3 month old terrier mix ate something...

[Caesura]

My fiance and I rescued a three month old terrier/shepherd mix about a week ago. Last Tuesday I took her to the vet and she got a clean bill of health and her second round of puppy shots. (The previous owner claimed to have administered the first round himself...)

Tonight we were watching TV with our other dogs. (2 four year old mutts and our 3 month old husky) when Kali (the terrier mix) pukes several times right in front of us.

All day she'd been acting fine, no indication she'd been feeling sick. Then a long string-like thing came out the last time she puked. At first we thought it was a tape worm (which caused me to think some very unpleasant things about our vet who'd just given her a clean bill of health). But she kept gagging and the item kept getting longer.

Upon closer inspection we realized it was a seam from a pair of khaki pants. We gently pulled what we could out, cut it and then tried to remove some more. In total we managed to pull about 3 foot worth of seam fabric from our little girl.

There is no way she got it from our house. The dogs have no access to where our clothing is kept, none of our clothing is missing, and the puppies have been given no cloth to sleep on while in their crate at night and during the day I watch the two puppies like a hawk because they aren't house trained, yet.

Is it possible that prior to coming home with us she ate this seam at her former owner's house and it has just resided in her system until now?

She seems fine for the moment and has quit heaving; tomorrow I'm calling the vet to see what he thinks. She's due back in three weeks for her third round of shots along with all my other dogs' for their respective shots, but she may need to go back sooner depending on what he says.

I'm just baffled that that much fabric was in her for so long. Could diet also have something to do with it? We've had her on strict kibble with small doggie cookies as rewards for pottying outside, the former owner fed her real food. He told us her last meal with him was chicken mcnuggets.

Any info you have to share would be appreciated. Thanks.

[JennieV]

That is just weird...The fact that you have had her almost a week makes me think that she somehow got a hold of that piece of fabric while in your care, because dogs don't usually hold things back for very long, especially things like 3 ft of fabric...Have you gone to the park with her? or could she have picked it up somewhere other than your home?

[hazelrunpack]

Evan once ate a 5-foot drapery cord and didn't toss it up for a couple of days. And Cole chewed off a 50-cent-piece sized hunk of Cuz and didn't finally throw that up for nearly a month!

Sometimes there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how long something is retained.

One thing I've learned, though, is that one such incident doesn't usually deter them from eating something else just as weird...so keep your vigilance up, Caesura!

[Caesura]

Originally Posted by JennieV

That is just weird...The fact that you have had her almost a week makes me think that she somehow got a hold of that piece of fabric while in your care, because dogs don't usually hold things back for very long, especially things like 3 ft of fabric...Have you gone to the park with her? or could she have picked it up somewhere other than your home?

Update: She either passed or threw up the rest of it in the middle of the night. My fiance found the piece in the crate this morning. He said there appeared to be a knot tied in this piece and the length of it confirmed my suspension that is was once part of a pair of pants.

She's not been out of the house/yard except to go to the vet, so it must have just been roped in her system for so long. She must have just eaten too much kibble yesterday and it set things in motion (She is a little pig and will chase our other dogs from their food bowls, never mind they way 60lbs and she weighs 9...)

Thanks for info shared, guys, still going to call the vet to see if he wants her in for a check up.

[JennieV]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Evan once ate a 5-foot drapery cord and didn't toss it up for a couple of days. And Cole chewed off a 50-cent-piece sized hunk of Cuz and didn't finally throw that up for nearly a month!

Sometimes there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how long something is retained.

One thing I've learned, though, is that one such incident doesn't usually deter them from eating something else just as weird...so keep your vigilance up, Caesura!

Wow, Hazel!! I didn't know they can hold it in for so long. My dogs always been really good at returning un-wanted or un-digested items back pretty much within a couple of hours.
My mom's dog used to have this fetish for nylon socks or shoe laces, or bottoms of curtains, he would chew them up and barf them pretty much within an hour...GROSS!
And no matter how vigilant we were, he would find a way to sneak a sock.
At times I caught him licking up dust Probably to make himself throw up.

So I guess you live and you learn, huh!?

Caesura, I would continue being vigilant with her, and I hope things will go smoother from now on..

[Caesura]

Originally Posted by JennieV

Wow, Hazel!! I didn't know they can hold it in for so long. My dogs always been really good at returning un-wanted or un-digested items back pretty much within a couple of hours.
My mom's dog used to have this fetish for nylon socks or shoe laces, or bottoms of curtains, he would chew them up and barf them pretty much within an hour...GROSS!
And no matter how vigilant we were, he would find a way to sneak a sock.
At times I caught him licking up dust Probably to make himself throw up.

So I guess you live and you learn, huh!?

Caesura, I would continue being vigilant with her, and I hope things will go smoother from now on..

It was just so weird, you know? My lab mixes never ate anything like that whole. I mean, there were instances with the cotton out of pillows and cat poop, but never something over 3 foot in length! And for Kali to be so small and manage to have it. She's better now and is currently whining at me from the kitchen along with her husky sister. They haven't figured out yet that playing in the mud on a rainy day means no playtime on the carpet until after a bath.

[hazelrunpack]

Glad to hear that she got rid of the rest of it and is doing well! I hope you're keeping a journal for her--sounds like she's going to give you plenty of material for your upcoming novel about her!

[SnowDancer]

I am very happy that everything turned out well. But, please in the future if you find a thread hanging from your dog's mouth that is going down the throat DO NOT cut it. You should take your dog immediately to the vet - and they will do an X-Ray. If there is not an immediate need for surgery they will give you some laxative type of medication to mix with food and of all things we had to add some Wonder Bread and watch him. If he had started to vomit he would have had to have surgery. As it turned out he passed the rest of the fabric thread 3 days later - 3 days seems to be the normal time period and of course you have to ensure that you get it before dear puppy eats it again. We were fortunate in that we had just purchased the offending blanket and came home to find a thread from it hanging from our guy's mouth and proceeding down throat. Otherwise we would not have known. This particular dog had a real thing for soft fabrics; another for leather; - our current dog, an American Eskimo - is a Hoover and will and does grab everything.

[rainbow]

Glad to hear that Kali seems to be better now but it is still wise to give your vet a call and relate the incident to him/her.

Btw, welcome to the forum and we would love to see pics of all your fuzzbutts.