# Dog ate plastic sandwich bag



## megan22 (Aug 27, 2015)

Soo on Thursday night my dog ate a plastic bag containing dog food that my dad left on the counter (for literally a minute while he went and gave food to his dog). So I called the emergency vet and they said to just watch him. So all weekend he ate and pooped normal (and is still doing normal now) but unless he pooped little pieces at a time that we couldn't see in the dark, we haven't seen the bag. So of course I'm still freaking and called our vet yesterday morning and said since he is acting normal to just keep watching him and that they wouldn't be worried until he shows symptoms. I feel like it's a ticking time bomb and I hate this anxiety, but I don't even know if the bag will show up on an x-ray. Can dog's stomachs digest plastic at all to the point where it's hard to see in their poop? Have any of you ever had a dog where it took a while for the foreign object to be pooped out?


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## sandgrubber (May 21, 2014)

dogs are able to pass some amazing things. I've found pretty big pieces of plastic toy in poop. Plastic won't show on an Xray unless the organs are distorted by a blockage . . . then you see the blockage. I'd agree with the vets. Chances are you're already out of the woods. I think the bag would pass whole . . . but may end out wadded up and hard to see. 

No, dogs can't digest regular plastic. There are biodegradable plastics that might be digestable, but they aren't common.


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## Bugs Bunny (Sep 28, 2015)

Trust your vet on this one. If the dog is pooping, then there's no blockage. Deep breaths.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Toby once ate a plastic wrapper and I didn't even know about it until he puked it up a week later. So, yeah, as long as he's eating and pooping and acting normal, it's not an emergency. His body should get rid of it somehow. I've seen a dog poop out a plastic baggie and it's fairly obvous, but if he shredded it before eating it, it might not be so noticable.


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## MysticRealm (May 30, 2007)

I once had a dog come in for grooming. As we were walking to the back of the shop I thought he had some of that dry white poop stuck to his butt. I got him onto my table and went to clip the poop off only... it wasn't poop! It was an ENTIRE plastic grocery bag that had been 'digested' into a poop shape and was stuck halfway out!! I had to slowly remove the bag. This was a bichon/shih tzu dog.


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## Jen2010 (Feb 12, 2013)

How big is your dog? Mine have eaten plastic bags and things before and they were fine, but they're both 70 lbs.


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## megan22 (Aug 27, 2015)

Sorry for the late response. It's been over a week and he's still acting fine. His eating and pooping has been as normal as ever. My husband said he could have missed it because he thought it would be really noticeable and didn't dig through poop at first, and since it's getting dark out so early, a lot of the pooping has taken place in the dark.

He's a samoyed and is around 75 pounds. So he's not small haha.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

My dog is a 65 lb Lab mix, and I think he is part goat. He's chewed and eaten many undigestible things, and passed them within 24 - 48 hours, usually providing decoration to his poop. 

So, if your dog pooped in the dark, yes, your husband may have missed the 'decoration'.


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## megan22 (Aug 27, 2015)

So my husband never missed the bag. He puked it up whole this morning along with the casing to the dog food. It was in his stomach for over two weeks. He's acting normal and was hungry for his breakfast immediately after. So should I not be worried anymore?


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Haha, that's exactly what happened with Toby! His body took care of it, so nope, nothing to worry about now. As long as he doesn't have an upset tummy I'd go ahead with his normal feeding schedule.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

megan22 said:


> So my husband never missed the bag. He puked it up whole this morning along with the casing to the dog food. It was in his stomach for over two weeks. He's acting normal and was hungry for his breakfast immediately after. So should I not be worried anymore?


well my Major puked up a small hand squeaker that was a tiny stuff frog.. He must of had it in his stomach for over a month.. I had wondered where it had gone to ?? after he threw it back up for not being able to process it he was fine, put the little frog through the washing machine and he was fine too... Never hurts to keep an eye on them, always be aware of what is normal for your pets , the way they eat, and drink, what goes in and what goes out.. The more your aware what is normal for them the faster you pick up something that isn't right to know you need to talk to a vet. Hang in there...


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Two weeks? Wow, I guess I've been lucky that when my dogs get something that won't go into the intestines it comes back up in a couple days so I have half a chance of remembering what that mystery substance is. How the ball joint from a ham goes through the whole GIT and a 2x2" bit of pig ear comes out the way it went in is beyond me.

Thank you for following up on your problem!


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## Wirehairedvizslalove (Oct 24, 2015)

I know a dog who swallowed an entire squeaky toy... barfed it up a week later... crazy!


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## megan22 (Aug 27, 2015)

It happened on Thanksgiving night, so actually almost three weeks. He hasn't had one abnormal poop or puked once (other than this morning obv). So that's why I thought my husband missed it. It's crazy that it was just sitting there not causing any problems until this morning. He didn't even puke up any undigested food with it. I'm grateful though because now I know it's out, so no more worrying at least!


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## Jen2010 (Feb 12, 2013)

About a month ago Kane ate an entire Caramilk bar, unopened, wrapper and all. The same day he ate half a loaf of banana bread with the plastic wrap still on it. I was keeping an eye on him, but he acted perfectly normal. Three days later he puked up the chocolate bar wrapper and it was still all in one piece. It was quite big, it must have hurt coming up.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

Jen2010 said:


> About a month ago Kane ate an entire Caramilk bar, unopened, wrapper and all. The same day he ate half a loaf of banana bread with the plastic wrap still on it. I was keeping an eye on him, but he acted perfectly normal. Three days later he puked up the chocolate bar wrapper and it was still all in one piece. It was quite big, it must have hurt coming up.


am glad Kane is ok,, but just had to laugh .. they drive us to gray hair for sure....


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## megan22 (Aug 27, 2015)

Awww poor doggy. I don't know if it hurt Enzo. it was just a plastic bag and he wanted to eat right after. I just can't believe it just sat there in his stomach for almost three weeks.


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## ChelseaOliver (Nov 5, 2014)

megan22 said:


> Awww poor doggy. I don't know if it hurt Enzo. it was just a plastic bag and he wanted to eat right after. I just can't believe it just sat there in his stomach for almost three weeks.


I'm glad he's okay! I've definitely found that with some dogs stuff just hangs out inside them til their body decides 'nope, we actually, truly can't digest this" and up it goes. My puppy pooped out a big button once WEEKS after she ate it. My older dog once had a chunk of bone the size of nearly my palm hanging out in her belly for nearly a week until she threw it up. The same puppy had a blockage once that took no time at all to cause severe vomiting, lack of pooping, lethargy, etc. That's when you really need to worry.

ETA: I've heard of dogs throwing up whole toys, etc, and swallowing them right back down again. I would watch out for that in future maybe if Enzo is the type to consume everything in his path.


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## sandgrubber (May 21, 2014)

Willowy said:


> Haha, that's exactly what happened with Toby! His body took care of it, so nope, nothing to worry about now. As long as he doesn't have an upset tummy I'd go ahead with his normal feeding schedule.


Don't be worried. *DO* keep attractive stuff on a high shelf or behind closed doors. Especially Ratsak and snail pellets. They often have bad endings . . . much worse than ingested plastic.


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## superblade (Dec 19, 2015)

Trust your vet on this one. Everything will be ok. just be relax but still watch over your dog.


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