Can Foreign Material Be Stuck In A Dog For A Long Time?

[Guest chaoran22]

This morning, my boy Oscar just walks into the hallway outside of the bathroom where I'm brushing my teeth and starts horking something up his throat. As I watch, he retches a few times and a little pile of crumpled fabric comes up (about the size of a racquetball so not very large). He just sniffs it and then walks away totally fine (and he was totally fine before he started retching too - the whole thing lasted less than a minute and he seems completely fine).

 

I'm confused at this point b/c he hasn't eaten anything bad in a long time (since we became really anal about gating him in) so I pick it up and wash it off to see what it is. It's a distinctive fabric material from a bag that I got at the Olympics last year, and I remember that a few months after I got back from the Olympics, he chewed it up (I accidentally left food inside, I was using it as a resuable grocery bag). So timeline-wise, I got back from the Olympics late August 2008, a few months later would be Winter of 2008 and I'm pretty sure he chewed it up then. In any event, it was definitely in our old house (which we moved out of March 2009) so even if I'm mistaken as to when he chewed it up, it was definitely before March 2009.

 

How is it possible that it's been in him this whole time?? I don't see how it could be anything other than that bag, and yet, it can't be possible that something could be stuck in him for a year (or at the very shortest, 9 months at least). He has been eating more grass than usual in the past year or so, but nothing alarming that made me suspect anything at all - I thought he just developed a taste for it or something because he would just absentmindely chew at it but he's never really sought it out so I didn't think anything of it. He's never shown any signs of discomfort. Good appetite, good poops, everything normal.

 

To top it all off, when we moved to our new place earlier this year, we accidentally left out a small bag of rice in the craziness surrounding the move and he ate a bunch of uncooked rice. We discovered this within 30 min of him eating it and induced vomiting with our vet on the phone - everything came back up, so you'd think that the fabric would have come up at that time too if it had been in him.

 

I don't know what to think, I'm positive it's that bag, and yet, how can this be?? Oh and also, once I rinsed the fabric off, it was in good condition, still intact and everything - which also makes me think that it couldn't have been in him for that long b/c it should have deteriorated right? Maybe it never made its way down to his stomach and was stuck elsewhere so stomach acids never got a chance to digest it? There was also a little hairball that came up with the pile of fabric so maybe it's something like cats get where the hair builds up for a long time and then comes up?

 

I'm waiting for a call back from my vet but thought that maybe something like this has happened before and someone has heard about it? I know this sounds like the story of a crazy person - I'm feeling like a crazy person because this is so bizarre!

Edited November 24, 2009 by chaoran22

[ahicks51]

Is it possible you adopted a magician and not a dog?

[Patsy]

I remember a frequent poster on GT had one of their dogs barf up something that had been consumed 18 months before!

[Guest Energy11]

I have no experience with this one! Hard to believe it was lodged in his esophagus (tube to the stomach) for that long without complications. And, if it had made it's way into the stomach, stomach acids would do their thing, and he would most likely has passed it in his stool.

 

I will be extremely interested in what the vet thinks! Hopefully, this is the last of this bag, in, or out of your dog. :-)

[Guest larock]

yes, it can happen.

[Guest DorasMom]

Just about a month ago my Toby ate some stuffing from a comforter. He threw up the last of it (hopefully- acording to stomach xrays) about a week ago. It was pretty grimy after three weeks so I don't understand how fabric could have been in the gut that long and still be in good shape!!

[Batmom]

Entirely possible. Some synthetic materials withstand acid better than others.

 

Joseph vomited up a piece of toy he had eaten 8 months previous. There were still some pieces in his stomach. Those had to be surgically removed.

[Guest Energy11]

WOW... this is bizarre, and amazing!

 

Hoping you've seen the last of that bag!

[Guest chaoran22]

this is all so fascinating! and makes me feel better because it was one of those "i saw it with my own eyes" but at the same time "i don't believe this is possible" situations. still waiting for my vet to call b/c i told the receptionist that it wasn't an emergency but it's so interesting to read of all these experiences!

[inugrey]

We've got a few. Inu threw up a glove right after the group got him from the track. Then three months later he threw up the other one. Thankfully both times it was with his foster mom and no me.

 

We also had a girl throw up a sweatband that was in her stomach for about six months or so...

[greytpups]

I watched a show on tv that. showed a dog getting something surgically removed from his stomach and when they opened him up they found lots of objects. Apparently if the dog eats something and it. doesn,t bother him or obstruct anything, these objects can stay in their stomach and no one would ever know.

[Guest chaoran22]

my vet just called back and said they've seen this before! it happened to one of the vets at the office in fact - a piece of a ball came up a year and a half later. and she says it's not common but they've definitely had other owners experience the same thing. now i'm trying to think of all the things that have disappeared that i never found - i hope there's nothing else in him! i'm supposed to watch him for further vomiting but the vet suspects that that's it and he should have no problems. what a crazy situation!

[Guest houndhome]

We think Tigger ate my iPod about a year ago. I really would like it back - maybe there is hope?

[greytpups]

We think Tigger ate my iPod about a year ago. I really would like it back - maybe there is hope?

 

 

that cracked me up Good luck with that one

[Guest kydie]

Glad your pup is O.K. better it comes out one way or another, than to have to have it removed,

[Guest sirsmom]

Not doubting it happened but a dog of ours barfed behind a chair (a piece of towel) only to try to re-eat it.