How do you know if something is stuck in dogs intestines?

[MoochieMoo]

My dog, a 10 lb chihuahua, woke up this morning shaking. I took him out and he had diarrhea. Not much came out. He acts sick and shakes a lot. He did throw up once on the couch and has gone diarrhea in small amounts about 4 times today. I remember last night I saw him grab a whole grape and eat it. I didn't see if he chewed it at all though. Now I'm super worried that it's stuck in him. I know grapes are harmful to dogs, I don't give them to him but he has gotten ahold of them before and never acted this way. How do I know if he's just sick and feeling under the weather or if it's something more serious.

[MoochieMoo]

Thank you for responding Ghilly. I took the dog to the vet this morning. The X-rays didn't show anything lodged.  Ug he also did mention that would be hard to detect and would just blend in with his stomach muscles. He's gonna give him anti nausea meds and see if he eats. If he does I get him back tomorrow. If not then they will draw blood and test him for the other possibilities. on a positive note my dog was able to keep down water last night around 1:30am and this morning which he wasn't able to do earlier. And his did give me kisses this morning where he wouldn't move at all yesterday. I am trying to keep positive because I've never had an animal that I was so attached to and quite frankly I will be devastated it something happens to him.

[Ghilly]

A dog is designed to basically swallow things whole and then digest them in their stomachs.  Their teeth are made for tearing chunks from their prey, and if you will notice their jaws, they do not swivel like ours do so that they can grind things to chew them.  This is because they essentially do the "chewing" when it's already in the stomach.

What I WOULD be concerned about is that he ate a grape.  Grapes and raisins are toxic to dogs can can make them quite sick.  They CAN send them into acute renal failure.  Do you know if there's a chance that he could have eaten more than one grape?  As few as 7 grapes can make a fairly large dog quite sick, so one grape COULD have an effect on a 10 pound dog.  Please get him to an emergency vet today so that if he IS being affected by the grape they can begin supportive treatment NOW.  It can truly mean the difference between a complete recovery and losing him if you wait.  Please let us know how he is!

Ghilly