Foreign Body Ingestion
Urgent Care for Pets With Suspected Foreign Body Ingestion
For acute foreign body ingestions, we have the ability to induce vomiting or perform endoscopy to remove foreign material from the stomach.
Note: Foreign bodies found within the intestinal tract will need to be transferred to a 24-hour facility for monitoring and possible surgery.
Common Symptoms
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Abdominal tenderness
- Decreased appetite
- Straining to defecate
- Lethargy
Foreign Body Ingestion FAQs
It depends on what was swallowed and how big the pet is. If you’re concerned about a foreign body ingestion, it is best to reach out to your veterinarian or bring your pet in to urgent care for further instructions.
If your pet has ingested anything caustic, sharp, metallic, or larger in size than its normal food, they should be evaluated by a veterinarian.
No, surgery is not always needed after a foreign body is ingested. If caught right after the ingestion, we can induce vomiting in the pet to see if it can be retrieved that way. For foreign bodies that can’t be vomited up, endoscopy can be used to retrieve objects from the stomach. Once a foreign body has left the stomach and is causing an obstruction, surgery is needed.
The stomach is a large organ that can store and hold a lot of material. Once the material moves into the smaller-diameter intestines, that’s when a problem can occur. Normal gastric emptying is 4 hours; however, if the object is especially heavy or too large to pass into the small intestines, it can stay in the stomach for a long time before causing a problem.
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