Puppy ate string!

by Stu
(Ontario, Canada)

My 10 wk old Golden Doodle ate the drawstring from my daughters sweat pants. He vomited heavily for a day and the string came out , but I'm not sure all of it was there .

He continued to vomit the next day , but little left to come out as he has not eaten much and is very lethargic and his poop was extremely runny .I took him to the vet today and she said he is dehydrated and likely has a blockage in his intestines and told me he needs surgery which will cost $2700 and possibly more.

I have already spent $1000 on this dog and cannot afford the bill . I left him at the vet for an IV to get him hydrated and to take xRays.

I am thinking of taking him home and hope he passes it . Any advice ????


Hi Stu
I'm so sorry for the problems you're experiencing. Puppies are just a magnet for trouble sometimes!

They often do swallow all kinds of things, and many times the item is either vomited up, or comes out the other end later on. However, when this isn't the case you're left with a very serious situation.

It sounds as though you've done the right thing so far, and the X-rays should show whether or not there actually is a blockage. If there is, I'm afraid there's really no alternative to surgery, and I would strongly recommend you follow your veterinarians advice.

If you take the pup home, in the hope of the item passing through, you may well be condemning him to a slow, very painful death. An intestinal blockage is very, very serious.

Of course, the cost of the surgery is huge, and this is exactly the kind of scenario that can be avoided by purchasing Pet Health Insurance. However, that isn't going to help you right now.

If it turns out that your pup does need surgery, I'd suggest that you ask your veterinarian if they would agree to letting you pay the costs by installments. Setting up some kind of payment plan, with a certain dollar amount down, and the rest paid up over a period of time. Many veterinarians will do this in these kinds of situations.

I wish I could be more helpful, but I'm afraid this is one of those situations where there's not a lot of choices. I really hope that the Xrays show that the item has moved through the GI tract and all is well. Best of luck!