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My dog ate something bad, now having accidents. Is it serious?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | English Cocker Spaniel | Male | neutered | 1 year and 1 month old | 25 lbs

Our dog is a chewer, and for the past few days he woke up overnight to gag up some tiny stuff (wood chips and maybe a cigarette filter?). He did it three nights in a row. We now notice more water drinking, a couple more poops per day (mostly normal but smaller), and he had a few accidents inside. He’s still very hungry and eating fine, plenty of energy and playful. Could the accidents be tied to bowl/intestine inflammation from eating stuff? Poop issues are normal but accidents aren’t. Thanks!

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Linda G, MS, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on March 8th, 2019

Hello. The accidents may definitely be tied to the inappropriate ingestion of garbage. Try to be more diligent securing garbage & placing things like cigarette butts out of his reach. At best, he may get a bit of GI upset, at worse, he may actually poison himself or wind up with a severe intestinal inflammation or blockage. Make sure he has easy access to appropriate chew toys like nylabones & Kong toys ( especially the ones you can hide treats in ). Invest in some puzzle toys & tire him out so he is less apt to wander the house looking for trouble to get into. Hopefully, once he matures a bit more, this will no longer be such an issue. thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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