# My shepherd ate a wooden shishkebab skewer



## djvectrex (Oct 4, 2008)

Hi everyone, my big boy ate last night a 7" wooden skewer, the thinner one, with the meat on it, very soon after it was taken out of the oven. My wife tried to get it out of his mouth but he swallowed it very quickly. As soon as I came home I called my vet who advised me to take him to the E-vet and to do an endoscopy. I took him, they were understandably understaffed at night and finally after a couple of hours a doc checked him out, he has shown no signs of discomfort, he pooped solid late last night while at the evet, also pooped solid this morning(no sign of skewer in the poop) he's been very active, energetic. The doc said that if he broke it and not swallowed it whole he could just pass it through but there is the danger of potential perforation of organs. After waiting for a few hours there and monitoring him, also because of a delay on the evet's side, I've decided to take him back home and watch him through the night and took the today off from work and will take him back today for a recheck. I know dogs and shepherds in particular are very naughty dogs, anybody experienced a skewer swallowing accident? Any suggestions in regards to doing the endoscopy or waiting a little to see how he does? Thank you


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

I am sorry this happened and truly hope he is ok and the stomach and intestines just line it with mucus and let it slide right out.. Endoscope is only good while in the stomach/trachea etc... Once in the intestines it is a wait and see game.. Keep us posted..praying for him...


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Oh gosh, I feel for you! Newlie hasn't eaten a skewer (yet) but he did give me gray hair by eating coffee grounds and also packing peanuts! I will say a prayer that everything is OK with your pup!


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Grim ate an incandescent light bulb. Really. I don't have a clue why. I am glad it was not fluorescent. Many years ago another dog ate a disposable razor.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

My girl will shred rubber toys and spit out every last puece. But rope toys, she will eat. I hardly ever play with her with rope tugs m, but one day I was and my phone rang. Now, she will misbehave if I am on the phone to get my attention. She knows I will freak out when she starts swallowing rope. 

I didn't notice what she was up to. I hung up the phone, turned around, and her rope toy had gone from like 12" to 3". All that time she was waiting for me to see what she was doing and stop her so she could get my attention back. 

I dumped peroxide down her throat and she vomited a HUGE pile of rope. thank God it came back up! I have never let her have a rope toy since.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Watch him closely for puking and pooping. Don't let him out of your sight. I would take everything he produces apart for the next two days.


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## djvectrex (Oct 4, 2008)

Thank you for the replies everyone! I just came back from the E-vet for a recheck and he's been fine, the doc checked and pressed on his stomach pretty deep and has no discomfort, he slept through the night! As per directions I will feed him his food with some canned pumpkin so hoping it will be an easy ending and the stick or bits will come out in his stools!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Wow, seven inches long and pointy. No, I haven't had that happen yet. 

But, I was at the vet and listening while someone was having their puppy put down. When they left I said something to the vet, and the vet said, "yeah, the puppy chewed up a Venesian blind -- they did not realize the dog had injested part of it." I said something to the effect of how awful it was. Then the vet told me that it wouldn't have been that bad, but they waited 3 days before bringing the puppy in, by then the parts of the intestine that were damaged and blocked, were already dead. There was nothing they could do. The puppy died because they did not act until the dog was deathly ill. And this time it did not make it. 

I think I would go with the endoscopy myself.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

I skipped right over that part. Yes, I agree with Selzer about the endoscopy. It may be he would be fine, but I don't think I would take any chances.


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Having had endoscopies myself, I am pretty sure they are only for the abdominal and above.. If it is in the intestine already, nothing that can be done until it passes..

My girl used to eat socks..constantly! At one point, I had top dressed some horse feed with aspirin..it was white.. I turned around to see my girl snacking on the feed - have no clue how she materialized.. Anyhow, called the vet and was told to do the hydrogen perioxide etc.. As I headed out to the barn to get an oral syringe - she had been panting heavily so I was concerned.. she walked to a corner and left a large dump. I could see white in it and just about had a stroke thinking about how much aspirin she must have ingested for the pile to be white...As I got there I saw it was a white sock:laugh2:...Whew! She was totally ok thereafter... Dogs are dogs and can scare the bepoops out of us..

Glad all seems like it is good right now..pray all is good hereafter..


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## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

Is your dog a good chewer? With a stick like that, it could perforate the intestine and that is pretty bad. If he ate the stick in small pieces, pumpkin will help alot by coating the pieces of stick as they pass through. My own dog ate 2 CDs...thankfully, he chewed them up really nicely, which I attribute to giving him raw meaty bones as a puppy and him learning to chew the bone. The biggest piece was the size of my thumb nail. He passed it for 2 weeks. I was unable to put them back together and listen to them...

Did they not do an xray? I would think this the first step.


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## djvectrex (Oct 4, 2008)

eddie1976E said:


> Is your dog a good chewer? With a stick like that, it could perforate the intestine and that is pretty bad. If he ate the stick in small pieces, pumpkin will help alot by coating the pieces of stick as they pass through. My own dog ate 2 CDs...thankfully, he chewed them up really nicely, which I attribute to giving him raw meaty bones as a puppy and him learning to chew the bone. The biggest piece was the size of my thumb nail. He passed it for 2 weeks. I was unable to put them back together and listen to them...
> 
> Did they not do an xray? I would think this the first step.



