Question for you: Do you know how long a foreign object can stay inside the stomach of a dog before finally coming out one end or the other?
Before answering, first, a little background. My dog Jackson, now almost two, has a taste for the finer fabrics in life . . . cotton, terry cloth, high-end wash rags, etc. So, last year, after $1K in tummy surgery, I banned cloth dog toys because Jackson enjoyed not only chewing these items up, but ingesting them as well. He has gotten by since then on tennis balls, ham bones, and large rubber toys.
Then, over Christmas this past year, he stayed at my aunt and uncle's house while I was shacked up at a hotel. Now, my aunt spoils her dog like a grandmother spoils a grandchild. Jackson received royal star treatment complete with sleep-overs on the bed (head on pillow I am sure), a bounty of toys, and a fellow cat and dog to run around with.
Things were going wonderfully when on Christmas Day, my cousin met me at the door to the house with, "So, ok, don't be mad, but (insert long pause) . . . Jackson ate one of Blue's craw fish toys (insert long pause) . . . but it wasn't really that big of a piece and I got most of it away from him. . . I really think he's going to be ok."
At that point visions of $ signs were dancing in my head, but I poured myself a mimosa and put on my mellow hat and said that I guess we'd just have to wait and see. Well, things actually turned out well because I had totally forgotten about it when a few weeks ago (yes, as in like 30 days after the incident), I woke up to find something gross on the rug by my front door. Like any good Mama, I got out the plastic gloves and unravelled the thing that had been hacked onto my carpet and discovered something red, cloth, and eerily crawfish-esque in appearance.
I looked at my dog in disbelief. Jackson had been harboring a hostage in his little tummy for a whole month. A WHOLE MONTH people!!! How does this happen? What was it doing all that time? And what the hell is that shit made of? I would have thought stomach acid or something would have broken it down, but no! I could have popped it in the wash and regifted for Xmas 2010! Of course, I'm not going to. . . but you get the picture.
A whole month! Gotta be some sort of record.
