# Dog ate nail file..Bad Mommy!



## lauragrace (Apr 13, 2006)

NEVER do what I did last night...My almost 4 year old Havanese (brother to my chi) is obsessed with eating things like plastic forks, buttons off my clothes and nail files (the wooden ones, not the metal ones).

Last night after filing my nails he tried to grab the file. I sternly said NO, started to put the file away, then thought I would keep it where it was, which was close enough for him to reach, so I could watch him and try to break him of the habit by saying NO whenever he approached the file.

BUT I FELL ASLEEP.....AND WHEN I WOKE UP THE FILE WAS GONE AND ONLY TINY BITS OF IT WERE SCATTERED ON THE FLOOR AROUND THE DOG...

Later last night he vomited. This morning he wouldn't eat. When I returned from work (only went in for 4 hours so I could come home and check on him) there was red/orange clear gel-like prickly looking vomit all over the kitchen.

He looked green. He didn't eat dinner or baby carrots (his favorite treats) and stayed on the couch in my arms (unusual for him) for several hours. He peed when I walked him but didn't poop. But then he hadn't eaten since yesterday.

I considered taking him the the ER, but this is actually the 2nd time he's eaten a nail file and he was better after 24 hrs the other time. Also, the fact that he vomited all this red/orange stuff - which is the color of the nail file - made me think most of it was out of his system. I have 2 dogs and 3 cats and I ALWAYS go to the ER if I think it's an emergency. But I also try and look at the facts and be realistic about whether a particular issue really is an emergency. 

I decided if he was not better tomorrow I'd take him to his vet at 8:00 AM. I walked him later in the evening and when we got home I asked him if he was hungry and he suddenly jumped up on me wagging his tail like he always does when he's hungry. Holding my breath I put a little Bravo Raw in his dish and he ate it up and wagged his tail for more. So I put a little more in his dish and he ate that too.

Then he rolled around on the carpet playing with his chi-brother like the past 24 hours had never happened.

Mommy will NEVER make that mistake again!!


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## guinnypigsmom (Feb 9, 2006)

Wow, that's scary! Guinness is always getting into stuff like that too. Little toddlers with fur is what they are!!! That's good that were clear-headed about the situation. You know your animals best, so you would know when and when not to go to the vet.....especially if he's done it before! I'm glad he's feeling better!


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## lauragrace (Apr 13, 2006)

Thank you Guinnypigsmom. I may have been clear-headed but I was sure scared. I read in a holistic book on pet care that like us, they can eat things that don't agree with them and they need a day or so to get over it. And not everything is an emergency. I was concerned about toxicity because aside from the wood I don't know what the file is made of, but he vomited so much orange stuff that my gut told me to just let him be and that most of it was out of his system and he probably just had a tummy ache. PHEW !!


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## guinnypigsmom (Feb 9, 2006)

And here lies the difference between humans and dogs.....I had a bad experiance with vodka and OJ once(much vomitting ) so I will never, ever touch the stuff again! Dogs not so much! They'll eat something bad and get sick and do it all again next week. They go stricly by "It tasted good at the time Mommy"


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## Katie (Apr 9, 2005)

I've had my guilty moments too. In fact the chis have eaten a couple nail files in their day. They've also gotten chocolate candy, popsicle sticks, gosh knows what else. Their most recent incident involved a bag of pistachios... they ate them, shells and all. That was another near heart-attack moment. It took 2 days but finally they threw them up. I came home to 5 different piles of pistachios and they looked exaclty like they did before they were eaten. They definitely do not digest. Don't feel bad, I'm sure your baby will be just fine.


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## Rubyfox (Jul 11, 2005)

Your not a bad mommy at all, thing happen you will just be more careful what you leave down on the floor. All my dogs have been good and never touched things they shouldn't untill I got Kasper, that boy will eat anything so I am carefull what I leave down now too.


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## Nine (Mar 29, 2005)

How very scary! I, too have had a few scary moments with Milo. I have on more than one occasion dropped prescribed medication while trying to get it out of the container and of course Milo was sitting at my feet. I also tried to pop some sudafed out of the foil bubbles and had them go flying where I couldn't find them. Talk about being in a panic. I called my husband at work and insisted he come home immediately as I had thought Milo had eaten the sudafed. We ended up finding the pill around the burner on the stove thank goodness. Having chis really is like having a toddler in the house. You always have to be on the lookout for possible dangerous situations and just when you think you have it down..... They get into or do something else!


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## Lin (Jun 7, 2006)

Nine said:


> How very scary! I, too have had a few scary moments with Milo. I have on more than one occasion dropped prescribed medication while trying to get it out of the container and of course Milo was sitting at my feet. I also tried to pop some sudafed out of the foil bubbles and had them go flying where I couldn't find them. Talk about being in a panic. I called my husband at work and insisted he come home immediately as I had thought Milo had eaten the sudafed. We ended up finding the pill around the burner on the stove thank goodness. Having chis really is like having a toddler in the house. You always have to be on the lookout for possible dangerous situations and just when you think you have it down..... They get into or do something else!


Yep it was pills with my guys too. These boys have caused me some stress at times. Oh but I love them soooooo much.


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## rachel (Jun 16, 2006)

I'm glad he's feeling better now! Stewie has never really been a problem. But Gracie...well, she's just like her springer sister who used to eat anything in sight! Cables, shoes, q-tips, paper, wood...to name a few of Sammie's past adventures! In fact just last night, I found remnants of a wine cork all around the living room! My only guess is that it was Miss Gracie! She actually got it from my husbands nightstand...she knocked it off, an empty bowl and just about everything else that was there! But only ate part of the cork!


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## lauragrace (Apr 13, 2006)

First of all thank you ALL SO MUCH for your positive support. Update on my nail file eating dog: It's like it never happened. He's totally fine today. I really have to be careful. 

Amusing sidenote: Last week I was walking both my dogs and my chi stopped to poop. But it just kind of hung there and didn't drop! So.... what's a mom to do... I took the plastic baggie I was holding, grabbed hold of the poop and gently pulled....and pulled....and pulled...and out came an entire plastic baggie (out of his tush) mixed together with the poop. I just couldn't believe the entire baggie was inside this 9 lb dog and didn't get wrapped around an intestine or worse. 

If I could afford to I would hire a pet nanny to keep an eye on them when I'm not home. I never appreciated my own mom as much as I do now having 5 furkids.


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