How Digestible...

[Guest NJgrey]

... is wool felt?

 

I wasn't sure where to put this. It could have gone here, or in food/ dietary, or frankly cute and funny.

 

Ellie has turned into a little bit of a chewer and mischief maker. She loves tearing up paper - napkins, books, magazines, bags, you name it. None of those are safe, whether we're home with her or not. However, last Friday she decided to chew on a wool felt hat. There's a big hole missing from it and the pieces are nowhere to be found, so I assume she ate them.

 

Any idea how digestible this is? I think I saw it come out of her about 24 hrs later, but if it was, it was pretty well digested and I didn't think she'd be able to break it down that well. If it wasn't, I'm not sure how concerned to be. On the one hand, they can digest bone and feathers and rabbit fur just fine, so you'd like a little bit of wool felt would be OK. On the other, I don't know how it was processed and if that changed anything.

 

FWIW, this is the type of hat in question. I'll post a pic of the actual hole later... Thanks

 

[greysmom]

Well, wool *is* a natural product - it would be the chemicals used in processing and dyeing which would concern me. Though if it was a small piece, say, less than a couple inches, and you already saw it come through, she's probably OK.

 

My Toni is like that, only it's paper and dish towels.

 

 

[KF_in_Georgia]

It may not be that you saw "digested" felt hat; you might just have seen smaller (chewed up) pieces, which would be fine.

 

I do worry about blockages when dogs eat foreign objects. I don't think the hat, the felt, or the dye will be an issue. I just worry about things getting stuck, and as long as everything else is moving through well, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

However, I'd probably start muzzling that goat.

 

Sam's muzzled when I'm not home. I got tired of coming home from work and trying to figure out what he'd eaten, how much was still missing (vs. what he'd already thrown up), and whether I needed to haul him to the ER. I found I even needed to put a poop guard in the muzzle after I came home from work and found trash (Little Debbie wrappers) sticking out the holes in the muzzle.

[Guest NJgrey]

Yeah, so far so good - everything is moving in and out just fine and she's acting normal. I'm still a little concerned about a little blockage down the road but hopefully that won't be an issue.

 

The goat. I love it. I don't think we're ready to muzzle her just yet. So far she's been limited to paper/ plastic things (plus the hat) that could easily be put out of reach if we took some more time to dog proof. If she moves on to larger objects of more value, then we'll see.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Don't wait to use the muzzle until she gets into something that could be lethal. A muzzle is a safety device, not a punishment or cruel.

[DesiRayMom]

Hope everything "comes out" ok!!!!