9 Weirdest Things Dogs Have Swallowed, According To An ER Vet

Dogs just love to eat weird and gross things because, as wonderful as they are, dogs are weird and gross sometimes.

And occasionally, the weird things your dog swallows will get stuck, and he’ll need a veterinarian to get them out.

So as you might imagine, vets have seen dogs swallow some pretty crazy stuff. But what are some of the strangest cases an emergency vet has ever witnessed?

The Dodo spoke with Dr. Diana Rice, an emergency doctor at Veterinary Emergency Group in New York. She’s done a TON of endoscopies (which is when a vet uses a tool to go inside your pet to remove a foreign object) and told us all about some of the weirdest things her dog patients have eaten.

Quotes were edited for length and clarity.

“An owner had seen her 6-year-old golden retriever eating some fake flowers. She agreed to endoscopy, and, once we got in there, some orange plastic material was there.

At first, none of us could figure it out, and it was the hardest grab I ever had. But eventually, I was able to get around the end, and an entire roll of orange-colored dog poop bags came out. It looked like a magician when they pulled the long scarf of colors from their sleeve.

We were cheering and so excited, and when I went back in to check that the stomach was empty, it looked like I had not done anything! There were even more trash bags and, what do you know, plastic flowers. After several more magic tricks of pulling out trash bags, we had to go to surgery and remove the rest of the material.”

“I have had several dogs who LOVE eating pacifiers. I think they just want to be the babies of the house again.

One time, we had to scope it out [aka perform an endoscopy]. Afterwards, the owners asked for the pacifier back so they could wash it and give it back to their baby because it was their favorite.

Another time, the dog ate the pacifier and vomited it up, so the owner thought they were in the clear … until she came in vomiting multiple times. On X-rays there was material in the small intestines, and we had to go into surgery. It turned out she had the chain with the letters of the baby's name stuck in there. This owner did not want them back.”

“Maybe it’s the color, the crunch. I honestly cannot fathom why I see so many dogs that eat rocks.

My favorite was two Weimaraner siblings that must have been partners in crime, because they were hospitalized side by side on IV fluids since they were managing to move the rocks along. The owner was praying they would not need surgery, and slowly but surely, and with MANY walks, they BOTH managed to pass the rocks along on their own. I’m just glad it was not me.”

“An owner came in because her 10-year-old beagle had vomited a few times. As a lot of owners state, she said, ‘She’s 10. I do not think she would have eaten anything she shouldn’t have.’ I said, ‘Let’s take at least one X-ray to be sure.’ What do you know, there’s a toy baby or something in her stomach.

We went ahead with endoscopy to find she ended up swallowing a smaller rubber dog! We could not stop laughing about her ‘having puppies the wrong way.’

I called the owner and showed her the toy dog when she came to pick her up. I asked if she wanted to keep the toy, and she said, ‘You know what, yes, because I am going to show this and the bill to my kids and show them why they need to pick up their toys.’ I think those kids were in trouble.”

“SO MANY SOCKS! There’s something about stinky feet that pets just LOVE!

Smaller socks have been able to be vomited up, but I had to scope a pair of socks from the stomach with the owner watching, and he was so relieved his Bernese mountain dog did not need ANOTHER foreign body surgery.”

“This is definitely not a one-time deal. I have seen a LOT of dogs eat condoms, and fortunately inducing vomiting works most of the time. It’s always a really awkward conversation with the owners … especially if they’re used.”

“A 6-month-old shepherd managed to destroy her stuffed toy with the squeaker and, for whatever reason, thought the squeaker was the most delicious part. We did endoscopy with the owner watching, and it was my record-breaking scope time! Took less than a minute after I was in the stomach.”

“One night, I walked into work, and they were inducing a 3-year-old boxer for surgery after their primary veterinarian found a rubber shark in the stomach that the owner said had been missing for a week.

They were about to cut when I asked if they had talked about scoping. The day doctor said they did not think it would be possible and I said, ‘Give me one shot!’ I called the owners to ask permission, and they said, ‘PLEASE TRY! We want you guys to try to scope it out instead.’ I hooked that shark by the tail, and we saved that dog from needing surgery!”

“I got called in for surgery and had been told an 8-month-old Frenchie pup ate a rope toy. The ENTIRE THING!

It took some time to get into surgery, and right before he was going to be given his pre-meds and induction, he defecated the entire thing out! I’m so happy he did not need surgery, but also drove and waited a total of three hours to not cut. His video did become my most viewed TikTok, though!”