How long does it take to get thru.....

 Dyan I don't have an exact answer for you, sorry.  Just keep monitoring whether he wants to eat and if he is pooping.  If both of those remain normal the rubber will be out.  It may take some time for all if it to pass though.

Good luck and keep us posted

Gibby Bugsy says when you chew up da rubber you leave it on da floor!

Have you also checked under couches and hutches etc to see if there's a chunk under there? He may not have swallowed it at all. Merely tore off a chunk that got pawed at until it was inaccessible.

I know you have to be worried out of your mind!!  I do not have an accurate guess for you. I know if it was one of my kids I would have encouraged loose stool by giving them milk, RRs often react to milk in a fast and furious evacuation. I am assuming they did not want you to have him vomit because of the unknown time factor.  Keep an eye on his gums, watch him for signs of abdominal pain or discomfort and breathe.....  My Rhodies can eat things that would boggle your mind ( I know they did my mind over the years) . Today they are eating venison bones, I don't mean chewing I mean shattering a bone that is supposedly much harder than beef. So I am on watch for splinters and small sharp pieces. They love fresh venison and this is the reason I am able to avoid tons of expensive dental cleanings.

I don't think there is a "safe" toy or bone for dogs with the strength of our breeds.  And you can not beat yourself up over trusting something labeled indestructible.  Heck the bumper of my  new minivan did not survive an 18 month old. Breathe and email anytime you feel panicky one of us should be around!! We understand he is your sweet baby even if he is bigger than most of our sofas!

HUGS

Bonita of Bwana

Oh Dyan, I know how worried you are. I think you should check the place, as Ron said, maybe he didn't eat it. If nothing is coming out and you don't know if he broke the rubber in little pieces, the best thing to do is to go to the vet and take an X-ray... that will help a lot. And I think Gibby won't need anesthesia or anything to get it, so it's the best way to clear your mind out of worries.

Crossing paws and fingers here for you and Gibson.

I checked everywhere.  He was only be in the laundry room... and bedroom...and little hallway the goes from one to the other.  And to be honest...I didn't see much sign of him being in the bedroom which is strange because usually he eats the goodies and takes them in the bedroom..and usually there is some on the bed.  Last night it was all still in the laundry room...in the crate that  I put it in when I leave.   EXCEPT the rest of the kong that was in front of the door that we had to push open because it was kind of stopping it.  I checked everyplace again once I saw him go the second time with no rubber coming out, except tiny teeny pieces.    He wants to eat...he just ate a bunch of turkey I was cutting up.   We played outside and went for another walk.  He is fine..... but where in the heck is the rubber hiding.     This is two times that he pooped since he ate the darn thing.

dyan

I checked everywhere.  He was only be in the laundry room... and bedroom...and little hallway the goes from one to the other.  And to be honest...I didn't see much sign of him being in the bedroom which is strange because usually he eats the goodies and takes them in the bedroom..and usually there is some on the bed.  Last night it was all still in the laundry room...in the crate that  I put it in when I leave.   EXCEPT the rest of the kong that was in front of the door that we had to push open because it was kind of stopping it.  I checked everyplace again once I saw him go the second time with no rubber coming out, except tiny teeny pieces.    He wants to eat...he just ate a bunch of turkey I was cutting up.   We played outside and went for another walk.  He is fine..... but where in the heck is the rubber hiding.     This is two times that he pooped since he ate the darn thing.

It could still be in his stomach.  Jack once pucked up a sock that he had eaten literally 2 weeks earlier.  My vet was shocked, but I had heard this happening to another lab as well.  Sally has pucked up cow hoof pieces that she had eaten a week earlier.  Someone on here (Lori, I think) once posted that their dog pucked up chunks of Greenie a long time after she had eaten it.

I would continue to feed the small meals and watching the poop.  If he starts throwing up, take him to the vet immediately.  When Jack ate the underwear that got lodged puking was the first sign of trouble.

 The last time Rascal got a bit stopped up the vet told me to watch him closely for trouble for at least 2 weeks. He eventually passed the offending item (a hunk of bully stick), but it took over a week!

Now that people has mention it... I remember Thor throwing up nylabone pieces a week after he ate his one and only nylabone... so that could happen also.

Thalie

C'mon, boy, give your mom some blue poop.

Yes! Go Gibby!

