Dog ate maxi pad.

Dr. Marie replied:

It always surprises me what animals will eat. I have seen a few dogs who have eaten a maxi pad and then passed it through. For some reason the dogs whom I have seen do this in the past were Golden Retrievers. Obviously these dogs were much bigger than Tessa.

What you have described has me very concerned.

The type of material that is in a maxi pad may not always show up on xray. Sometimes we do a special type of xray called a barium xray. This is where we give a liquid that shows up really well on xrays. If there are pieces of maxi pad in there, then they would suck up the barium and it would be very visible on xray. However, there are risks with giving barium because if we end up having to do surgery then having extra barium in the intestines can make surgery very difficult.

From what you have described, if this were my case I would be doing surgery right this minute. We have knowledge that she ate a maxi pad, and it sounds like not all of the pad came up in the vomit. This means there is a good chance that there is still some in there. She is trying to have a bowel movement and not able to. This supports the theory that a foreign object is in there.

What really has me concerned is the fever. I really hope that the fever is not because of intestinal perforation. The pad obviously doesn't have sharp edges but if it gets stuck in the intestines, the intestines can eventually lose blood supply and can start to break down. This would cause infection that can cause a fever.

The other cause for a fever could be pain.

Now there are other possibilities other than a foreign object such as a condition called pancreatitis. However, we really should see significant changes on bloodwork if this is the case.

Your vet will likely advise you on what is best to do, but if they are at all thinking about doing surgery I would definitely do this as soon as possible. I have had a couple of cases where we have waited too long to do surgery. If we wait too long and the intestines have perforated then the dog may not survive. Unfortunately I have seen this happen.

If, for some reason there is no foreign object, then there is no harm in doing surgery. Yes, you will have spent more money, but Tessa will recover just fine. I have also had several cases where we did surgery and did not find anything, but somehow the dog recovered after the surgery was done. This happens so commonly that vets joke that the "change in air" in the abdomen can cure a dog.

I really hope that your dog does ok!

Dr. Marie

(p.s. I just got your email wondering where your response was. I had a lot to say...and can only type so fast. Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to get a lot of points in.)


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Dr. Marie replied:

You're very welcome! Feel free to reply again tomorrow if you have more questions before or after surgery.

I pray that everything goes well!

Dr. Marie.

Dr. Marie replied:

Interesting. Thank you for the update. I wonder if the gall bladder issue was connected to the maxi pad ingestion at all.

It sounds like she is in excellent hands. I hope she does ok!

Dr. Marie.