Dog Ate Something It Shouldn’t? What to Do Right Now

Last updated: December 2025

What should I do first if my dog ate something it shouldn’t?

The week after Christmas is prime time for this problem: ribbons on the floor, new toys getting shredded, a turkey carcass in the trash. Trupanion calls foreign body ingestion one of the most common emergencies it sees in young pets and says that without treatment, these blockages can be fatal. A fast, calm response makes the biggest difference.

1. Get your dog away from the rest of it. Keep the wrapper, chewed toy or leftover pieces. They help your vet figure out what is missing.
2. Check that your dog can breathe. PetMD advises that if something is lodged deep in the throat, you should not try to pull it out; get to a vet so your dog can be sedated and the object removed safely.
3. Call your vet or the nearest emergency clinic. PetMD’s guidance is to call immediately and get your dog in as soon as possible, because the vet may be able to induce vomiting or retrieve the object from the stomach before serious problems set in.
4. If it could be toxic, call poison control. ASPCA Animal Poison Control is at (888) 426-4435 and Pet Poison Helpline is at (855) 764-7661. Both are open around the clock. AAHA reported this fall that ASPCA charges a consultation fee of about $95 and Pet Poison Helpline about $89, and Pet Poison Helpline says its fee includes follow-up consultations for the life of the case.

When you call, have ready what your dog ate, roughly how much, when, your dog’s weight and any signs so far. Seasonal foods like chocolate, grapes and xylitol-sweetened treats are a separate toxic-food problem, and our list of foods dogs can’t eat covers those.

Should I make my dog throw up?

Not on your own. Hydrogen peroxide has been passed around for years as a home remedy, and it does make dogs vomit. The problem is what else it does.

In a study published in the Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, researchers gave 3% hydrogen peroxide to six healthy dogs and then looked inside their stomachs with a scope. Gastric lesions were visible in every dog at four hours, and they got worse by 24 hours. Biopsies showed bleeding, then tissue death and swelling, then inflammation. A comparison dog given apomorphine, the injectable drug vets use to induce vomiting, had normal tissue. Most of the damage resolved by two weeks, but these were healthy dogs given a measured dose, not a panicked owner guessing at the amount.

“Hydrogen peroxide, when used properly, can be very effective at inducing vomiting in dogs only. If given in too great a quantity, however, it can cause significant damage to the esophagus, stomach and intestinal tract.”

Dr. Renee Schmid, senior veterinary toxicologist and director of Veterinary Medicine, Pet Poison Helpline

Pet Poison Helpline describes a case in which an owner forced a dog to drink a dangerous amount of peroxide after the dog swallowed a human medication. The pill came back up, but the dog kept vomiting, stopped eating and needed treatment while its stomach healed. In another case, a caller was walked through the correct amount over the phone and safely retrieved raisins before they caused harm. The difference was a phone call first.

Vomiting can also make a foreign object more dangerous. PetMD notes that many objects and chemicals are more dangerous if vomited. Sharp items such as broken ornaments, ornament hooks and bone shards can injure the throat on the way back up.

Which holiday leftovers are most dangerous for dogs?

Veterinary Partner, the Veterinary Information Network’s owner site, lists the things vets pull out of dogs most often: corn cobs, balls, socks and underwear, rocks, jewelry, toys, leashes and collars, plastic bags that held food, pieces of shoes, coins, sewing needles and fish hooks. The FDA adds holiday hazards: tinsel, string and ribbon can cause serious stomach and intestinal damage, and turkey carcasses or steak bones from the trash can get stuck in the esophagus, stomach or windpipe, while sharp bone pieces can cause severe internal injuries.

Use this table as a quick triage guide. In every row, the first step is still a call to your vet.

Leftover turkey brings its own set of questions about skin, fat and bones, and our guide to whether dogs can eat turkey goes through what is safe to share from the holiday table.

Why are tinsel, ribbon and string so dangerous for dogs?

Most swallowed objects cause trouble by being too big: a sock or a chunk of toy wedges in one spot and stops traffic. Tinsel, ribbon, string, yarn and dental floss are different. Vets call them linear foreign bodies, and they hurt the intestine from the inside while it tries to move them along.

Washington State University’s veterinary teaching hospital explains the mechanism in plain terms. One end of the strand gets stuck, often in the stomach, while the rest is pulled into the intestine as it contracts. The intestine keeps squeezing, trying to push the strand forward, but because one end is anchored, the bowel bunches up along the string like fabric gathered on a drawstring. Those contractions can cause the ribbon or tinsel to saw through the intestinal wall. Once there is a hole, intestinal contents leak into the belly and cause a serious infection called peritonitis. WSU warns that if this is not caught in time, the prognosis for recovery becomes poor.

Research backs up how much harder these cases are. University of Pennsylvania veterinarians reviewed the records of 499 dogs treated for gastrointestinal foreign bodies, 176 of which had swallowed something linear. Compared with dogs that swallowed a solid object, dogs with a linear foreign body were more likely to have vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy and belly pain. They were more likely to have the object anchored in the stomach and running into the small intestine, more likely to have dead or perforated bowel and peritonitis, and more likely to need a section of intestine removed. They stayed in the hospital longer, three days compared with two, and their care cost about 10% more.

There is a hopeful part of that same study. Ninety-six percent of dogs in both groups survived to go home. Linear foreign bodies are serious, but they are very treatable when owners get help early.

This is also why you should never pull on a strand you can see. If a piece of ribbon is hanging from your dog’s mouth or a bit of string is poking out from under the tail, the other end may be anchored somewhere deep inside, with bunched intestine in between. Pulling can tear the bowel that the string is threaded through. Leave it alone, keep your dog from chewing at it, and get to the vet, who can find out where it is anchored before anything is removed.