Dyan -- there is NO answer to your question.  But you can simply be prepared and then act when you can.

1.  There is NO guarantee that anything would go straight in and out.  It doesn't work that way.  It could still be in the stomach (if it is too big to exit) or it could have passed into the intestines. 

 See YOU don't know if he chewed it up (you likely would have found small blue pieces *somewhere*) or if he A) swallowed it 'whole' or B) HID it somewhere.

2.  When an obstruction happens ~~~somewhere~~~ between the stomach and anus this is what occurs

• Food continues to go in -- they will be hungry and all is fine unless the obstruction causes pain somehow (and often it doesn't). 
• But let's say the blue ball left the stomach (since there is no sign of nausea) and got into the intestines.  Now I'm a bit astounded that it passed thru the *small intestine** if it's as big as you say but it's possible it was carried along. 
• BUT let's say it gets stuck "halfway".  He will continue to poop out anything that is ~beyond~ the obstruction.  But eventually his body will empty everything beyond the obstruction.
• He will continue to eat UNTIL the food that he's eaten can't pass the obstruction and it backs up to his stomach.  Literally it's like trying to use a cake decorator that's 'stuck' and nothing comes out the end, but neither can you 'push' frosting further.  At that point the food he eats just kind of backs up because it can't get THRU the intestines. 
• EVENTUALLY if there is an obstruction it all backs up to the stomach and nothing can exit the stomach.  **THEN** he will begin to be nauseus and vomit. 
• Food is continually doused with stomach acid to digest the food and help move it thru -- but if food can't exit the stomach, then stomach acid continues to pour in and THAT makes the dog nauseus and they try to vomit everything they eat .... they *may* continue to try to eat but it will come back up eventually if nothing is getting out of the stomach.  At that point you'll also see that he's not pooping any more.
• So at that point he's not pooping and he can't eat without vomiting (and maybe can't drink either).
• THEN you have a super sick dog.  Frankly that could be any time this whole week depending on whether or not food can get **around** the obstruction at all.

 In other words the blue end of that may be IN him and it may actually be working it's way out -- OR it might get stuck somewhere along the way. 

Frankly, if you don't find ANY sign of the end of this toy by Monday morning, I would take him to work and have him x-rayed **even if** he's acting fine. 

Because they can live for months and months with a toy inside them.  Food may just be getting "around" it -- it could be in the stomach, it could be kinked inside the large intestne -- it all depends.

A gal I know online had moved down here to Florida she had a dog (a big weim) who was a pup and who kind of intermittently had idgestive "issues".  She tried every food under the sun, and just couldn't nail down what the problem was.  Some days he was fine, some days he wasn't.  She wasn't happy with any of the vets she found here, and since she was kind of near me, and had always heard me raving about my regular vet, Dr. Bailey, she drove like over an hour to go TO him to have him look at her dog (at my suggestion simply because I know he's a good idagnostician and he wouldn't 'miss' anything). 

The dog's problems worsened a little over this 3 month period but he was never truly horribly ill -- he was always pooping and eating -- sometimes hungrier than others but never "off his food".  He'd been seen by 2-3 vet who just sent her away with a different food.

Dr. B had this dog up on the table and was palpating him as she talked.  He got the dog to lie on its side and was looking and suddenly said to her "Has this lump always been there?"

She felt it and said "Not that I knew of". 

Dr. B continued to probe -- and feel of it and he said "Could one of his balls be missing?  Like a rubber or plastic ball toy or a tennis ball?"

She indicated that yes, he was a disaster with balls and often they'd go missing.

Dr. Bailey said to her "This dog is obstructed -- and if I have your permission I'd like to take him into surgery right this minute and remove this ball -- I'm sure that's what it is and I'm sure it's your problem -- but if it's a plastic ball it probably won't show on an x-ray."

He x-rayed him and it wasn't dense enough but there was a 'bump' of some sort and he went in and ... YEP removed a ball from the dog's stomach.

He's swallowed it whole and it stayed in his stomach but was mobile enough not to 'obstruct' the stomach fully.  Food went out as the ball would move out of the way.  And since the dog couldn't hold as much in his stomach as "normal" he WAS always hungry.

The ball *could have* killed him.  It could have caused some bloat, it could have obstructed and torn him .. it could have done a lot of things. 

sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. 

