Piper Made A Bad Snacking Decision

[LBass]

Last Thursday evening Piper ate a kitchen sponge. I spoke with the vet about the situation on Friday morning. She said to watch him for vomiting and bring him in if that occurred. She also said to watch for the sponge making it's way out in poo.

 

Piper has seemed absolutely fine since then. No vomiting. Healthy appetite. Playful. Normal firmish poo. The thing that is worrying me is that, so far, there have been no bits of blue sponge in his poo. I've been on numerous blue poo scouting trips and finally mowed the grass, which gave me a very thorough tour of the yard--no signs of any part of the sponge.

 

I called the vet this morning and she is of the opinion that, as long as Piper is feeling well, eating, pooping normally, and not vomiting, he will be OK.

 

Does this sound like a reasonable approach?

 

--Lucy and Piper (with well scrubbed innards)

[Bevd]

I suppose the only other thing would be to x-ray him to see if the sponge is still there somewhere

[Guest trevdog]

Keep an eye on him...Dallas had to have emergency surgery last year to remove what we beleive was part of a sponge from her intestines. It had enlarged(the sponge) and had allowed some things to go through but block a lot and was causing distress. Watch for stretching, vomiting and general lethargy. It took her almsot 2 days for the symptoms to occur and we had no clue she had eaten anything at the time.

[kjw]

I'd say you have good advice from your vet.

[Jiffer]

Chances are, if the sponge hasn't digested and passed, it could be in Piper's stomach still, just waiting for the right time to regurgitate on carpet.

 

I always like the wait and see approach Mine have eaten some pretty wonky things over the past five years, and as long as they stayed happy and normal, we just waited.

Edited September 22, 2008 by Jiffer

[GeorgeofNE]

"This too shall pass"!

 

I'd go with your vet on this one.

 

George stuck his head in the trash last night and pulled out, and swallowed, the little foil "Laughing Cow" cheese wedge wrapper. He gets one every night. Has for over a year. Why did he decide to eat the wrapper last night? No clue. I am looking forward to his foil-y poo!

 

Good luck on the sponge hunt!!!

[Guest Greensleeves]

Did you actually see him eat the sponge? Is it possible he didn't consume any of it? I mention this b/c a few years ago, Baloo stole my wrist pin cushion, and very carefully pulled all the pins out of it, and chewed up the sawdust cushion part. I was sure he'd eaten the plastic handle/wrist strap, because it wasn't with the pins and the chewed-up cushion, so I watched him for days (also b/c I was concerned he may have eaten a pin, of course!!), but never saw any evidence. Then I found the strap, completely intact, tucked behind a lamp table. He'd barely even gnawed at it. Is it possible that he didn't actually *eat* very much of the sponge, if any?

 

 

[Guest Stretchy]

Poor Piper! I think the best you can do is just monitor him and his poop closely.

 

Stretchy once ate a whole corn cob and even that "passed thru" in its entirety.

[LBass]

Greensleves, that possibility had occurred to me. Particularly since the instigator was the adolescent troublemaker cat, Miles. He apparently just discovered that he can grab sponges from the counter and carry them around. I've looked carefully for the sponge and have not found it. I'd love to think I've just missed the spot where Miles has stashed it.

 

Piper has a history of eating inappropriate things, so I remain worried that the sponge followed all the other oddities that have passed through his system. I found a small corner of sponge in the house that looked as if he'd torn it into pieces which he'd have swallowed.

 

I will continue to keep a close eye on Piper for any signs of distress or changes in any of the important indicators--as the vet and several of you suggested. I suppose I posted as much for confirmation that this saga actually might have a good ending.

 

Thanks for the info and reassurance.

 

--Lucy and Sponge Bob

[maryz]

Poor Piper! I think the best you can do is just monitor him and his poop closely.

 

Stretchy once ate a whole corn cob and even that "passed thru" in its entirety.

 

OMG! When I read this, all I could think was OUCH!!!

[Guest greytexplorer]

Well, Piper, it's been 4 whole days since the blue sponge mysteriously disappeared.

Think it's time for an xray?

[Batmom]

These things are difficult. You might or might not see it on an x-ray. If you see it, the course of action is likely to be the same as without x-ray: Wait and see. Nobody wants to do surgery unless necessary.

 

Joseph passed most of the toy he ate. The pieces that caused trouble and required surgery ... did so 8 months after he ate the stinkin' thing.

 

Hugs and best luck.

[Guest p51crazyhorse]

Twyla has eaten two of Emmas socks (she is three) at least that we know of, she vomits them back up in a gooey wad..... I started really watching where Emma leaves her clothes now and Twyla has taken to eating her bedding and the stuffing from her toys.... I have to crate her with nothing in the bottom tray if i am not here watching her!!! she has destroyed two blankets so far.

[scullysmum]

Poor Piper! I think the best you can do is just monitor him and his poop closely.

 

Stretchy once ate a whole corn cob and even that "passed thru" in its entirety.

 

OMG! When I read this, all I could think was OUCH!!!

 

 

Me too....I've heard of colonic irrigation, that is more like colonic exfoliation

 

Here's hoping Piper didn't eat the sponge, but that if he did it passes uneventfully. Ben's boy Niles ate a small plastic tube of eye ointment (or at least we think he did) but we never did see it come out the other end and that was a couple of months ago