SincereArtisan Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I believe after last night we're going to have to convert to a strictly rubber-ball household. Idolon threw up what initially looked like a tube-shaped wad of red yarn....I got some rubber gloves on, washed it a bit and began pulling it apart--I'm always cautious when I find something foreign in their poop/throw-up because I want to know where it came from--and discovered it was a heavily tangled, huge knot of tennisball fuzz. So tangled, I couldn't pull it apart easily at all, and it had apparently been causing major blockage for her to throw it up last night. Has anyone else encountered this? Has your dogs ever had severe blockage problems resulting from shredding the fuzz off tennis balls and eating it? I threw all ours away last night just in case. I didn't even see when this particular eating incident occurred, but I have seen her eat it before, and I usually call her off of it and set it away. I apparently didn't 'save' this ball fast enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSnappy Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Has anyone else encountered this? Has your dogs ever had severe blockage problems resulting from shredding the fuzz off tennis balls and eating it? Not from a tennis ball, but Piper did block up with a bottle cap, a big blue piece of a bone toy, a pink pompom and several miscellaneous pieces of plastic. And recently one of our adopters' dogs had half a tennis ball surgically removed from his stomach. Piper tends to defuzz tennis balls and also eat them, so she no longer has access to them. RDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyrasmom Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 The day before Christmas Eve our Lab/Pit mix Poco ate some felt Christmas decorations I was making...felt, stuffing, thread, needle and all. They were up high but I learned to put things even higher as he has a fabric obsession. I was completely freaked out over the needle and my vet was concerned about the thread. She tried to get a few items out with a scope but ended up having to go in surgically. Alls well that ends well and he was fine but the clinic had a laugh when they pulled out 4 little snowman, three little top hats, sequins, beads, and what I later identified as itty bitty red scarves (for the snow men) and of course the needle. Three nights later he got into my nightstand and ate a little velvet pouch....I threatended to have a zipper installed and the vet said he should be able to pass it on his own, and he did. I keep an eye on the tennis balls as he does pull the fuzz off of them ... but so far it's in tiny increments that only produce colorful poop. You never really know what is going to attract them. Maria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smileyzookie Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I keep an eye on the tennis balls as he does pull the fuzz off of them ... but so far it's in tiny increments that only produce colorful poop. You never really know what is going to attract them. Maria Riven also eats fuzz. Although she's learned if she begins pulling off fuzz she doesnt have a tennis ball the rest of the day. Also, our vet has non fuzz tennis balls. I dont know where they are from since they were originally from Christmas. But Riven loves them and theres no fuzz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon M Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 The same thing happened about a week ago with lance. I was in the yard with him when he coughed up a clod or yellow tennis ball fuzz. I haven't taken his tennis balls away though, I just watch him and keep him from chewing the fuzz off. He hasn't done it since then though. Also I think it may depend on the quality of the tennis ball, because he hasn't chewed any off the pro tennis balls he has, but he can chew it off the cheap ones that come attached to some dog toys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 Devils Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 My dogs will shred anything given a chance so they only get things supervised. I throw the tennis balls for my dogs but once we are done the tennis balls go in the toy box that has a lid. You can still let your dogs play with the tennis ball but just put it away (out of reach) when you aren't playing with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 When Celt was quite a big younger, he would spit up some mucus every few weeks, early in the day. After some months of this very occasional retching, he spat up a large wad of fibers and indigestible stuff - rope tug-toy, tennis ball fuzz, stuffed animal fibers and stuffing, etc. Seems that while Megan is also a chewer, she's a spitter-outer - in other words, she chews up stuff dreadfully but doesn't swallow the fibers. Celt, on the other hand, chews a bit less but swallows a lot. The wad he spat up was the size of a large bratwurst (about 1/4# of a kielbasa in size or larger). Thank goodness it didn't pass into his intestines and cause a blockage. I guess that the occasional morning retching was due to it blocking the passage of stomach fluids into the intestine. Since then, NO DOG is allowed to play with any tennis ball, rope toy, or stuffed toy without constant supervision and interaction with me, and NO chewing is allowed. There are some dogs, I know, that can safely chew on these things on their own but not Celt (plus, Megan demolishes any toy she can chew) so we play it safe by not allowing any chewing. I could even be safer by not having such toys in the house but we do some tugging and just exercise caution. I use smooth balls for fetch (I like the Buddy glow balls - they fit the Chuck-it). Best wishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyoBC Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 I have thought about that with Black Jack too. He eats some of it, but mainly when there's snow or something else stuck on it. I try to keep it away from him if he starts pulling it off. But I got some tennis balls from K-mart that don't have hardly any fuzz on them. Those are the ones I use now. I hope Ido feels better soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiga's_mom Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Tiga will eat the fuzz too if left to his own devices. He is only allowed to play with them when playing fetch. I also got a neat toy at PetSmart that is a rubber cylinder with a tennis ball inside. It's really hard to get it out, so much so that I have trouble getting the ball out. This way he can still play with it but he can't get it out to eat the fuzz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 This thread is too funny! When mine was a pup I had him around while I was tiling a bathroom floor. He managed to eat a dozen or so cross-shaped tile spacers before I realized. Not chewed them, just swallowed them. I learned my lesson the hard way - and I was reminded of it for a few days afterwards, too. As a new BC owner who had bonded far too tightly with this little guy, I searched for and counted every one that came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat's Dogs Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 Dazzle rips off the fuzz, but doesn't eat it (I know because the whole floor glows neon green ). I would have taken her tennis balls away but now they are all bald anyway so no big deal! However, I like the fuzzy ones (that are nice and bright) for taking to the park and playing fetch. She won't defuzz if we are playing together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet_ceana Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 LOL as I was reading this thread, I heard the ominous noise of chewing and reached into Ceana's mouth and pulled out a peice of what I could only assume to be part of our closet..... and as you can see in my avatar, she shreads tennis balls as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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