Thanks ! He's been fine since back from the second checkup, no abdominal pain or discomfort. He drinks and I fed him 2 meals today first after we came back and then at night and I did give him a bunch of canned pumpkin on his food and loved it! He pooped again tonight, solid, check it out with a stick and there was no sign yet of the skewer, no blood! Xrays would not show wood according to a couple vets and other resources I found. They were really busy at the evet last night and it took a while to see the doctor, I was planning on doing the endoscopy! My wife said he chomped it down pretty fast cause she tried to take it from him but he managed to get away from her and swallowed it but she said he crunched on it a couple of times at least, it's not like he was sucking it down!


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## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

djvectrex said:


> Thanks ! He's been fine since back from the second checkup, no abdominal pain or discomfort. He drinks and I fed him 2 meals today first after we came back and then at night and I did give him a bunch of canned pumpkin on his food and loved it! He pooped again tonight, solid, check it out with a stick and there was no sign yet of the skewer, no blood! Xrays would not show wood according to a couple vets and other resources I found. They were really busy at the evet last night and it took a while to see the doctor, I was planning on doing the endoscopy! My wife said he chomped it down pretty fast cause she tried to take it from him but he managed to get away from her and swallowed it but she said he crunched on it a couple of times at least, it's not like he was sucking it down!


Good....Keep in mind that according to my vet, things can sit in the stomach a long while before passing. She remembered a case where a dog had a chunk of corn cob in the intestine in December. The owner said the last time they had corn on the cob was in the summer. If anything looks remotely strange a month or two down the road, I would not forget this incident. 

Hopefully you can train a solid "drop" or "leave it" so this doesn't happen again. It is really helpful in situations like this and could save you and your dog lots of pain. This command and "come" are my life saving commands. I tossed the ball a bit to far and ended up in the street. He bolted to get it...a quick "come" and he spun around and was sitting in front of me...my wife nearly had a heart attack!


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Perhaps a stupid thought, but see you sure he ate it? If he was outside he could have chomped on it but spit out the pieces minus the meat....


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## djvectrex (Oct 4, 2008)

eddie1976E said:


> Good....Keep in mind that according to my vet, things can sit in the stomach a long while before passing. She remembered a case where a dog had a chunk of corn cob in the intestine in December. The owner said the last time they had corn on the cob was in the summer. If anything looks remotely strange a month or two down the road, I would not forget this incident.
> 
> Hopefully you can train a solid "drop" or "leave it" so this doesn't happen again. It is really helpful in situations like this and could save you and your dog lots of pain. This command and "come" are my life saving commands. I tossed the ball a bit to far and ended up in the street. He bolted to get it...a quick "come" and he spun around and was sitting in front of me...my wife nearly had a heart attack!



Unfortunately I was not home and my wife was holding my son and trying to get Matrix to drop, she actually grabbed the skewer while in his mouth but he pulled away and chomped it down very fast. I know things can sit in his stomach for a long time but that can also be helpful in breaking it down more, it was a wooden skewer. Today I actually spoke with a gastroenterologist and told me that dogs have stronger stomach acids than we do so there is a good chance that because of that and being a big boy, the skewer will be broken down more. If I was home he would have dropped it but these terrible things can happen to anybody really.


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## djvectrex (Oct 4, 2008)

Hineni7 said:


> Perhaps a stupid thought, but see you sure he ate it? If he was outside he could have chomped on it but spit out the pieces minus the meat....



I wish that was the case but my wife said he chomped down on it and swallowed everything, pretty sure tho that he bit down a couple of times. We did not find any pieces of it anywhere so he ate everything!


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## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

djvectrex said:


> Unfortunately I was not home and my wife was holding my son and trying to get Matrix to drop, she actually grabbed the skewer while in his mouth but he pulled away and chomped it down very fast. I know things can sit in his stomach for a long time but that can also be helpful in breaking it down more, it was a wooden skewer. Today I actually spoke with a gastroenterologist and told me that dogs have stronger stomach acids than we do so there is a good chance that because of that and being a big boy, the skewer will be broken down more. If I was home he would have dropped it but these terrible things can happen to anybody really.


Stuff happens...my boy ate a rock right in front of me...I couldn't reach in to get it...that was a $500 rock. Thankfully it came out with a little help from the vet. Supposedly these dogs are smart....not so sure. 

My breeder who is also a vet told me she has seen GSD eat light bulbs, nails, needles and razors. And they have recovered ok.


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## djvectrex (Oct 4, 2008)

eddie1976E said:


> Stuff happens...my boy ate a rock right in front of me...I couldn't reach in to get it...that was a $500 rock. Thankfully it came out with a little help from the vet. Supposedly these dogs are smart....not so sure.
> 
> My breeder who is also a vet told me she has seen GSD eat light bulbs, nails, needles and razors. And they have recovered ok.




