Dog ate sewing needle.

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh dear! This can be a serious problem.

I would highly advise that you have your vet take an xray of Brady's abdomen. A sewing needle will definitely show up on the xray and we will be able to tell if it is in his stomach or intestines.

Depending on where it is, your vet will help you determine what to do. If it is in the stomach they may talk about using an endoscope to get it out. If it is in the intestines you may need to be considering surgery.

If neither of these options are in your budget your vet may talk to you about adding some fiber to his diet for a few days to bulk up his stools and help the needle pass along. You can do this by feeding some canned pumpkin or adding a small amount of metamucil or bran to his food.

There are some vets that believe that feeding an animal a few cotton balls will help reduce damage that could be done by a sharp object in the stomach. When I first heard of this I thought it was silly, but then I had a vet tell me of a time when they did this and the dog passed a needle covered in cotton in the stool, so it may help. However, depending on the size of the dog, cotton balls could potentially cause an obstruction so it's a tough call to make.

I hope everything is ok!

Dr. Marie.

---This question was asked in our Ask A Vet For Free section.---


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