Help - I think my dog swallowed a tennis ball.

The Blonde One

As the title goes, I think my lab swallowed a tennis ball. What should I do???

The Paws

Call the vet!
full stop.

The Blonde One

My other half is trying to get through on the emergency number - I'm in a panic here. If things go bad, any idea how long we have???

The Paws

ok...while your other half is ringing the vet...make sure the dog is with you and stay calm - is s/he breathing ok? keep ringing until you are through and the vet will help you ...are you too far from vet clinic?

anniehoo

The Blonde One wrote: »

My other half is trying to get through on the emergency number - I'm in a panic here. If things go bad, any idea how long we have???

Dont panic! If hes not choking then it could be stuck in the oesphagus or gone straight to the stomach. The main thing is to get him to a vet asap as its too big to pass. Seriously dont panic, they'll probably do a quick x-ray to see where the ball is,its highly unlikely he's swallowed a whole tennis ball, its too big to swallow whole. Ive seen dogs swallow many many things and come out ok...but vet is the first stop as the complications are far worse.

The Blonde One

He got through. The vet asked had he eaten since he swallowed the ball, he has, and he has gone to the toilet so she said it's not causing an obstruction or a blockage and that he'd be fine tonight. She said to bring him in to the clinic in the morning and they give him something to help him pass it (I presume she means vomit, there's no way he could pass a tennis ball). I'm still freaking out a little, but the vet seems to think he'll be fine - I spose I'll trust her. Do you think that sounds okay?
Thanks very much for replying The Paws, you're very good.

The Blonde One

anniehoo wrote: »

Dont panic! If hes not choking then it could be stuck in the oesphagus or gone straight to the stomach. The main thing is to get him to a vet asap as its too big to pass. Seriously dont panic, they'll probably do a quick x-ray to see where the ball is,its highly unlikely he's swallowed a whole tennis ball, its too big to swallow whole. Ive seen dogs swallow many many things and come out ok...but vet is the first stop as the complications are far worse.

Hi anniehoo - re my post above yours, does what the vet said sound okay???

The Paws

dont be worrying....these things happen all the time.
any luck with a vet?

just saw that just now. if the vet says it is ok...i suppose it is.
let us know how the visit in the morning go...fingers x!

anniehoo

The Blonde One wrote: »

He got through. The vet asked had he eaten since he swallowed the ball, he has, and he has gone to the toilet so she said it's not causing an obstruction or a blockage and that he'd be fine tonight. She said to bring him in to the clinic in the morning and they give him something to help him pass it (I presume she means vomit, there's no way he could pass a tennis ball). I'm still freaking out a little, but the vet seems to think he'll be fine - I spose I'll trust her. Do you think that sounds okay?
Thanks very much for replying The Paws, you're very good.

Sounds fine. Id say hes swallowed it in bits and the vets will prob give you some laxative type substance to pass anything in his system. I really really doubt hes swallowed it whole so you'll prob be seeing bits iof tennis ball in his poos for the next few days

The Blonde One

The Paws, a few posts back is what the vet said, I dunno how hapy I am with her response though.....

anniehoo - he really did swallow it whole! We spend all our days running after him taking stuff outta his mouth, we were just too late to get the tennis ball. He definately didn't chow down on it, 1 gulp and it was gone.
He seems fine, no problems with his breathing, so hopefully he'll be okay till the morning.

Thanks again for replying, yez are helping me to calm down...

spiderdog

keep an eye on him overnight and if your worried at all, get back on to the vet and dont be put off.....they may not believe he swallowed a whole ball!
if he`s eaten it must be in his stomach, when he went to the loo it would have been from an earlier feed.
im not trying to panic you and if its in the stomach he should be fine till the morn , but, def get an x-ray before they give him something to pass it.......at least that way you`ll all know what you`re dealing with!!

The Blonde One

Thanks, I'll let ye know how we get on tomorrow. I'm awfully worried about him, he's not himself tonight. Must get a few hours kip now, before it's my turn to get up and check on him. Thanks all.

kazza90210

hows is he?

Lauragoesmad

Hope your dog is ok, theblondeone.
Thats amazing that he swallowed it whole!

Umiq88

What type of dog is this??

Lauragoesmad

a lab

Umiq88

:rolleyes: sorry should have read op

Would be interested in the outcome of this a lab is a big enough dog i would imagine once you are sure he swallowed it whole and he has no probs with breathing/eating it has ended up in his stomach.

To get it out well if it went down it should be able to come up the same way. I can only see a problem if he tries to pass it and it wont eh pass.

Keep us posted op

The Blonde One

Hey everyone,
Ted (the lab) spent all day at the vet today. We brought him in first thing, the vet gave him an anaesthetic, and checked his stomach to see if they could feel anything. They felt the tennis ball, still round!!, and then they gave him an x ray to see how things were. They couldn't see the ball on the x-ray (something to do with the texture/material), but, they found he'd swallowed something else.....something square. The ball is in his large intestine, and the square object is in his stomach. They seem to think the ball can move through his large intestine, and then through his small intestine, but they aren't too sure about the square object.
At the moment we have to give him liquid parafin, to speed up the process, then he's back in Friday morning for a check up. If there are still objects in his stomach/intestines, then they have to operate
The vet said seeing as we brought him in quickly there should be no complications, so hopefully it'll work out okay.