Cats are famous for this problem, and WSU notes that cats in particular find shiny tree decorations hard to resist. Dogs are not immune, though. A dog that shreds a gift bag, steals the ribbon off a present or chews apart a frayed rope toy can swallow long strands too.

Linear foreign bodies can also be sneaky. Because a strand may only partly block the bowel, a dog might eat a little, vomit once, seem quiet and then perk up again. Owners understandably wait. But the damage can continue while the dog seems almost normal, which is why vets take a history of ribbon or tinsel seriously even before a dog looks very sick.

The safest plan this week is simple. Pick up ribbons, bows and gift-wrap scraps as gifts are opened, and put them straight into a trash can with a lid. Hang tinsel high or skip it this year. Gather up dental floss, yarn and craft string. If you know or strongly suspect that your dog swallowed any strand, call your vet that day instead of waiting to see whether it passes.

What are the signs of an intestinal blockage in dogs?

Veterinary Partner says the foreign body patient develops a poor appetite and vomiting fairly quickly, with listlessness soon after, and that pain may be hard to spot and may simply look like listlessness. The FDA notes that when a bone or chew toy lodges in the stomach or intestines, symptoms might not be immediate, showing up hours to days later.

Watch for:

• Repeated vomiting, or trying to vomit with nothing coming up
• Refusing food, even favorite treats
• Lethargy, hiding or acting unusually quiet
• A tense or painful belly
• Diarrhea, sometimes with blood, or straining with little or no stool
• String visible under the tongue or from the rectum

How long should you wait for something to pass? Veterinary Partner says swallowed objects often pass in a day or two, but a small object can rattle around in the stomach for weeks without passing. Cornell recommends conservative care, meaning fluids and close monitoring, only for small objects that are not causing a full obstruction, and only under a vet’s guidance.

Waiting too long has real consequences. A 2025 study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association followed 102 dogs that had foreign body surgery at a general clinic. Dogs that had to be euthanized during surgery because of severe intestinal damage had been sick for a median of six days before surgery, compared with four days for survivors, and dogs with signs lasting a week or more had higher odds of that outcome. If vomiting from a suspected blockage lasts more than a few hours, see a vet. For other causes of vomiting, our guide to why your dog is throwing up walks through when it is an emergency.

How do vets find and remove a swallowed object?

Your vet will start with a physical exam. The FDA explains that vets may then take X-rays, use ultrasound or run other tests to see what the problem is and where it sits.

What happens next depends on where the object is:

• Still in the stomach and safe to bring up: the vet may give an injection to induce vomiting in the clinic, where they can control the dose and protect the airway.
• In the stomach but not safe to vomit: Cornell explains that endoscopy can sometimes retrieve objects from the stomach. Your dog is anesthetized and a flexible camera with a snare or grabbing tool goes in through the mouth, with no incision.
• Small and not causing a full blockage: the vet may hospitalize your dog on IV fluids and repeat X-rays to see if it moves.
• Stuck in the intestine, not moving, getting worse or linear: surgery. Cornell notes that most GI foreign body obstructions require surgery, either opening the stomach (gastrotomy) or the intestine (enterotomy). If part of the bowel is badly damaged, the surgeon removes that segment and reconnects the healthy ends.

The outlook is usually good when treatment is prompt. In the University of Pennsylvania study, 96% of dogs survived to discharge. In the 2025 JAVMA study of outpatient surgery at a general practice, 95% of the dogs that could be followed up were alive two weeks later. In that study, intestinal perforation found during surgery was strongly linked to worse outcomes, which is one more reason not to wait.

After surgery, Cornell says dogs need close monitoring for appetite, vomiting, pain and lethargy, and small, frequent, low-fat, easy-to-digest meals for several days.

How much does it cost when a dog swallows something?

Costs swing widely with timing. An object brought up early in the clinic is a far smaller bill than intestinal surgery with a hospital stay. These are approximate published figures; your clinic and region will vary.

Trupanion also notes that around $1,500 is the point where many families can no longer afford treatment, which is why it helps to know your options before an emergency. Ask the clinic for a written estimate, ask whether endoscopy is possible, and ask about payment plans. If you have pet insurance, AAHA notes that much of the poison control fee may be covered.

How can I keep my dog from eating things it shouldn’t?

Prevention is mostly about access and boredom. Cornell recommends keeping small chewable objects out of reach, avoiding small bones and toys that are easy to swallow, supervising playtime, training your dog not to scavenge, and considering basket muzzle training for dogs that keep swallowing things or have already had foreign body surgery.

A post-holiday checklist:

• Do a floor sweep after gifts are opened. Collect ribbon, bows, tags and packaging into a lidded trash can.
• Move food scraps, bones and corn cobs to an outdoor bin or a cabinet right away.
• Hang breakable and salt-dough ornaments high, and skip tinsel if your dog is a chewer.
• Size new toys to your dog, and take away any toy once pieces start coming off. Our roundup of vet-backed dog chew toys can help you choose sturdier options.
• Put socks, gloves and hair ties in a closed hamper. If chewing is a habit, our guide on how to stop a dog from chewing everything has training fixes.
• Teach “drop it” and “leave it” with high-value trades so your dog gives things up instead of gulping them.
• Keep a stocked kit and the emergency numbers handy. Our pet first aid kit checklist covers what to keep at home.

It also helps to keep your dog’s health details in one place. In the Lohji app, the free Smart Tag profile lets you add medical and behavior notes, rabies ID and your vet, plus up to three contacts with one-tap call, text, email and map. A note like “eats socks, had foreign body surgery” can help a pet sitter or a stranger who finds your dog. The same app turns one clear photo of your pet into a 3D animated-style cartoon character, a fun way to put those holiday photos to use. Download it on the App Store or Google Play.

Frequently asked questions