Dog Ingestion Of Fabric

Today’s lesson is very short, but very important.

We’re all familiar with the mystery of the disappearing socks. And as a dog owner, I’m sure you experience it on a regular basis. Sometimes you’ll find your socks on the other side of your living room, potentially ripped into 1000 pieces.

Well, it can happen that your dog ingests a piece of fabric. As you are probably aware of, this can be very dangerous! Especially young dogs are more prone to it. The biggest risk of swallowing fabric, is that it may block the gastrointestinal tract.

Surgery may be required to remove it!

When you notice that your dog ate some kind of fabric, you should not try induced vomiting at home. Instead, visit the vet and try it there. If the piece of fabric doesn’t come out with vomiting, it needs to be removed with an endoscope under anesthesia.

It’s important that you don’t wait too long with calling your vet. The stomach will empty itself into the small intestine within a few hours of ingestion. The fabric needs to be removed from the stomach before that happens.

Note: It’s extremely important to call your vet as soon as you noticed that your dog ate fabric. If you wait until the next day, you might be too late!