And yes, they were also surprised in the vets that he managed to swallow the tennis ball whole! I think it's a lab's special talent though....

Thanks to everyone for all their replies. It's nice to have somewhere to turn when you're having a major freak-out.

The Paws

Hello the Blonde one!

and thanks for the updates. the poor thing! I hope Ted will recover soon -especially on Friday.

So fingers and paws crossed until then!

Any worries you may have in the future...come to us and we will sort ye out!:D

anniehoo

Aw glad to hear hes going to be ok. Still cant believe he swallowed the ball whole thats amazing. Come back and tell us what the square thing is

Looks like you're goin to be on "small object" watch forever haha

The Sweeper

Awwwww good luck to Ted.

Labradors are notorious junk monsters. Did the vet go through with you what to watch out for as a sign of a worsening condition meaning you and Ted should go back in before Friday if you need to?

Liquid parrafin eh? You're going to keep Ted in a small space with three inches of newspaper on the floor ain't ya...

The Blonde One

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Did the vet go through with you what to watch out for as a sign of a worsening condition meaning you and Ted should go back in before Friday if you need to?

Liquid parrafin eh? You're going to keep Ted in a small space with three inches of newspaper on the floor ain't ya...

The vet said the first sign of a blockage is vomitting, then diarrhea. Even if he vomits though, they said he won't go downhill very quickly, so he should be fine. Saying that, he hasn't moved off the couch all evening, and he can only get comfy if his head is hanging off the couch - normally he's practically sitting on top of us, so that's a bit worrying. Anyhow, must stop letting my imagination run away with me...he's going to be fine.

Re the liquid parafin: He had his daily dose at the vets so I'm guessing he left most of his pooh for them to clean up - nice one Teddy!!

anniehoo: I have wracked my brain trying to think what the square object might be - the vet is convinced it aint a rock (another Ted favourite), so we are baffled. I'll defo let ye know what it is!

So, as The Paws said, fingers and paws crossed until Friday morning...

spiderdog

everything crossed for ted :):)

The Blonde One

Update on Ted folks:
He went to the vet this morning, they had a feel around, and couldn't feel the tennis ball -so he's on the parafin until next thursday when we've to bring him back and see how things are. He's totally normal again, running round like a mad yolk-so no surgery needed yet. Thank flup for that.

FYI: Liquid parafin runs straight through the dog....at the moment, everything is covered in oil, it's rank!!!

Call me Socket

Good to hear that Ted's not in any serious trouble!
Dying to know what that square thing is:D Could it be a building block, like those plastic or wooden things that toddlers play with....would one of those be out of the question?
PMA for Ted!

The Blonde One

No kiddies in the house so that rules out building blocks. And he's not let run around the neighbourhood so I don't think he would have come across kids toys. We've racked our brains trying to think what it might be...........the only thing that is missing is a large dummy bag.......there's no way even super muncher Ted could have swallowed that. He has 2 dog pals next door and they've a hole dug under the fence, he passes his toys under the fence to them (it's fierce cute),so unless they stuck something under the fence that we don't know about. It's a mystery really!

BTW,what's a PMA?

Call me Socket

It stands for Positive Mental Attitude....that in the right frame of mind you attract good and positive things. I'm probably sounding potty now but- the mind is such a powerful thing that you can talk yourself out of coming down with a cold, or 'programme' yourself to wake up at a certain time...a lot of the physical body can be controlled by the mind.

Relating to someone or something else not being well- PMA generally means that we are sending positive vibes your way. It originated on the irishdogs forum when a member wasn't feeling the best.

Yeah I know- crackpot talk!!, but it does help when you know you have support from others.

Some people pray....I send PMA.

The Blonde One

Ah that's not cracked, it's lovely!! He could definately do with some PMA, so thanks for that!

Call me Socket

Just thought....could the square be a block of cheddar cheese? It takes a long time to digest so maybe it's just sitting there...

Lauragoesmad

You should take bets on what it is to cover his vet fees!:D
Could it be a box of matches?

Glad he's gonna be ok.

The Blonde One

Nope, there's no blocks of cheese in the house, and the box of matches is still in the drawer - so that rules them out.
We didn't give him any liquid parafin today.......we're finding that it's running straight through him. His tail, his bum, his back legs, the couch, the floor, us...everything is getting covered in oil. I'm no vet, but it can't be good for his insides to have stuff running through it for that length of time. Gonna ring the vet in the morning and see is it normal for the oil to run out the other end.
His vet fees...........we've had him 10 months and we have spent a fortune on him. About every 6 weeks he has to have his gland cleaned, he's had antibiotics, he's been neutered, one particularly traumatic time he managed to knock a concrete block onto his paw, a nail came off, his paw wouldn't stop bleeding...thus followed a mad dash to the vets with plenty of "Stay away from the light Ted" (we had him about a week and had no clue what was an emergency and what wasn't).............more antibiotics after that. So now we've had an x-ray, another anaesthetic.... Lesson to be learned.........we so should have gotten insurance!! Once this episode is over, that's the first thing I'm doing.