As long as Gibby is eating and pooping he's not obstructed at THIS moment.  BUT ... since you can't find it and are assuming he's eaten it -- now you need to x-ray him to see if it is INSIDE him.  And hopefully it will show on the x-ray and I'd make sure you take the other end of it to the vet so he can SEE exactly what he's looking for.

Hi Dyan--Hopefully, by now you've found the pieces either way.  I don't have much to offer for advice.  If it were me, I'd get it x-rayed tonight--my thinking is, why wait if it is still in the stomach they might be able to do something to remove it like a scope or something that doesn't involve surgery. 

I have to be pretty sure that Gibby ate the toy.  The laundry room is small...and his crate is in it taking the rest of the room up.  The toy is 7 inch toy....and it couldn't fit in or under anything is the room...I took the blanket out of the crate and it wasn't wrapped up in there.   The bedroom of course is different but we looked on and under the whole bed and sides of it. We put a big throw rug in there and that is picked up when we come home.  We slept in the bed last night so its not in.   We searched the room over and over. Then today after he took his second dump.....I went back in and looked again.

The second poop had a couple tiny bits of bright blue in it.....I mean I think two...tiny bits.  I took a stick and smeared it....so if there was any more...it wasnt' many. 

Our guess....is that he chewed it in pieces...how big who knows. But..... usually when we leave him he takes the things on my bed and then falls asleep when there is no food or goodies left. But last night it didn't even look like he was on the bed...and thats really rare...dont' know if I ever saw that from him.  We put an old white fitted mattress pad on the top of the bed because he is always up there with toys after we leave....and it didn't look ruffled at all. No toys were in the bedroom either. Everything we left him in the crate ( we leave him just like we did when he was crated...only we don't close the door now ) except for the blue thing that was by the door. DH and I discussed that we think he licked out peanut butter and ate the kibble that was in the blue thing...and then started on the blue thing......  that he was busy doing that instead of going on the bed to sleep like he usually does. That would mean he was chewing small pieces.  But of course we don't know that for sure..and we don't know how small would be small.  Watching him when he has a chew stick ( which I used to give him only when he was in the bathroom with me while I get ready for work ) he chews off pieces.... he loves to do that. I am hoping then....that is what he did with this toy.    Again....don't know.

He has had 5 small meals today.... and he pooped twice, at 6:30 AM and then about 1 in the afternoon.  I gave him vasoline a couple times in the morning....just thinking maybe it will help it slide out of there...........and coat his insides along the way.  He is eating and playing...went for two walks...and now curled up on his bed...looks like he is down for the night.

Long about 4:30...I called another vet......they told me it could take up to about 2 weeks before it started to come out, and the girl went on to tell me how her dog always eats whole stuffies and all and sometimes it takes a long time before he finally gets it out..one way or another.  Kind of made me feel a little more secure because I think that he probably didn't swallow the darn thing whole, but of course I don't know.

But then there is the bloat factor....that is always scary anyway.

Your right Callie....if he continues on the way he is and still hasn't passed more blue rubber in his stool than the little bit I saw.... I think I will get him an xray on Monday.  Thanks for the explaination of how it works....I was trying to figure it all out.   Funny.....I keep thinking he has such a touchy stomach and took him off kibble for a while to see how that goes....but if he has a bunch of rubber in his stomach and its not making him sick,,,,,it really surprises me.

So about 10 minutes ago... I decided to hang it up and take Gibby down and do a few things before bed....and took him out and tried to talk him into being a "goodboy" and he was..... quite a shocker except I guess since he ate 5 times...he should go at least 3....... but I dissected it and sure enough...there was a few pieces of the blue rubber in it..... one piece was about 3/4 long..... the rest smaller. Sure wasn't anywhere near the almost 4 inches of kong he ate...but its a start. And its good to know that he probably did tear off little pieces and not try to down the whole thing.  His stools are nice and firm but not too dry...I guess between the vasoline I gave him and then I added a bit of oil to his food tonight.... trying to keep him kind of lubricated I guess.  Don't know if its the right thing to do......but feel that I need to help a little. I will keep doing small meals and stay on "poop patrol" until I no longer see any rubber....  I feel a little better now...actually a lot better but yet I know that a piece could get lodged somewhere along the line....and praying not!