Gordon Setter swallowed a dish towel

Brother has a gordon setter that ate a dish towel thursday. friday was rolling around alot in agony on the floor. better a bit on sat. no appetite or wanting to drink. what are his chances aside from surgery and opening him up . dog is three years old. hasnt crapped yet. giving him exercise to help keep the body in working order. thanks.

I put an e-collar on my dogs at 4-4.5 months and it is used in the house for basic things like "you want to chew on my shoe, well you get a tingle". Not making the dog cry in pain, but enough to let them spit it out, go back one more time and then do it again. After the 2nd time, they normally leave it alone. I also go overboard on this and when the pup is new I will put a plate of food on the coffee table and go outside and watch through the window and wait until the dog tries to eat it. Give them a jolt a few times and you can now thaw frozen meat on the coffee table with the dogs in the house. All the dogs I have done this with are e-collared conditioned, meaning they do not know the collar is giving them the shock. I bring the collar out and the dogs go nuts. They know they are going outside (yard collars, in ground fence) or (hunting, normal e-collar). I will also keep it on them; especially when first introducing it, in the house for 1-2 weeks before ever turning it on. This is important so they do not associate the collar making the correction. This also plays over into field trials as you can not use a collar in them. In the end, you will have a much more obedient dog (used properly) than without. There are exceptions and many people still train with old methods, so don't beat me up about that. I also view them as a huge safety device. Lets say you are out hunting and your dog kicks up a deer and has not been broken on deer before. He takes off after it and the deer goes over the road and a car is coming....you know the rest of the story. If you had a collar on him/her, you could have prevented that.

Good luck, Chris

My 5 month old wirehair just about went into surgery 3 weeks ago. My wife and I went away, and left our children in charge for a few hours. they left the laundry door open, and he ate 11 socks! My wife called me in panic to come home from work. the dog was going into shock, and dehydrated. We rushed him to the vet. It was early enough that the vet put him on a IV and he threw up and passed all of the socks without any surgery. It was one of the scariest things you could imagine. My dog is fine now and watched like a hawk. He does not seem to have a desire for socks anymore, but once they start this sort of thing it is a hard habit to break. Keep an eye on them in the house! My children got such a scare out of this, that they are extremely cautious on leaving anything around anymore. I don't like using e-collars to discipline dogs, but it could save your dogs life if the habit becomes to strong to deal with. Our hunting dogs are our best friends and family members. I hope everyone out there watches there dogs and keeps them from any harm. Take care. PerchCrazy

Glad the dogs gonna be fine...Surgery had to be quite expensive...

well, things are going to be fine. the vet and brother talked again and he said bring him in. the dog is 5 years of age. he took an exray today and said surgery right now!!!!! the towel was intact and completely plugging all passage and whatever else the vet saw on xray. he didn't want any of his hamburger and rice , don't blame him. the surgery produced the towel and also removal of 30 inches of intestine because the threads in the towel caused the intestine wall to become sliced or abraded (?). the towel was used for dishes and wiping of hands and was up out of the way, but apparently, not far enough out of the way. because of brothers income, he was able to get on a plan of payment with no interest and for months to pay back. thanks for all you listeners. turned out well. to add, the dog never in five years went off on his own, but he did today before the trip to the vet. brother had to track him in the snow and found him walking across the lake about 100 yards away. sounds like he was off to find a spot in which to retire. glad things worked out. I just don't understand why the vet didn't take X-rays upon the first visit. but then again I am not a vet.

jbird, did the vet take xrays to see if he/she could locate the towel/rag? I am glad the dog is at the vet. Chris, I am with you...why do dogs ___ (fill in the blank)?...because they CAN! I have a 5 month old setter here at home with 5 people and 2 other dogs in the house and we can not keep an eye on her at ALL times. They are not kids, they are animals...mischievous animals. I am sorry down2erth, but I do not see how you or anyone, without being in the situation, can throw out such accusations. Let's all hope and pray for the best and learn from it.

chris5150,

I have seen many a towel ripped to shreds and played with but I was curious if this was a towel with food on it, blood from a deer butcher job, recently cleaned up a spill...

Why the heck would I not be curious, as I would be with all the cases you mensioned...All not natural and all scenerios that make you go, hmmmm I be darn...

All stuff that would make most inquisitive humans curious about a dogs actions...Nothing was mensioned if this was a pup or an adult GSetter...

Sorry for being curious...

well, an update but not much of one. the vet called my brother and there was no change for the worse. up to this time , he was not supposed to feed anything but give the dog water for dehydration, etc. so today, the vet now told him to feed boiled hamburger and rice and watch like SPUD mentioned. the vet also told my brother that the same thing happened to his dog and it took 2.5 months for the towel to pass but it was puked out. go figure.

down2earth,

Curious what was so interesting about it he felt he needed to eat it...Text

Not sure. Why did my dog eat a TV remote? , why do dogs eat other animals poo?, Why did my buddies dog eat a razor blade? (The dog had to be opened up to take that one out after the X-ray showed it in his intestines). Why did my buddies dog eat his full tin of chew? (got REAL sick after that!) Why does my GWP chew yard collars off my Labs neck when I forget to take them off? Good question, forgot to take them off the lab 3 times now.

That IS the million dollar question. At least from my experience, it goes away with age.

After me yelling , My new puppy grabbed a piece of chicken bone of the counter. the beagle/lab is one determined dog, he wants it he will fight for it aggressively. Well we called the vet and she said to give him hamburger and rice for the next couple of meals , and go out with him and do a poop watch to see what comes out. Out of the four dogs we got 3 have been towel stealers . Have to keep an eye on what goes in there mouths all the time , And with the being Newfoundlands , they can reach on top of the counter's with no problem. Maybe that's why the little beagle is so determined ?

"gave it some meds that would lubricate the intestine and stomach"

Please tell me were talking a dish "rag" and not a dish "towel"...

I can see him passing a rag, doubt if he will pass a towel...

Curious what was so interesting about it he felt he needed to eat it...

well, he did take it to the vet. the vet gave it some meds that would lubricate the intestine and stomach and will call back tomorrow. the problem with my brother is he was suddently permantly laid off 1.5 months ago. I dont know the billing arrangements but at least the dog was taken in. that would of been my choice the day it happened. so hopefully, all will end well. the dog ate it when he was sleeping. I feel the dog should be an outside dog in a kennel. I can preach all I want, but he is the one making the decisions.

I had my dog (money pit) eat a 1/2 pair of underwear no known to me. I thought he just ripped them up. The next day he would eat his food and then throw up a short time later. He was not in any pain. About 4 days later while I was looking through his barf, I noticed the missing 1/2 pair of underwear. I was just gettting ready to take him to the vet, becasue he could not keep the food down.

I will tell you one thing I am now always ontop of whats on the ground and going in his mouth.

IF HE WAS IN PAIN I WOULD HAVE TAKEN HIM IN.

not my dog, I can preach and preach to my brother , but it is his decision. thanks for the reply, no one else has yet.

if the dog is not eating and in pain GET IT TO A VET,!!! NOW !!! don't WAIT HE IS GOING TO DIE A VERY PAINFUL DEATH .You waited so long it might not make it through surgery .