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Sophie ate a bunch of cellophane


Laurae
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So I took my dogs on a hike on the trails in the field near my house this morning, which we do most mornings. As we were nearing the end, I see Sophie running toward me with something flapping in her jaws. Hoping it wasn't some sort of rodent (um, she has a slight history of catching breakfast :rolleyes: ), I told her to drop it. Sophie had a fantastic drop it as a pup, but somewhere along the way it turned into a command for "gulp it," and I never did get around to retraining her to actually spit out what she has in her mouth when I ask. Anyway, as she was gulping her prize, I noticed that it was actually something substantial wrapped in cellophane. Maybe a sandwich? I hope it was a sandwich! Why would someone leave a cellophane-wrapped anything along a nice trail in the open space for greedy dogs to happily find? Stupid people! Should I be worried at all that Sophie ate...uh, something...wrapped in cellophane?

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Guest WoobiesMom

Uh yeah, I'd watch her very closely or call your vet to see if you should proceed to making her vomit. The place where I worked horses had a loveable german shepherd that got into the trash and ate saran wrap and nearly died when it tangled his intestines. He had to have emergency surgery and a sizable chunk of his digestive track was removed. Call. vet. now.

 

Sorry, hope she's totally fine. My airedale ate an entire box of chicken wings once and I was terrified we were going to have obstructions and punctures and surgeries but he never even burped. The vet said to watch him closely and hightail it to the ER vet if any distress showed up. It was a scary few days though! And that's why I won't feed raw w/bones.

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How long ago did she eat it?? Chances are it would just pass through and you would just need to check all of her stools for the next 24 - 36 hours to make sure it passed. Granted it passing on is dependent upon how much she ate. If you'd feel better you can certainly induce vomiting with some hydrogen peroxide.

 

Kathy

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Guest WoobiesMom

Hope this helps. Call your vet. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

Foreign Bodies in the Small Intestine

Race Foster, DVM

Marty Smith, DVM

Drs. Foster & Smith, Inc.

 

 

Dogs often eat objects other than food. Balls, corn cobs, socks, coins, strings, etc., are all examples of foreign bodies. Many objects are too large to leave the stomach. Smaller objects, however, such as marbles, paper clips, and strings can pass through the stomach, but may cause a blockage of the small intestine.

 

What are the symptoms?

 

Vomiting and a poor appetite are generally the initial signs of a foreign body in the small intestine. The dog will usually have a tense abdomen with few or no bowel movements. Commonly, the temperature is elevated, especially if the intestine has been punctured.

 

What are the risks?

 

 

 

Linear string foreign body; the intestine 'accordions' up on the string.

 

Strings (yarn, fishing line, etc.) present the greatest danger. Because of their length, they involve a longer section of the bowel. Movement of the small intestine causes 'bunching up' on the string much like an accordion. With continued waves of movement across this area, the string becomes tighter and cuts through the wall of the intestine, often in several places. This results in peritonitis (inflammation of the thin lining of the abdominal cavity) when the intestinal contents leak into the abdomen. These 'linear string foreign bodies' can also cause an intussusception. Most larger intestinal foreign bodies simply get stuck in the intestine, where they cause a blockage that prevents food from moving through the tract. All suspected incidences of an intestinal foreign body are emergencies and should be monitored closely.

 

What is the management?

 

Radiographs, occasionally with barium, are used to confirm the diagnosis of intestinal foreign bodies. Surgery is generally required to remove the object or material. Often, the damaged section of the intestine must be removed and the unaffected ends reattached. In some cases, lubricating agents such as petroleum jelly can be used to help the foreign body slide on into the colon, which is larger than the small intestine. From there, objects can pass on. Most dogs fully recover once surgical correction is accomplished, if the foreign body has not penetrated through the intestine. If penetration has occurred, the prognosis is much more guarded.

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Called the vet, who was very wishy washy about the whole thing. Said that these things usually pass, and even said he'd peg the number at about 90% or so, but that it could be bad if it didn't. Which I kind of knew already. He said I could drive the 30 minutes to see him and he'd give her something to make her throw it up, at a cost of about $110. I asked about administering hydrogen peroxide myself, which I have on hand specifically for instances where I may have to induce vomiting, and he said I could try but that it only works about 40% of the time and could just make Sophie feel sick without actually getting her to vomit. Since I am to bring her in if she starts vomiting on her own or feeling lethargic, I'm not sure whether giving the HP would be a good idea, since it is likely to make her lethargic and sicky anyway, so it seems like maybe I wouldn't be able to tell whether she was starting to feel sick on her own from the cellophane sandwich thing or from the HP. I am leaning toward doing nothing but watching her for the next 8 hours, since I have been spending a flippin ton of money between Taz's foxtail episode and Craig's eye issues (not sure whether I posted about that, but his simple uveitis diagnosis may have unexpectedly uncovered a brain tumor). So I don't mean to not provide the vet care my dog needs, but if there's a 90% chance of passing, maybe this is a good time to wait and see? Thoughts?

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Guest WoobiesMom

OMGosh, I'm so sorry about the medical issues you're facing with your dogs! If the vet said watch her, I'd just keep a close eye on her and check her belly for distension. It was a nervous few days with my airedale but he did come through fine. As long as you know what to watch for and have a quick place to go to if things go south, I think you're as set as you can be.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed you see cellophane in her poops real soon and the scare passes quickly!

