My dog ate blanket stuffing. Is it an emergency? What to do?

Stuffing can act as a gastrointestinal foreign body that results in obstruction of the bowels. If vomiting is persistent, this is a strong indication that there may be either a partial or complete obstruction preventing food and water from moving forward in the GI tract. An abdominal x-ray would be the next best step to determine if your pet has a radiographic abdominal pattern consistent with obstruction. This should be done asap (as in today), because dehydration and irritation/trauma to the GI tract will continue worsening the longer it is present. If there is an obstruction, abdominal surgery may be necessary to remove it. And that's the case, we want your pet to be as stable as possible for the surgery. The longer the delay, the more weak and dehydrated your pet will be, and thus potentially less stable for surgery. In the meantime, I would offer only a small volume of water at a time, to see if your pet can keep it down without vomiting. I wish you both the best of luck!

If he continues to vomit than you should be worried and have him examined by a vet. Your vet can take an X-ray to look for signs of an obstruction. If the vomiting has resolved than just monitor him for additional signs.

This is probably going to cause some problem, at the very least vomiting and constipation but it could also cause an intestinal blockage, i strongly recommend that you take him to the vet in order to have an xray done, this way the vet will be able to assess the situation and treat it accordingly.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear that Rocky ate some of the stuffing from the item in the photo. If it was just a very small amount, he will likely be OK. The biggest concern when a dog eats something he shouldn't is a foreign body obstruction, meaning the item causes a blockage of his intestines. This would be a surgical emergency. If Rocky continues to act normally - normal attitude, normal eating/drinking/urinating/defecating, and is not vomiting, he will likely be OK. If he starts vomiting and is acting lethargic, I recommend having him seen by your veterinarian right away. I hope this is helpful - best of luck with Rocky!

Hello. The first thing you need to do is recover or throw this bed away. Much depends on how much Snowind may have ingested, but most times only a small piece is ingested. Most pets are just interested in a taste & rarely eat enough to cause a problem. You should just keep an eye on him for any abnormal gastrointestinal signs such as loss of appetite, vomiting or diarrhea over the next several days. If he seems to be doing fine, then do not worry, he did eat enough to cause a problem. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I would just monitor him for any sign like vomiting, having diarrhoea or not passing feces at all, being inappetent or lethargic. Abdominal discomfort and frequent praying stance would be other possible signs. Just in case, I would suggest to start feeding with a bland diet based on boiled chicken and rice in small portion every 6 hours for the following 48hours. Then gradually reintroduce the normal diet over 5 days.

It can take up to 72 hours for the stuffing to pass, so I wouldn't be worried just yet. There are a couple of possibilities if you don't see any stuffing in Ella's feces: One, she didn't actually eat any. Two, it's moving very slowly through her GI tract. Three, it is stuck in her system. Keep monitoring her and her feces through the end of the week and she's acting normal, then I would suspect she didn't actually eat any of the stuffing. I would only be concerned if Ella stopped eating, become lethargic, and developed other symptoms such as diarrhea or constipation.