DDog has swallowed a soft toy - experience and advice please

[Champagneforeveryone]

A plush parsnip to be precise 😬

This happened on Friday night, DH and I were in the sitting room and DDog1 was happily removing stuffing from the parsnip. He and DDog2 usually tag-team, she chews the hole and he spends a couple happy hours laboriously pulling the stuffing out. Then DH or I clear the whole thing up and throw it in the bin, no harm done. I should point out that DDogs are 9 and 10 and have never made any effort to swallow a toy so far.

Last night we realised that the parsnip had vanished completely. We searched but couldn't find it so concluded that DDog1 must have swallowed it (circumstantially he's the most likely, realistically the less likely of an unlikely pair) I called the video vet we get through our insurance, who (unsurprisingly) advised us to call our OOH vet. They advised that making him vomit may damage his oesophagus, and that we should wait and monitor him in the hope it passes through. If not then we're obviously looking at surgery.

DH and I have stripped the room bare today, including pulling out all the furniture and dog bed and there's no trace of the parsnip.

The issue is that we're off on the holiday of a lifetime on Friday and have a Housesitter staying. I'm speaking to her tomorrow to let her know what's happening and to get her take on what she wants to do. We've been advised that if there's a blockage then we'll know in 2-4 days. If he (or possibly DDog2) requires surgery, then what is the likely scenario?

We have decent travel insurance and also pet insurance so in the event we needed to cancel then we should be ok. However I'm unsure what recovery may look like and whether we would be irresponsible to consider going away (though both insurances will only cover us for immediately life threatening conditions)

Any advice or experiences would be gratefully appreciated as we enter a second day of watching both dogs like hawks with an unhealthy interest in bowel movements 😬

No experience sorry @Champagneforeveryone but just wishing you the best of luck and I hope the Parsnip makes an appearance soon!

What breed and how big was the parsnip! Ddog was a beggar for this as a puppy and some of the things that passed through her digestive system were incredible mostly whole socks. You do need to get them to a vet pretty promptly to get anything puked up safely so now you know he can do this bear it in mind for another time.

As an adult she's stopped so this was all as an otherwise healthy puppy, less than 15kg. Your housesitter shd know when it's on its way out your dog may have an uncomfy tummy and that may affect behaviour - CD be wanting to go out but not poo every 15 mins, doesn't necessarily mean bowel obstruction, wanting tummy rubbed and just being a bit needier than normal. ours also liked eating grass and sticky weed to get things moving. Signs of pain shd be straight to vet though.

Fingers crossed your daft animal will be fine.

Several things may happen....

1. Toy passes through. Need to be on poop watch for both dogs
2. Toy enters the intestines and causes an obstruction, surgery required.
3. Toy stays in the stomach bouncing around for a while and dog either vomits it back up, or it moves into the intestine and 1. Or 2. Occur. I've known dogs have an intestinal obstruction and on xray multiple things have been found. The most impressive was 17 and a half socks! Don't necessarily rely on 2-4 days and then let your guard down.

Well, there's no guarantee you'll know either way in 2-4 days. Some dogs have stuff stuck in them for weeks before it becomes a problem.

Hopefully the culprit will poo it out or throw it up - that's the most likely scenario - but if they don't and it causes and obstruction, the surgery can be be pretty rough and I wouldn't want to leave my dog recovering with a sitter - and I say that as a sitter myself.

It's a big responsibility to put on her shoulders if she's having to care for a dog post-surgery who's potentially having to be crated or wear a cone for a couple of weeks.

I would see what happens - if it comes out somehow, fantastic, but if not then I'd ask for a vet appointment and scans to check for a potential obstruction before making a decision either way.

Thanks all 🙂

DDog1 is a working cocker, DDog2 a slightly smaller staffie cross. They're 10 and 9yo respectively which obviously adds a further layer of concern.

They're both raw fed which I'm hoping will speed up any appearance the parsnip may make. The fact it's a bank holiday weekend obviously greatly increases the chance of emergency surgery being needed <bitter experience>

I was a bit 🤔 when our vet said they wouldn't make him vomit, especially as we were well within the 2-3 hour window. However as I couldn't guarantee who the culprit actually is it wasn't really a point I could argue. This is also a consideration if I wanted to have them scanned before going away.

And so the wait continues....

Could one of them have buried it. Is it the Aldi Parsnip? Our Jack Russell is obsessed with them. I was once out for a walk with him and he did a massive greenish poo . It looked really weird but as I was out in public I just bagged it up quickly. It was only later when another bright green poo appeared we discovered it was a tennis ball he had chewed and eaten.

Hi op , luckily everything DDog has consumed has by some miracle managed to pass through. The last being a sock , it did take over a week and he couldn't keep any food down.
I know DDog has been lucky so far but its amazing what can pass through them .

No way they've buried it, it was late at night and they were indoors with us. Our garden is small and very neat (it's a new build, we're not naturally neat garden types 😉) so we would see if it had been. Also neither of them have ever buried a toy before (although they've never swallowed one before either)

We've pulled out all the furniture (every cloud and all that) and there's no sign. Again, the house is small and the dogs don't have access upstairs so limited places to stash anything.

Our Housesitter is happy to continue with business as usual so we're just waiting now 😬

My dog went through a period of being sick/ having the sh4ts just before Xmas. We opted to have an ultrasound to show if any blockages. For peace of mind you could try this?
The other tip the vet gave me was to feed bulky meals - like all bran, wheetabix etc so help cushion anything out. The worst thing they had seen pass through was a pair of swimming googles, intact.
Hope they are both ok - mine puked up a bit of plastic from a dog toy I had taken away from her - 2 WEEKS previously.

Your dog needs an xray and likely exploratory surgery. I despair of these insurance company video vets. Really surprised you've been advised to wait. Inducing vomiting would not be advisable in this instance as a large piece of material could get stuck. I think you're looking at cancelling your holiday. Sorry.

It's often not necessary to put a dog through surgery for something like this. Most dogs will puke it back up or poop it out within a day or two.

If nothing comes out and the dogs show signs of being unwell, then absolutely go for a scan but it doesn't need to be the first port of call unless it's something really dangerous like a needle or a corn on the cob.

OK, I've only seen hundreds of obstructions over the last 25 years where dogs have to have massive intestinal resections due to necrosis but what do I know 🤷‍♀️

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, just that it doesn't necessarily have to be the first port of call. Our vet would be extremely reluctant to perform surgery just because a dog had swallowed something like a bit of toy - we've always been told see how the dog is and bring him in if he starts vomiting, showing signs of pain or stops eating or pooing.

He's eaten all sorts over the years and has always thrown it up or pooped it out within a day or two, so I'm very glad my vets never encouraged unnecessary surgery.

Each to their own though, of course OP is free to ask for an x-ray if she wants but it seems her vets are similar to ours and prefer to "watch and wait" so they can avoid surgery if possible.

But watch and wait is also the advice we were given by vets face to face when our dog was young and ate inadvisable items. We've never done a video consult and never delayed taking her when concerned. I think that might be different in a smaller dog or one with other health issues. But opening a dog up every time they displayed dietary indiscretion could also do harm - surgery is not without risks. As this owner is being very vigilant, the dogs are otherwise healthy etc it doesn't seem too reckless. If you only see sick dogs you only see when it goes wrong, but for every case of necrosis there are a probably several thousand mystery socks puked up days after the event by dogs whose worst symptom is feeling a bit mardy. It's a clinical judgement call and I am not a vet but the advice given isn't weirdly off the wall at all.

Are people generally ok with their dogs destroying 'dog soft toys' and pulling all the stuffing out etc?

I dog sit for friends & always remove the toys he's doing this to as it scares me. He's a massive chewer and it's a nightmare!

he has lots of antlers etc but he loves things he can destroy & rope toys, sticks, he lives to chew.

thankfully mostly seems to have stopped playing with socks/slippers/trainers.

🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

My dog became suddenly seriously unwell earlier this year and the first port of call was to x-ray his abdomen. A few days in they did more x-rays and then exploratory surgery as the x-ray looked clear but were not enough to unequivocally rule out a blockage. So I doubt they'd go in with surgery straight away in a dog that seems well. (Doggo now fine, there was no blockage, illness still a mystery but we are very grateful he survived- he's only 1)

3-4 days is the likely window for "reappearance" in my experience. Ddog has had multiple non edibles through his system stupid creature - but heaven forbid you sneak cabbage or Brussels into his leftovers, they get spat out!

Are people generally ok with their dogs destroying 'dog soft toys' and pulling all the stuffing out etc?

Personally, I don't let my dog have any soft toys or rope toys as he will destroy them in seconds. It's a waste of money as much as anything else.

He only ever gets chews and toys under direct supervision from me - I'd never leave him unsupervised with a chew either. There's just too much risk for me.

My dog swallowed a Lego figure. The vet suggested waiting until the next day in case he hadn’t actually swallowed it, but to bring him in if he started retching and trying to vomit it up.
We took him in the next morning, camera showed it in his stomach and the stomach inflamed, so the vet kept him under and he needed surgery (stomach cut open) to remove it as trying to pull it back up wasn’t successful. It was really stressful and pretty major surgery.
A soft toy doesn’t have the spiky edges but also seems to me something likely to swell slightly and risk causing an obstruction. I am not a vet so I would listen to any vets advising on the thread. I would be getting my dog scanned I think.

My labrador ate 4 face masks and they were all accounted for. 💩💩💩
he then ate a gardening glove, threw it up the next day and reate it. Threw it up again and mum stopped him going for round 3 by stamping in the big puddle of sick. Got to do what you’ve got to do 🤣

Our golden ate a toy when he was 10 months old. Our Vet told us to feed him sauerkraut for 2 days to see if the toy will come out - it didn't. He had a scan to confirm if it was still there and then a surgery. We were allowed to take him home on the same day.

His recovery took about a week.

Can you get to the vet and let them scan him? He might still poop it out.

They are so gross sometimes 😂

They sure are. He went through a phase of eating poo as a puppy. All types of poo except his own. He is currently eating grass like a cow and it comes straight through the way it went in. I despair 🤣🐾💩

@Mariposista mine once found a dead fox in the woods - he peed on it, pooed on it then rolled in it for good measure 😂

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts we've got a very pretty, cute, feminine and dainty little corgi girl who looks like butter wouldn't melt.

She is the absolute worst dog I've ever met for locating and rolling in decomposing dead things. She actually rubs it on her ruff like perfume.