HELP Dog ate ballpoint pen

Mostly you do NOT want to make her throw up -- not something sharp.  So yeah, bread -- or even a cotton ball soaked in milk (altho personally I think I'd be happier with the bread unless you were sure it was real *cotton* and not polyester 'balls';).

 If you happen to have any slippery elm (or do you know of a Wal-mart that is 24 hours??  They *might* have slippery elm in their herbal section) -- making a slurry out of 10 - 15 emptied capsules and 1/4 c. of hot water -- giving that to the dog over the course of the next day or two should help also ease the passage and reduce any irritation that develops.

Watch for black tarry stool (that indicates blood way up in the body - that would be a vet emergency) or red blood in the *** or coming from the anus (or throwing up blood either one). 

I'd feed some bread tonight a few times (you don't want the stomach to get completely empty -- and some bread a few times will help push thru remnants that may not go completely out. 

Mostly watch for blood -- from either end.  That would indicate a need to get help pretty fast.  if you can jump into your own vet in the morning for an exam it would sure be a good thing.  At least you don't have to worry about the ink being toxic.  I'd probably worry about that little spring inside the most and plastic shards.

Callie prefers bread.  I prefer cotton balls, but I can think of no reason you can't use both.

Cotton balls (real cotton only) wrap around and pad sharp edges and help many things pass through without too much trouble.  Soak the balls in half-and-half, cream, etc., or coat the balls with a meat spread.  The number of cotton balls depends on the size of the dog.   http://www.k911.biz/Petsafety/DogAteChickenBone.htm

Yeah, around here REAL cotton balls are almost impossible to find which is the only reason i said that.  I'd use cotton if I had it and was sure it was 100% cotton.

 I prefer cotton balls too because I think that bread will fall apart quickly once it's in stomach acid whereas cotton balls are more likely to stay together to wrap around things. I hope everything passes through without problems; please keep us updated.

EDIT: I just realized this was posted a few days ago. What ended up happening? EDIT

Do you know if the dog chewed it into pieces, or if it was  bitten off and swallowed whole? If it is likely in pieces, I would at LEAST do contrast rads (since the pen is plastic) to see if any bits are large enough to be seen and therefore likely to cause perforation or obstruction.

I don't want to be an alarmist, but we've spent a lot of time discussing foreign bodies/obstructions/perforations in Gastroenterology Med this month......I really, really you need to keep the idea of scoping in the picture if the rads come back bad - for example, if she chewed off a big piece of the pen and swallowed it. A 3/4 chunk of ballpoint pen isn't going to pass through a dog's intestine - the diameter (of the intestine) is just too small. And all of the tiny sphincters it has to go through...it's going to get stuck. I'd really go to a vet for rads

If you see black tarry stool, that means a small intestinal injury - which would mean a MUCH more invasive/expensive surgical procedure than scoping.

I emailed them the next day asking for an update and they never did.