Definite vet visit, or wait & see....???

[TheReader]

Our lunatic dog, who has been mostly totally fine for ages now, has lately decided she no longer likes being home alone. So, today, we had to go shopping; a roughly 1.5 hour endeavor (as in, we were only away from home 1.5 hours total). 

We left the radio on, picked up everything I could possibly imagine her getting into, and off we went. 

Came home only to find *a chewed/crunched CD.* As in, I kid you not, bites out of it. Lunatic dog had gone to the far window upstairs, where I had a stack of CDs. Picked one. Crunched through the case (found plastic shards there), carried it to the stairs at the opposite end of the house, crunched it some more (found half the CD case, in shards, the CD paper/booklet, bitten, and the actual CD, *with bite marks/missing chunks*), kept crunching it (found more shards on the top few stairs) before going to other items. 

She ate part of a CD?!?! (we did not find whole CD parts, so either there are shards we vacuumed up, or she ate pieces). Well, also gnawed on DH's "outside shoes", carried my slipper up the stairs from my bedroom, found a "to be garage-saled" key/mail holder, still NIB (not anymore, she ate the corner of the box), dragged a cardboard box out from under the nightstand.....ugh. She hasn't done this in ages. 

So, we'll address that (wish us luck), BUT -- do we need to take her in for the possibility she has CD shards in her innards??? I'd say the bits that got bitten off were roughly nickel sized pieces, judging from the size/shapes of the bite marks left behind, and probably about 4 or 5 of them, and presumably crunched, not swallowed as whole little CD-nickels. Or maybe just crunched and we vacuumed up all the shards (we did pick up/vacuum up a lot, but it would not have been obvious if it was CD case plastic vs. CD, maybe...). 

I can't imagine what that will do to her when it goes through.......but I am also not keen on spending $$$ to get it checked out, "just in case", when maybe she didn't swallow any of it. 

I just can't even......a freaking CD. :sigh: 

[Tanaqui]

I think you should call your vet and ask their opinion. If they say bring her in, bring her in.

[Pawz4me]

I agree that calling is a good idea, but my money says the vet will advise you to bring her in. That's the safe thing to do.

Now, when dogs eat glass (I know--hard to imagine, but apparently it's relatively common) it's often advised to feed the dog something like bread to help cushion the intestines. This article recommends bread, mashed potatoes or pumpkin, but bread is what I've most often heard recommended. I've also heard recommendations to feed a dog who has ingested sharp objects cotton balls soaked in milk (or anything to make them palatable, I suppose). The idea being that the sharp stuff will stick to the cotton and be cushioned as it passes through.

[Catwoman]

16 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I agree that calling is a good idea, but my money says the vet will advise you to bring her in. That's the safe thing to do.

Now, when dogs eat glass (I know--hard to imagine, but apparently it's relatively common) it's often advised to feed the dog something like bread to help cushion the intestines. This article recommends bread, mashed potatoes or pumpkin, but bread is what I've most often heard recommended. I've also heard recommendations to feed a dog who has ingested sharp objects cotton balls soaked in milk (or anything to make them palatable, I suppose). The idea being that the sharp stuff will stick to the cotton and be cushioned as it passes through.

 

I agree. I would bring her in. Why take a chance?

[Selkie]

I would call the vet immediately for advice. I hope she is okay!

Poor girl sounds like she is very anxious about being alone. 

[ktgrok]

We would tell you to feed bread and just observe at the clinic so I have worked out.

[TravelingChris]

I would not go in.  Feed bread and watch for other signs.  ER vets are so expensive and there may not be any problem.  

[hippiemamato3]

I would take her in with no hesitation at all. That sounds terrible. ?

 

[TheReader]

Thanks, guys!

If it were during the week and our regular vet was open, I'd call/go in of course. A Sunday afternoon, meaning finding a 24-hr doggie ER, when she only maybe actually ingested it.....seems like a lot of expense for a maybe. Of course, that would still be cheaper than whatever on earth the vet would even *do* if she *had* ingested it.....

Fed her bread, and she ate her regular supper (with pumpkin) fine, and she has shown zero signs of distress or anything since (we got home and discovered this around 1 pm; it's 8 pm now) so I think *probably* we're in the clear....? Maybe....? We'll keep watching and tomorrow I will call our regular vet just to see what they say. 

We think she's been bored; our oldest is the (un)official dog-walker, and he was in summer school for July, so she's missed out on her walks. Then we left her alone all.day.long. on Friday (close to 18 hours), which stressed her out, and so....yea. DS is resuming the walks, and we'll be back in routine soon as far as the rhythm of being home/being gone, so that will help, too. She had major "don't leave me alone" anxiety when we got her a year ago, but this is the first real incident in probably 9 months or so. I think just being out of the norm (summer, so we're home more), then not walking, then a long day followed so soon by another outing was just too much for her. 

In any case, mostly I just can't even believe she chomped a CD.