They are very smart but they have lapses sometimes . He's been fine today, no sign of discomfort, hungry and ate his food and still hunts for more ha, so far he's doing great, will check his poop when we go out! My vet he knows of a case where the dog swallowed a whole knife, which is nuts! I'm hoping he'll poop it out and he will not have any issues, it's hard to not know! He's my first baby!


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

did you soak the skewers before cooking with them?

the skewers would have absorbed some of the liquid from the meat - this will help

I would give a digestive enzyme , one with Cellulase -- prozyme -- and I would give
slippery elm, marshmallow root , burdock root -- something which is mucilaginous 
gooey , slimey , to surround and glide any bits and pieces out


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## djvectrex (Oct 4, 2008)

carmspack said:


> did you soak the skewers before cooking with them?
> 
> the skewers would have absorbed some of the liquid from the meat - this will help
> 
> ...



My boy is such a tough doggie, so proud of him!!! So this ordeal is finally over with a happy ending and the timing could not have been any better! So I came home after work, took him out to do his thing and only pooped a couple of nuggets and then looked like he was struggling and upon closer inspection his anus was turning inside out cause something was obviously pushing against it. Called my vet, told me to come in right away, went there put his hand inside is butt and said he can feel the skewer. Sedated him and somehow he was able to take this wooden skewer which was broken into 3 pieces but still tied together and pull it out. Cannot begin to explain the relief and the shock:surprise:. My vet was stunned, how this thing did not do damage is incredible. How it traveled all the way through his body and made it to the rectum is an amazing feat and I feel so so lucky, could not have ended any better. My vet gave him a shot of penicillin and he is very groggy now and a little delirious from the sedation but recovering at home. I am so happy this is over and no more shishkebabs in the house as long as I have dogs, this could have potentially killed him! Thanks to all for the help!!


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## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

djvectrex said:


> My boy is such a tough doggie, so proud of him!!! So this ordeal is finally over with a happy ending and the timing could not have been any better! So I came home after work, took him out to do his thing and only pooped a couple of nuggets and then looked like he was struggling and upon closer inspection his anus was turning inside out cause something was obviously pushing against it. Called my vet, told me to come in right away, went there put his hand inside is butt and said he can feel the skewer. Sedated him and somehow he was able to take this wooden skewer which was broken into 3 pieces but still tied together and pull it out. Cannot begin to explain the relief and the shock:surprise:. My vet was stunned, how this thing did not do damage is incredible. How it traveled all the way through his body and made it to the rectum is an amazing feat and I feel so so lucky, could not have ended any better. My vet gave him a shot of penicillin and he is very groggy now and a little delirious from the sedation but recovering at home. I am so happy this is over and no more shishkebabs in the house as long as I have dogs, this could have potentially killed him! Thanks to all for the help!!


WOW....Great news. I was impressed when mine dropped 2 CDs worth of pieces...this might have outdone us. 

If you put the pieces together, are they about the size of the stick that he ate?


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

mark this day on your calendar -- you are SO LUCKY . 

how amazing is that . How amazing is it that you were there at the moment he was trying to pass it ?

I don't even want to think of what could have happened . LUCKY LUCKY -- sigh of relief


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Praise the Lord! So glad he is OK and all is resolved... Whew!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

truly amazing luck...go play the lottery! Thank Dog your boy passed that thing without perforating the stomach, organs and intestines.


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## KaiserAus (Dec 16, 2016)

Phew! Thank goodness that ended with such a positive outcome!! It will certainly make me be more careful with kebab sticks!!


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## Adam666 (May 30, 2020)

djvectrex said:


> Hi everyone, my big boy ate last night a 7" wooden skewer, the thinner one, with the meat on it, very soon after it was taken out of the oven. My wife tried to get it out of his mouth but he swallowed it very quickly. As soon as I came home I called my vet who advised me to take him to the E-vet and to do an endoscopy. I took him, they were understandably understaffed at night and finally after a couple of hours a doc checked him out, he has shown no signs of discomfort, he pooped solid late last night while at the evet, also pooped solid this morning(no sign of skewer in the poop) he's been very active, energetic. The doc said that if he broke it and not swallowed it whole he could just pass it through but there is the danger of potential perforation of organs. After waiting for a few hours there and monitoring him, also because of a delay on the evet's side, I've decided to take him back home and watch him through the night and took the today off from work and will take him back today for a recheck. I know dogs and shepherds in particular are very naughty dogs, anybody experienced a skewer swallowing accident? Any suggestions in regards to doing the endoscopy or waiting a little to see how he does? Thank you


My dogs ate bbq squwer what do I do? Seems little uncomfortable when he stretches he is a lab 3 year old


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

Adam666 said:


> My dogs ate bbq squwer what do I do? Seems little uncomfortable when he stretches he is a lab 3 year old


The original poster has not logged on in 2yrs. If you read the beginning of this thread, the steps to take are clearly laid out... first being to call or visit your vet.


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