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Try not to worry too much. My Lhasa had a little blankie he was fond of lying on that suddenly disappeared. Looked everywhere, couldn't find it. Then DH went out to mow my north field and ran over a dried pile of Faith poop. Blanket shreds exploded everywhere! :rolleyes:

 

Faith never showed the first sign of anything wrong - certainly not lethargy! :D

 

Here's hoping this too shall pass. :D

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I hope it passes without any trouble.

 

When Mickey was here, my husband decided not to crate him one day and left the house. He got into the trash and ate a lot of funky stuff, including cooked chicken bones (yikes!). He passed all of the bones, plus that plastic paper stuff that is placed on the bottom of those foam meat containers, along with other odd stuff for about 3 days!! All of it came out, though.

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My friends seeing eye dog ate 4 or 5 plastic grocery store bags that someone had tossed into her room, of course she didn't see the bags but Sophie found them. All of them passed within a day and a half. After that she had a 'sighted' friend check her room before bed to make sure it was Sophie safe.

 

Only things I remember helping remove at the vets office were underwear, bone fragments and a jumping rope.

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Laura, I hope Sophie is feeling ok, that's such a scarry thing!!!!!

 

Ouzo, at three months, ate a whole plush monkey arm and tail and puked them a week later (in the car, on the way to the airport, of course!).

 

Please keep us posted on her progress! Good vibes sent and hope it's only "one of those" scares that makes you laugh in a couple of days :rolleyes:

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Boo and Kit are home alone while I'm at work. They have access to the backyard and enclosed porch via a doggy door and to the tiled areas inside the house. I use a baby gate to keep them out of the rest of the house. They will get into mischief. They especially enjoy pillow fights :rolleyes: It seems that each of them is trustworthy when left on their own, but when they put their heads together it's not pretty.

 

One day about two months ago I came home to find the contents of my turquoise tooled leather jewelry box, that I keep on my dresser, strewn about the house (we're not talking the crown jewels here, so no need for an insurance adjuster). I had forgotten to secure the baby gate when I went back to the office after lunch. Upon further investigation, I found pieces from the cardboard frame of the box ripped up and strewn about the back porch. The scene had Boo's "pawprint" all over it. He is the only counter-surfer in the household. (Several months prior, Boo ate my pocket-size leather address book. There was no sign of the leather anywhere, just several ripped up pages of people I'll never be able to call again :D ) So when both dogs came inside to greet me and heard my sharp intake of breath at witnessing the scene of destruction, they bowed their heads and tucked their tails. I went over and gave Kit a pat and said, don't worry Kit, I know it wasn't you.

 

About two days later I was walking both dogs when Kit took a big turquoise dump! I just shook my head and said to her, You are SO busted! Oh, and I didn't have to feel guilty about accusing Boo...his was turquoise too :D

 

 

I think it's probable you'll discover the baggy Sophie ate in a similar fashion within a day or two :D

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Not to make light, because I know things can get serious, but...

 

My brother bought a dalmation for his kids. The dog ate many things. My brother had to pull them out the... er... other end. He got a box of latex gloves for Christmas. Among the items he pulled through were the dog's leash, a plastic grocery bag, and a complete mitten. The dog was healthy and well until it finally died after getting hit by a car for the second time.

 

His newer dog was sick for several days, and later had surgery done to remove a giant acorn from the intestine. My brother kept it - they call it the $3000 acorn.

 

Who can tell!

 

Mary

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Thanks for all the stories, guys--I've been checking this thread all day and each "you wouldn't believe what my dog ate and then we 'found' later!" story plus all the well wishes made me feel much better. I was afraid that the cellophane in particular would wrap around her intestines, but I see that jump ropes and monkey arms and plastic bags passed through other pups successfully, so the cellophane package will hopefully go through too...

 

It's been about 10 hours and she seems fine--do you think we're out of the woods by now?

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Guest WoobiesMom

With a non-digestible item like cellophane, I wouldn't breathe a sigh of relief until I saw it again with my own eyes! :rolleyes: If it was just a sandwich bag and not a strip of cellophane, hopefully it will remain in a small unit and pass more easily than the long stringy things that can cause tangles.

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Rudi ate half of Lili's squeaky plastic newspaper last night so we are watching her too. She has eaten plastic toys in the past but we only found half the toy this morning so hopefully she only ate small pieces and not an entire half! She seemed fine this morning and is outside while we are at work (they have a doggie door to the yard but spend their time sleeping on the patio under the fan).

 

We will also be watching "poops" for bits and pieces of this plastic toy. Hoping that Sophie's cellophane has passed!

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Well, she's acting completely normal. This morning she took a running, flying leap from my bed (about 4 feet high) over the bed frame onto the slippery wood floor below (aaargh; this dog has used up at least six of the nine lives a cat more typically has--note the rat poison episode I briefly discussed as an aside in another thread). She knows she is NOT ALLOWED to do this--there is an expensive, carpeted pup-sized staircase next to the foot of my bed for the dogs--but Sophie is Sophie and being, uh, "naughty" means that she is feeling fine. As to the cellophane-wrapped poop I'm hoping to find, well, I haven't found anything yet. However, while I was being very careful about shutting the doggy door so I could always go out with her and examine her output, I took her hiking yesterday and she pooped in places inaccessable for me to check. So...I may never see it. I work from home, so I am with her all day and am pretty in tune with my dogs. The second she starts acting the slightest bit "off," we'll be at the vet. Until then, well, I'm just crossing my fingers that the danger is, er, passing on its own.

 

Thanks for asking!

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