Dog Ate Diaper

What Happens if a Dog Eats Dirty Diapers?

Whenever your dog eats a diaper, it is not unusual and not ever as gross as when you see a tampon-eating dog. Eating diapers, nonetheless, does have its own health implication for your dogs, which must be taken seriously.

Summarized Answers

1. Any dog that eats or habitually eat diaper has a higher chance of suffering serious health problems. The best solution is to immediately contact a vet. 
2. Dogs eat all types of diapers and can suffer serious consequences from eating them. Ensure you watch and protect them from all types of disappear including adult diapers and the ones meant for dogs. 
3. Always take every necessary step to protect your pets. You can easily prevent all these by storing unused diapers in a place they won’t be able to reach it such as trashcans that come with anti-pet locks. 

The first thing a vet might want to ask is to know if your dog has been habitually eating diapers. Afterwards, the vet will recommend that you administer a hydrogen peroxide solution mixed with water. This will help your dog vomit. The downside to make your dog vomit is that it can make your dog experience other worse situations. It is, therefore, advisable that you consult your vet before trying any self-medicated method.

Another recommendation from some vets will be that you treat the dog immediately. The vet might choose between inducing vomiting and performing a procedure that will surely help you flush the content of the dog’s stomach. This procedure is called gastric lavage.

At other times, your vet might simply require that you observe the dog at home before taking any action.

If your vet is not reachable, there is an option of placing a call to the Pet Poison Helpline, through their website. To avoid their expenses, you can consult the people at JustAnswer’s Vet Services or any local vet services. You will get to pay for any service rendered. They might require that you send videos and pictures of the dog. That way, they can easily direct you on what to do next.

BIG INSTRUCTION: If your dog finds it hard to breathe comfortably, looks scared, or is unconscious, take it to the nearest hospital.

Reasons Eating Diapers Are Dangerous

Of the several problems, your dog will encounter after eating a diaper, one of them requires your immediate attention. Dogs can begin to choke if they eat diapers. In some other cases, their digestive tracts might be blocked.

Diapers are of varying properties; yet, their designs always have semblance with each other. 

• Leakage Block: The first layer is thin but can easily serve as waterproof.
• Fluid Collector: The second later is made to absorb liquid. The design is such that will help in collecting and containing fluids.
• Body Preservation: The third later was created with the mind of preserving the skin of anyone that wears it. Their skin will be dry because of the layer’s ability to breathe. 

From the above, you will notice that the outer and inner layers are thin and will cause mild issues for puppies. The problems they will cause, however, will not be like the one caused by the middle layer. Its absorbent property makes it hard to consume and can make it block the digestive tract or even the throat.

It is mostly made of paper products as well as polymers. These two materials remain the most preferred choices of manufacturers because of their ability to absorb. This is the reason most dogs might face problems after eating a diaper. The layer’s duty is to gather moisture from everything surrounding it. The effect, therefore, will be that this later absorbs water and stomach acid as well as every other fluid within the digestive tract. 

This action can dehydrate the stomach and cause problems for the intestine because the digestive system needs fluids for smooth operation. When this has happened, your dog will be dehydrated.

The dehydration problem is just the tip of the iceberg because of the effect of its presence on the digestive tracks. For one, the layer will be swollen as a result of absorbed fluid. Even a partial blockage of the digestive tract will be a cause for alarm. Thus, it is advisable to avoid complete blockages.

Other Dangers Caused by Eating Diapers

Eating diapers have other underlying problems, which are not directly from the layer’s absorbent quality. Some of the problem caused by these are:

1. Adhesive Problem: Diapers are closed with adhesive material. This particular property can also be stuck in the digestive tract of this dog. These adhesive closures have a way of sticking to things. Therefore, you can find them on the dog’s fur. At least, on the fur, the problem they cause is not as severe as those of the second layer. Thus, you only need to wash them off with soap and water.
2. Poop: The bacteria in human feces are mostly half of the weight, indicating that your dog will be exposed to these bacteria the moment they swallow it. Lucky for adult dogs, their immune system will make them feel ill. Yet, we can’t overrule things such as vomiting and diarrhea as well as any other system.

Nonetheless, you should get antibiotics that will help in clearing the bacterial infection your dog might have contracted from swallowing the poop.

The Danger of Cloth Diapers

Dogs will also suffer from eating cloth diapers. Although the point of focus here is disposable diapers. It is rare to see a dog eat cloth diapers but one cannot ignore the occasion situations of dogs eating diapers.

As much as the reusable diapers are not filled with polymer, which is usually superabsorbent, one cannot still forget that the fabrics in clothes are also absorbent.

What Your Vet Will Do When You Take Your Dog to Them

The moment you inform vets about the problem of eating diapers, they will recommend that you bring them in for an examination.

