FWIW, our cat Misha had swallowed a hooded sweatshirt's drawstring while in the care of my ex-husband (I was out-of-town). They discovered the "cord" via x-ray (it was looped through her intestines), and opened her up all down her belly to remove the cord. She was barely 1 yr old at the time, and lived to 16+ yrs.

If they are monitoring him, and administering pain meds as/when needed, I am sure they are doing what they can to keep him comfortable as he recovers. One suggestion would be to ask if the meds will make it difficult for him to "go." In humans, opiate derived pain meds can be constipating, and another one of our cats appeared to experience some pain-med induced constipation following major surgery. The vet gave us Enulose or Lactulose for her, (we also used a baby thermometer well-lubed with Vaseline) to help her go.

Good luck with your boy!

I have removed many dozens of objects from dog stomachs and intestines, though not of one of my own pets (yet)... very common situation. Though actually removing part of a Kong is not that common as those are harder to chew up (at least for dogs that don't have immense jaws). Often dogs will chew up toys in very tiny pieces and those will often make it all the way through... but blockages are one of the more common situations I see on emergency in dogs.

Thank you catmom and lzfddr the Kong was a very small one for puppies and I'm surprised he didn't swallow the entire Kong.

Anicee

Lzrddr, your not Megan by any chance?

no... I think I am a lot older than Megan (think she's been out of vet school a short time?).... I live in Los Angeles and do mostly emergency work now, though in the past I was mostly an exotic animal and dog/cat vet.

lzrddr, how do you know if a dog has swallowed something and has a blockage? As in, if you didn't see them do it, what are the signs for an owner to look for that they may have swallowed something and it got stuck.

Vomiting is the main symptom, but many many dogs and cats vomit for reasons other than a blockage. Not being able to keep anything down, projectile green or yellow vomit, anorexia, painful abdomen are all suspicious symptoms, but short of seeing evidence on a radiograph, those signs could all be a dozen other problems.

I had a dog in two nights ago that ate chicken bones and a wadded piece of metal and had a very painful abdomen, vomiting, not eating and was very dehydrated... but when we radiographed it, we realized it was vomiting because it had a urinary tract obstruction... Even though we could see the metal object in the stomach, the dog was ill because it had a completely unrelated problem... in other words, there is no way to know if a dog has blockage without seeing more evidence of one, either with radiographs or ultrasound (a bit harder to dx with ultrasound).

Thanks lzrddr. I have two little shih tzus who are always picking things up or stealing them and chewing on them. One of them in particular will watch you put something down and as soon as your back is turned she will sneak in behind you and walk off with it so I've become paranoid about rubber bands, pins of any type, foam, and really anything small or sharp they might decide to swallow. It's like living with two very mobile babies who want to put everything in their mouth lol.

The information you gave was great because every time one them so much as clears their throat I'm wondering if they swallowed something so it's given me a much better idea of what to look out for. Thanks so much.

This is what happened with my dog. Tuesday morning got up and he was throwing up, and throwing up, went outside and he ate a lot of grass, then threw up some more and he just couldn't get into a comfortable position so I went straight to the vet where they did X-Rays and saw a round foreing object 'sitting' in his lower intestine. They put him on fluids the rest of the day and redid X-rays, hoping the thing could move to the larger intestine but it stayed there so he got surgery the next day.
He was at the vet hospital from Tuesday till Saturday afternoon. He's home, doing not too bad. Checking often to see if the incision is o.k. He's on special food 'gastro' for a little while and pills...He has not thrown up and his stools are fine. He had his last pain med last night but I have some more and will see if he needs it. He sleeps a lot and when he wakes up, I go outside for a little walk with him. I arranged for a temporary ramp for him (outdoor backsteps). He needs the e-collar, it must be sore and itchy and I can just imagine how uncomfortable and somewhat still painful and I was thinking how strong there are compared to us. How faster than us they recuperate. We only have a paper cut and it hurts and burns...imagine being opened so long.
Here he is with his best friend who missed him quite a lot while he was at the animal hospital:
{{!gwi}}

Hi anicee, what a terrible thing to go through for you and your boy. Dogs are so stoic when they get sick aren't they, it always amazes me and the poor baby has been through a lot. I'll bet he is so glad to be home again now sleeping in his own bed and surrounded by his family, and how gorgeous is that photo with his best buddy by his side? It's just adorable. I hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Our 11 week old Australian shepherd is in surgery right now. We think she swallowed an entire puppy Kong. It's a large rounded object up close to her ribs. The only symptoms she had were lethargy, but since she just received a vaccination yesterday we weren't too concerned. We're glad we took her in and had a good vet that diagnosed the cause and did the X-ray. We hope for a full recovery.

My wee dog had an obstruction a few years ago. She simply could not poo and was straining, and then it was nearly impossible for her to pee. Thankfully they removed the obstruction without surgery. It was the raw soft lamb bones she had had. Never any problem with chicken bones etc which they all get daily but the lamb bones are apparently soft. It took her days to get back to normal and prune juice did the magic.