If you are a dog owner, you should expect your dog to chew through different items in your home. Putting food out for them in their favorite bowls does not deter them from shredding items around the house. Dogs are lovely and naughty. They can chew absolutely anything, including fleece blankets.
Having an adventurous canine companion in your hands needs extra precaution about where and how you store potentially harmful items. That said, if you notice your dog has eaten a fleece blanket, this article will explain everything you can do. Also, you will discover some effective ways to prevent your dog from eating fleece blankets again.
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What Should You Do If Your Dog Ate a Fleece Blanket?
What happens if you leave your dog home alone for a quick run to the grocery store and you return to find out that it has shredded the fleece blanket you just bought?
Before you do anything, you should confirm if your dog ate the fleece blanket or just scattered the pieces around your home. If your dog swallowed a fleece blanket, its size would determine how you should react.
If you have a big-sized dog that has just swallowed a fleece blanket, it would either throw up or poop it out. This could happen immediately or after several days. If your dog is a small one, chances are the fleece blanket would get stuck in its stomach and cause a lot of discomforts.
Your small dog would have trouble pooping out or throwing up the fleece blanket. If your dog does not vomit or poop out the fleece blanket after two to three days, then you need to take it to the vet.
Your vet has two options at this point: to perform an endoscopy or surgery.
How To Treat Your Dog After It Has Eaten a Fleece Blanket?
For an easy do-it-yourself treatment at home, closely monitor your dog and its reactions. It would be best to put your dog on a light diet. Your diet choices should be free from garlic and onion.
Your dog’s diet plan should consist of the following meals:
- Boiled white rice
- Cooked white fish
- Baby food containing meat
- Scrambled egg
- Boiled chicken
Also, you should add the following ingredients to the food. They will help push the fleece down and out of the intestine.
- Food grade mineral oil
- Lactulose
- A spoonful of tinned pumpkin or all-bran
After you have made certain that your dog has not vomited or pooped out the fleece blanket, take it to the vet for medical examination. The first thing your vet would do is conduct an x-ray to determine the location of the piece of blanket.
If your dog has been vomiting nonstop, has constipation, and lost appetite, your vet might administer pain relief and intravenous medication. The results of the x-ray would determine if an endoscopy or surgery is appropriate to put your dog at ease. If you have no clue what they mean, here’s the difference between an endoscopy and surgery.
Endoscopy: Vets use endoscopy when the fleece blanket has not made its way to the intestines yet. The process involves using a tube to extract the fleece blanket from your dog’s mouth before hospitalizing the dog for close monitoring.
Surgery: This is required when the fleece blanket is stuck in your dog’s intestine. In such circumstances, conduct a surgery promptly. The longer the fleece stays stuck, the longer the blood supply is cut off from the stomach and intestine.
Are Fleece Blankets Safe For Dogs?
Fleece blankets are perfectly safe for dogs if you want to use them to line their cages, as dog blankets or items that your dog can suck on. Fleece blankets are great dog blankets and beddings because they are safe, comfortable, and convenient for both you and your dog.
They are also considered good for sucking because they don’t have long strands that can get into your dog’s intestine. Fleece blankets are lightweight, allow air to pass through, and do not fray easily.
However, you should be concerned if you notice your dog swallows a fleece blanket. Although fleece blankets are wonderful choices for dogs, swallowing them is harmful to your pet.
This is because a fleece blanket is indigestible, and indigestion would cause a lot of discomfort for your dog. Such discomfort may require resolution through endoscopy or surgery, depending on where the fleece blanket got stuck.
What Happens If Your Dog Eats a Part of a Fleece Blanket?
It would cause great discomfort to your dog if a fleece blanket got stuck in its stomach. The situation becomes more complicated if the fleece blanket finds its way to your dog’s intestine.
Here are some of the symptoms your dog will show if it ate a fleece blanket:
- Restlessness.
- Vomiting with traces of blood.
- Pale gums.
- Dehydration.
- Abdominal pain and swelling.
- Difficulty in pooping.
- Passing of black feces
- Inability to keep food down.
How To Prevent Your Dog From Eating Fleece Blankets?
It is extremely difficult to stop your dog from chewing as it is a natural habit of most dogs. However, there are some basic steps you should follow in preventing your dog from eating fleece blankets.
- Keep all fleece blankets out of reach when they are not in use.
- For dogs that are chewers, seek out blankets that do not rip out easily.
- Provide your dog with chewing alternatives. When doing so, purchase toys that are small or medium-sized, depending on your dog’s size. You should also ensure that these toys would not break into small, dangerous pieces.
Signs To Check If Your Dog Ate a Part of a Fleece Blanket
There are two factors to consider once you notice that your dog has eaten a part of a fleece blanket:
- The size of your dog
- The amount of fleece blanket eaten
As stated earlier, big dogs usually poop out the fleece blanket or throw it up. Where your dog does neither, then the blanket has either gotten into the intestine or settled in the stomach.
Here are a few ways to find out if your dog ate a part of a fleece blanket:
- Check your dog’s movement and posture. Is it restless? Restlessness is a sign that your dog is experiencing discomfort, which could come from eating a fleece blanket.
- Also, your dog may vomit out food. Congestion in your dog’s body may make it difficult to keep food down. If the vomit contains traces of blood, then there is a need to get your dog checked urgently.
- Observe your dog’s gums. Pale gums are a sign that it may be experiencing discomfort from eating part of a fleece blanket.
- Press the dog’s stomach gently, feeling for any tenderness. Your dog may whimper from the abdominal pain that usually comes from intestinal or stomach blockage.
- Check your dog’s stooling. Is it having any difficulty pooping? What is the color of its feces? If your dog is having trouble pooing or has black feces, then you should be concerned.
How Long Does It Take For The Fabric To Pass Through a Dog?
The usual time it takes for a fleece blanket can pass through your dog’s digestive system is 10 to 24 hours. Sometimes, depending on the portion of the fleece blanket that has been eaten, it might span several days, weeks, or months.
One reason the fleece blanket stays longer in your dog’s system is that it is not digestible and is too big to pass through your dog’s digestive tract. Do not pull out the fabric if you notice it hanging out from your dog’s rectum, as this may affect the intestines. Take your dog to your vet for proper diagnosis and treatment.
Dogs make for excellent companions. Their friendship comes at a price, and your little chewer may thoroughly enjoy chewing through couches, shoes, and fleece blankets.
Once you have reason to suspect that your dog has eaten a portion of a fleece blanket, monitor it carefully. Check for the signs we have outlined above to be sure that you have done the right thing.
If your furry friend doesn’t excrete the blanket eaten within 10 to 24 hours, you need to take it to a vet. Also, follow preventative measures by watching out for the safety of your dog. Keep all fleece blankets out of reach when they are not in use. Also, buy suitably sized toys they can easily chew on without breaking into smaller pieces.