1. Initial Cure: The vet will likely take your dog through several examinations to ascertain that your dog’s condition is stable. After this, the vet will perform a physical examination. Here, the vet is looking for signs of pain as well to be the dog’s stomach is not swollen or tender. They will then administer IV fluid to counter the effect of dehydration.
2. History: The next step involves the vet ensuring they keep history, even as they ask you several questions about the dog’s health, which will help them determine likely solutions to potential and present symptoms. The vet will want to know the features of the diapers. You should, therefore, be ready to tell them about the diaper size, the type, and the number of diapers eaten.
3. Evidence: This is not all that necessary, but when the vet sees what they are dealing with, they are more likely to know where to focus on. Another thing you can do is to explain how the dog ate the diaper or when you discovered they have eaten the diaper. This way, the vet knows how much the dog has eaten.
4. Verification: The next step will be the vet trying to ascertain that the diaper is stuck in the digestive tract of the dog. And they will likely do that in the following ways:
   1. Visual Inspection: You might be lucky that the diaper got stuck in the throat or mouth. If that’s the case, the vet will only need to examine the oral cavity.
   2. Rectum Examination: Another thing your vet will do is to examine their rectal area. This is mostly done after the dog has eaten the diaper for a longer time when the diaper would have gotten near the dog’s exit.
   3. Palpation: Palpating the belly of your dog is another step your vet can take. This way, they will feel the dog belly for the diaper.
   4. Endoscope Usage: Here, your vet can directly insert a long flexible camera, also known as an endoscope through the dog’s mouth into the dog’s stomach to see the diaper.
   5.  Imaging: Lastly, your vet can use an ultrasound and it’s near alternative like X-rays to determine the location of the diaper.

As soon as the Vet knows where the diaper is, they can decide to go through any solution route like the dog vomiting the diaper or the vet prescribing things that will help your dog release the diaper through his mouth or rectum.

In other cases, the vet might predict the unaided expulsion of this diaper. If none of these methods prove successful, however, the vet can decide to use a manual approach by removing the diaper with the aid of a long, flexible tool, which can be easily inserted into any tangible opening on the dog.

In the worst-case scenario, surgery would be recommended.

Reasons Dogs Eat Diapers?

Eating diapers is not new to dogs. No one can point to a reason they act that way. Yet, we can’t overlook how intelligent dogs are, which always see them proffer absurd yet reasonable solutions to any problem. This is why you might see your dog drinking from the toilet whenever they are thirsty. And the same can be said about when they are using things from trash to cater to their hunger.

A logical reason can be traced to their ancestral behavior, where their ancestors go about eating poop because they are scavenging food from every possible location.

Another thing you might want to consider is the dog’s love for interesting textures to ward off boredom, frustration, or handle the teething problem. That’s one reason you will see them chewing on things like shoes, cushions, or even TV remotes.

One thing that has been noticed among some dogs is when they are triggered as a result of being jealous or anxious caused by seeing a new baby.

Baby Diapers Can Cause as Much Harm as Any Harm

Baby diapers are the major diapers you will find dogs eating. Nonetheless, they can be seen eating other types of diapers including adult diapers or people’s undergarments. If your dog doesn’t like wearing a diaper, you are likely to find them chewing the diaper because they want to get rid of it.

How To Prevent Your Dog From Eating Diapers In The Future

Since you understand dogs are easily attracted to things that have interesting textures, you should know how to avoid such next time.

1. Pet Proof Trashcan: When disposing of your child’s diaper, you might want to lock the trashcan or even get trashcans made to keep pets out.
2. Out of Reach: Another thing you might want to do is to ensure that you keep the diaper of your pet’s reach. Choose places they will not easily reach if you are not storing the diapers.
3. Careful Trashing: Some pets don’t scavenge the trashcans and are only aided by their human owners’ carelessness. You should avoid doing this.
4. Sealed Used Diaper: When disposing of your next diaper, you should get plastic bags that will be useful in creating a safe closure around the diaper.
5. Dog Deterring Spray: Sprays that repel dogs are not available. Dogs are disgusted by these and will not even consider chewing the diapers or investigating them.
6. Close Observation: If you will make your dog wear diapers, be sure to put them under your watchful observation as that’s the only way you will be sure that they like a diaper and that they won’t eat up the diaper while trying to remove it from their body.

Conclusion

As you have seen, eating diapers is not in any way healthy for your dog and might eventually cause them to undergo surgery. As soon as you discover that your dog has eaten a diaper, the best point of call is to reach out to a vet.

They will then let you know if you are to bring the dog or to wait for a little while. Even after this happens, the solution is at their discretion.