My boy is terrible for eating sticks. I'm hoping by discouraging it as much as possible he will grow out of it just as my bitch did. In the past if he has eaten them he has often vomited them back up as they've irritated his stomach lining or he has passed them. However last night was the worst yet.

Before bedtime his stomach was rumbling a little but I thought it was because he had been running around so I gave him a Rennie as this was all I had. He woke us up at 3.30am wretching but then he stopped and nothing happened. His stomach was making noises so loud, much louder than I have ever heard before that I got really worried, particularly about bloat. As he was in his kennel I sat outside the bedroom door as often when he has started wretching if I appear and he's not actually been sick he will stop :rolleyes: Anyway I waited 15 mins, feeling quite sick myself, listening to his stomach then the wretching started and this time he vomited a pile of chewed up sticks. I let him out of his bed, cleaned everything up then decided he would sleep on our bed so I could keep a close eye on him. During the next hour he was sick another 3 times, stomach noises galore and the 4th time he was sick he actually whined a couple of times before wretching. I could tell he was in discomfort and he did not look happy at all. I gave him another Rennie and considered calling the vet but then he settled down and slept, stomach noises slowly ceased.

Today he is completely back to normal. I didn't starve him as I wanted him to go to the toilet and pass more sticks if there were any left, I only gave him half of his breakfast and his usual amount for tea. He seems perfectly fine but what I would like to know is this;

1. Could I have done anything differently to help settle his stomach, kaolin & morphine for example, and would I give this when I thought he had completely stopped vomiting or whilst his stomach was still making noises.

2. Should I have starved him or have I done the right thing.

3. Can bloat occur from this type of situation or was I being paranoid. Having a deep chested breed possibly makes me more aware than others with say a toy breed for example.

All the time he was lying on my bed I didn't shut one eye. I just lay there watching him wishing it was me that had eaten the sticks and had a sore stomach, even once he settled I think I slept with one eye open. Honestly these dogs really do know how to pull at the heart strings don't they :D

Hi Clare

I think you did exactly the right thing about not starving him.
One of my dogs has inflammatory bowel disease and he gets really loud uncomfortable stomach noises (not always) - sometimes his stomach actually sounds like it's screeching and it's LOUD!!! I give him Gaviscon when it gets like that. I'm very cautious of his feeding habits because he has had a prior torsion. I really don't know whether the sticks could cause him to bloat - I wouldn't have thought so, but he has a really high risk of a blockage or a perforation inside if he makes a habit of it.
If I thought that one of mine had eaten something dodgy then I would have encouraged vomiting sooner by giving them a salt water or mustard solution to make them sick. :(
Would he not carry a ball on a rope around instead of a stick?
Hope it doesn't happen again - sounds like a nightmare!

Trouble is Lara balls don't taste the same as sticks ;-)

My bitch was the same and I tried one of those basket type muzzles but she was too damn clever and would manage to manouevre the stick through the holes so in the end I took it off as folk thought she was vicious :rolleyes:

I do try to discourage it for reasons you've already stated and as he's got older the problem is not as big but he does tend to pick up a stick when we're out walking and run off with it chewing it as he runs. If I make a big issue out of it he loves it so I have to try and pretend I don't care when really I'm panicking inside :-(