As anyone who’s ever had a period can tell you, panty liners are lifesavers. They can protect you from accidental leakage and are generally a good thing to have at hand. But if you have a dog, they can easily end up eating one of your panty liners. This is especially common among dogs who like to rummage through garbage or have eaten other non-food objects like grass seeds and corks before.
Ultimately, it is a stressful situation to be in. It’s natural to panic and even blame yourself, but it’s not your fault. So to help you out, we’re going to answer common questions pet owners usually have when their dog eats a panty liner.
In this article, we will talk about whether panty liners are poisonous to dogs, why your dog would eat them, and whether they can pass them out of their system. More importantly, we will discuss what you should do if your dog eats a panty liner. So by the time you’re done reading this, you will have a clear idea of how to handle such a situation.
Can a Dog Pass a Panty Liner?
Yes, a dog can pass a panty liner, especially a bigger dog. Due to the size of their digestive tract, such dogs have a higher chance of passing a panty liner than their smaller counterparts. To move things along, though, you can feed your dog as usual and add some pure canned pumpkin to their diet until you see the panty liner in their poop.
Pure canned pumpkin contains soluble fibers that add weight to your dog’s stool and lower the pH in their digestive tract. This ensures helpful bacteria thrive and hasten the digestive process. You need to be careful not to give your dog any pie mixes, though. Unlike their pure counterparts, they contain a harmful chemical to dogs – xylitol.
However, prevention is always better than cure when it comes down to it. So it’s better for you to train your dog not to eat panty liners and other foreign objects instead of having to deal with the aftermath of them doing so. To get things started, you can use a dog chewing deterrent spray. Such sprays make anything you apply them to bitter so that your dog doesn’t chew or eat them.
Are Panty Liners Poisonous to Dogs?
No, panty liners aren’t poisonous to dogs – they don’t contain any chemicals that will make your dog sick. However, since they are absorbent, they can lead to intestinal blockage when ingested in large quantities, especially in small dogs. This can cause symptoms like lack of appetite, lethargy, vomiting, and abdominal pain. If left untreated, this can be life-threatening.
When your dog eats absorbent materials like panty liners, paper towels, tampons, or sanitary towels, they expand while in the digestive tract. This can cause intestinal obstructions that can restrict blood to certain parts of the bowel, causing them to start deteriorating. Beyond that, it blocks the path of any food your dog tries to eat after the fact. This is what causes the symptoms as mentioned above.
The vet will have to do an X-ray to figure out the severity and exact location of your dog’s obstruction. This will help them determine if the foreign materials will pass on their own or your dog will need medical intervention. In some cases, Your dog will require emergency surgery. In these cases, you will need to prepare yourself financially and emotionally for the work it will take to get your dog to its usual healthy self.
Why Do Dogs Eat Panty Liners?
Generally, when a dog loves you, it will be drawn to items that strongly carry your scent. As such, they will eat your dirty socks, underwear, and even panty liners. In some ways, such acts, as gross as they are, can make your dog feel closer to you. Sometimes, your dog even believes that they are protecting you by doing these acts.
Like many other animals, dogs are led by their sense of smell. This means that they can smell your pheromones and get excited when they do so, especially when they’ve missed you. It also means that they view anything that has your strong scent as valuable and wouldn’t want it to end up in the grasp of “enemies .”That’s why they’re attracted to your panty liners and will chew them up without hesitation.
Another thing to keep in mind is that dogs are attracted to waste and blood – two things that can be found in a used panty liner. Ultimately, your dog finding your panty liner attractive and wanting to eat it is normal behavior that you can easily train out of them. A good place to start this is by applying liquid deterrent spray for dogs on panty liners before disposing of them. Beyond that, you can get them some engaging toys that will keep them distracted during times they are tempted to engage in negative behavior.
What Should I Do if My Dog Ate a Panty Liner?
When your dog eats a panty liner, the first thing you should do is try to induce vomiting, reducing the risk of complications. You can do this by using hydrogen peroxide. If this doesn’t work, you’re going to have to bulk up their diet using pure canned pumpkin or other alternatives and monitor them for a few days. If this doesn’t help them pass the panty liner or you notice symptoms of intestinal obstruction, take them to the vet immediately.
When it comes to getting panty liners out of your dog’s digestive tract, inducing vomiting is actually a safe option you can implement at home. All you have to do is give your dog one teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide per ten pounds of their body weight – you can mix it with a tablespoon of milk when necessary. After administering this, take them on a walk or gently shake their stomach so that everything gets properly mixed up in there. If your dog doesn’t vomit within one hour of you doing this, it’s time to try bulking up their diet.
Apart from canned pumpkin, you can give them mashed potatoes, yogurt, or cottage cheese with a tablespoon of Metamucil. You can throw in a couple of pieces of whole-grain bread in there as well. When these ingredients are taken daily, they are usually enough to push the panty liner out of the digestive tract within 3 to 5 days. So observe your dog for this period – if they exhibit symptoms like lethargy, vomiting, and loss of appetite, it’s time to go to the vet.
Conclusion
If there’s one thing you should know about dogs by now, it’s that they won’t hesitate to eat foreign objects, even the grossest ones. So if your dog has eaten a panty liner recently, there’s no reason to panic – it is common and can be handled easily. In fact, some dogs will even pass the panty liner with no external help. And even if they do need some help, the interventions we have outlined are enough to safely get them to the other side.
