If Your Dog Eats Glass

The sound of shattering glass brings your canine operating as a substitute of hiding. By the point you get to the kitchen, they’re already sniffing the wreckage – or worse, licking at it with curious enthusiasm. You shoo them away, however the nagging query instantly hits: did they swallow any?

Then you definately spot it. A bit is lacking from the pile. Or possibly you noticed them do it – watched a shard disappear earlier than you may react.

Glass in a digestive system designed for kibble and questionable yard finds is a real emergency. However what occurs subsequent relies upon fully on elements you’ll be able to’t see: how sharp the items are, how large they’re, what number of there are. Some canines cross glass with out incident. Others require emergency surgical procedure to outlive.

Right here’s what you’ll want to know proper now – whether or not you’re already within the automotive heading to the vet or making an attempt to determine if that’s the place you’ll want to be.

First Issues First: Name Your Vet

Each state of affairs is totally different. The dimensions of the glass items, how sharp they’re, and the way a lot your canine ate all matter enormously. Easy glass pebbles carry very totally different dangers than jagged shards from a shattered wine glass. This isn’t one thing you’ll be able to safely monitor at house and hope for the perfect.

Get your canine to the vet. When you’re in your manner, right here’s what might be occurring inside your canine’s physique proper now.

The 5 Potential Eventualities

1. It would cross via utterly

Sure, typically glass travels via the entire digestive system and comes out the opposite finish with out inflicting harm. This has occurred in each people and canines, significantly when the glass items are easy moderately than sharp-edged. Your canine may expertise some belly discomfort, however the glass might exit naturally inside 1-2 days (typically longer).

That is the best-case state of affairs. It’s additionally not one thing it’s best to rely on.

2. It might lodge within the esophagus

Glass can get caught on its manner right down to the abdomen. When this occurs, your canine will present it. Extreme drooling, coughing, gagging, vomiting, and even citing blood. They’ll probably refuse meals and water as a result of swallowing hurts.

Glass trapped within the esophagus can result in critical problems within the chest cavity, together with mediastinitis (irritation of the tissue across the coronary heart and lungs) or pneumothorax (collapsed lung). In case you see these signs, you’re coping with an emergency.

3. It would harm the intestines

Sharp glass transferring via the intestinal tract can slice the inside lining. Past the plain ache this causes, these cuts create openings for an infection to take maintain. You may discover blood in your canine’s stool or vomit. Darkish, tarry feces point out digested blood additional up within the digestive system.

4. It might perforate the abdomen or intestines

That is the place issues get life-threatening. Sharp glass shards can utterly puncture the abdomen or intestinal partitions as these organs naturally contract and transfer. When that occurs, abdomen acid, digestive enzymes, partially digested meals, and intestine micro organism spill into your canine’s stomach.

The outcome known as peritonitis. When micro organism are concerned, it’s septic peritonitis. Your canine’s immune system triggers huge irritation to battle this contamination. Indicators embody fluid buildup within the stomach, extreme belly ache, and fever. With out quick remedy, this will quickly progress to systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and sepsis, each of which may be deadly.

5. It would trigger inner bleeding

If a bit of glass cuts right into a blood vessel at any level alongside its journey, your canine might bleed internally into their intestine, chest cavity, or stomach. Look ahead to indicators of blood loss: pale gums, speedy respiratory, and elevated coronary heart fee. These signs point out your canine is in disaster.

How Vets Take away Glass

Your vet will start with X-rays. Glass exhibits up clearly on imaging, which helps decide how a lot your canine swallowed, how large the items are, and precisely the place they’re positioned. Based mostly on what they discover, they’ll advocate the perfect method.

1. Letting it cross naturally

Typically, if the glass items are small and comparatively easy, your vet may recommend a wait-and-see method with a high-fiber weight loss plan. The additional fiber primarily pads the glass because it strikes via, decreasing the possibility it’s going to trigger harm. You’ll be monitoring your canine’s stool intently for the following few days.

2. Endoscopic removing

If the glass continues to be within the esophagus or abdomen, endoscopy is commonly the most suitable choice. Your canine is anesthetized, and the vet makes use of an endoscope (a versatile tube with a digicam, mild, and greedy instruments) to find and take away the glass items. It’s much less invasive than surgical procedure and extremely efficient when the glass hasn’t moved into the intestines but.

3. Surgical procedure

When the glass has traveled previous the abdomen or endoscopic removing fails, surgical procedure turns into mandatory. It’s extra invasive and carries extra danger than endoscopy, but it surely beats the choice of intestinal perforation and peritonitis. Typically you merely don’t have a alternative.

What You Ought to Do Proper Now

In case your dog just ate glass, don’t wait to see what occurs. Don’t attempt house treatments. Don’t feed them bread or different meals, hoping to “cushion” the glass. Get them to a veterinarian who can assess the state of affairs with correct imaging and make a remedy plan.

The distinction between a canine who passes glass uneventfully and one who develops septic peritonitis usually comes right down to the scale and sharpness of what they swallowed. You may’t know that by wanting on the damaged glass in your ground.

Key indicators that imply “get there NOW”: