible Object
Ellen Lampi
Dogs can occasionally end up swallowing inedible items, like clothes, rocks or even remote controls. Here are some tips to remember if you ever see your own dog do this.
Arrange for them to get a pet ultrasound as soon as you can
You shouldn't wait and see what happens to your dog in these circumstances. Even if they don't seem to be in distress (i.e. they're not whimpering, choking or being sick), you should, upon realising what they've done, call a vet, explain the situation and request a pet ultrasound.
If the object your dog has swallowed is hazardous and could injure any of their internal organs, or if it's already caused some internal injury, your vet will need to use their ultrasound machine to quickly find out where the object is so that they can then determine how to get it out of your dog's system before it starts to cause serious problems.
If, for example, they can see on the ultrasound monitor that the object is in your dog's stomach but that it is small enough to travel back up through their oesophagus without damaging this organ, they might give them a medication that will make them regurgitate this item.
Conversely, if the vet can see that the object in your dog's stomach is much too big for them to regurgitate and that they already have an oesophageal injury from swallowing it in the first place, they might have to take another approach to treat it. In this situation, they might have to perform surgery on your pet in order to repair their oesophagus and extract the object from their stomach pouch before it causes any additional internal damage.
Work on your dog's training
If you want to avoid having to pay for more pet ultrasounds in the future, you might need to work on training your dog. For example, if your dog often chews on and tries to swallow lots of different objects in your house and refuses to stop even when you tell them to leave these items alone, then in addition to perhaps providing them with more chew toys, you might also need to dedicate a few hours to teaching them to immediately release any items (edible or inedible) that they have in their mouths as soon as you tell them to.
This could not only allow your dog to avoid having surgeries but could also help you to feel better about leaving them on their own in the house for brief periods, as you'll know that you won't return home to find important household items chewed to pieces.
For more information about pet ultrasounds, contact a local vet.
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