My Dog Swallowed a Plastic Squeaker From Her Toy This Morning

I hadn’t even finished my first cup of coffee. I was sitting at the kitchen table when I heard one of my pugs making loud chewing noises behind me. Looking closer, I saw it; one of those round plastic squeakers that they sew into dog toys sticking half out of her mouth.

Thinking I had caught the trouble in time, I reached out to take it from her. But she wasn’t about to give up her prize. Missy the pug ran under the dining table and continued to chew.

My next plan was to open the front door. Front door openings usually bring our two pugs to us like magnets. And sure enough, one of my two pugs rushed over to the door immediately to check things out. But not the little pug with the squeaker in her mouth.

Missy was standing a distance away from me, happily chomping and not breaking eye contact. Okay, if this won’t work, surely food will, I thought.

Let’s get a treat, I told them. They both happily followed me to the treat jar. But Missy wasn’t about to give up her treasured piece of plastic. Still staring at me, she swallowed it with a large gulp, then looked expectantly at me for the promised treat.

Sigh, I knew my morning was going to get complicated. My first thought was to wait and see if it will pass. But I did a quick google search and found the following.

“As soon as you see your dog eating a toy squeaker, you need to act. Vets say you have around 2 hours before the toy or foreign object gets to their intestines, so this time is critical.” — DoggySaurus

Off to the vet

Saying goodbye to my hopes of a peaceful morning, I called our vet. But it was early and the vet was closed. Why do pets never do these kinds of things during normal business hours?

I called the nearest emergency vet clinic and they confirmed my suspicions. I needed to bring her in right away.

With no time to spare, I whisked her off to the clinic, where they rushed her ahead of the rest. The first step was an X-ray to discover the round, plastic squeaker toy was sitting at the top of her stomach.

Apparently, this is a good place for it to be. Next up was an injection to induce vomiting. It worked! The squeaker came out, and we were done.

Within the hour, we were back home again with the instructions for her to “rest.”

She doesn’t know she is supposed to rest and is currently running laps around the dining room while I finally get to drink my cup of coffee.

What to do if this happens to you

After years of being a mom and dog owner, I have learned it’s often best to wait things out rather than rushing off to a doctor’s (or vet’s) office. However, this is not one of those times.

If the squeaker is small enough and your dog is big enough, it may pass on its own. But Missy is a little pug, and the squeaker was much too large for her. It most likely would have caused an intestinal blockage and required surgery if we had waited.

Here’s what to do if you witness your dog swallows something she shouldn’t have:

1. Call your vet immediately. Vets say you have about two hours before the foreign object reaches the intestines.
2. If your vet is closed, call your local emergency pet clinic.
3. If you can’t reach anyone local, in the U.S you can call the following numbers. The ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center is (888–426–4435), or the Pet Poison Helpline (855–213–6680)
4. Don’t induce vomiting on your own unless directed by your vet. If it’s a sharp object or petroleum-based, it can cause more damage on its way out.

If you end up at the vet’s office…

If your vet suggests you bring your dog in, you can expect the first thing they will do is run X-rays to see where the object is before making a decision.

In Missy’s case, the squeaker was in a good position to induce vomiting and get it out of her system before it became blocked. Maybe if she’d been a bigger dog or the squeaker had been smaller, the vet might have let it pass on its own.

Symptoms of intestinal blockage

We aren’t always so lucky to catch our dog in the act of eating something strange. If your dog is experiencing the following symptoms, she may have an intestinal blockage and needs to see a vet immediately:

• Vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Lethargy
• Constipation
• Choking or pawing at their mouth
• Pain in abdomen
• Change in behavior

We’ll try to prevent this from happening again

We could keep all toys from her all the time, but she loves her toys and we hate to do it. We’re going to treat her like a toddler, meaning she can’t have her toys unless she’s being supervised. As soon as we see her begin to rip into one, we’ll remove it.

She’s a young dog that loves to eat anything and everything she finds (grass, twigs, hair ties, rabbit poop, it’s all fair game for Missy.) I know we have our work cut out for us with this dog.

This is new to us as our older pug sticks to food only, except for the occasional crayon, which passes easily and colorfully in his poop.

Act fast

If you see your dog swallow a squeaker, don’t delay or assume it will pass. This is one of those times you need to take quick action to avoid a much bigger problem.

What turned out to be an inconvenient and slightly expensive morning could have been much worse if I’d followed my first instinct to wait and see.

*****

This story was originally published on Medium.