Eating Weird things...

[Beka48]

We have within the last month adopted an english bulldog/mastiff mix dog from the humane society. We have discovered that he is eating cardboard and kleenex. We have him on a very good quality of diet, he gets regular exercise and interaction with dogs and people. We are not sure if this is a behavioral problem due to his past abuse, if his diet is missing something, if we should be worried about gut obstruction. (He has vomited 3 times in the last week~but still eats and goes to the bathroom and doesn't respond negatively to pressure on  his abdomen). Just wondering if anybody else has had this dilemma and what they did. Thanks

[ginger899]

Be careful of some squeaky toys. Or if you want to give them to your pup, supervise while he's playing with it, then remove it when the game's over.  I used to have a dog who would work and work on a squeaky toy until he got to the squeaker inside...... I always used to take the toy off him as soon as I saw he was chewing holes in it. I was terrified he'd swallow the squeaker, because it's metal and has sharp edges. (And the bits of plastic he chewed and spat out were bad enough! It wouldn't have done him much good to have swallowed any of that!)

People used to give him these toys as presents. I got to the point when I wouldn't even give them to him.

[flmagi]

Another thing is to make sure the puppy has plenty of other toys he can chew on safely. Without plenty of toys and distraction, the next thing he may start eating is your furniture!

[flmagi]

I have a rotty who is a foreign object eater (as my vet called him). As a puppy he would eat anything, rocks, bankets, tissues etc.  He did have emergency surgery for obstruction, so you need to really watch the puppy. Mine grew out of eating all those weird things, but will still get into the tissues and paper towels if he can get to them. I make sure the bathroom door is always closed and garbage is not within reach. Also be careful with certain cloth or string type toys.