Dog Intestinal Obstruction: Symptoms and Treatment
📝 Summary
Intestinal obstruction happens when a dog swallows something indigestible - food, a toy, fabric - blocking the gut and causing pain, vomiting, and sometimes bloody diarrhea. Mild cases may be managed medically; severe or perforating ones need surgery. See a vet early.
1 Symptoms
The bowel is blocked by a foreign object, badly disrupting digestion and causing real pain; left alone it can perforate, infect, and threaten life. Look for lost appetite, vomiting (sometimes with food, mucus, or blood), a hunched, painful belly, and heavy diarrhea that may contain blood or mucus. Any of these means an immediate vet visit.
2 Treatment and Prevention
Treatment depends on severity. A mild blockage with an intact bowel may be treated conservatively with lubricants, a liquid diet, or IV fluids. A severe or perforating blockage needs surgery to remove the object and repair the damage. Puppies are especially prone because they chew everything, so keep small toys, paper, and hard-to-digest food out of reach, feed in small frequent meals, and keep up deworming and checkups.
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