Oh no, Rip just threw up something weird...

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Recently everything has been great health and behavior wise with Rippley! We all slept well last night, until this morning at our usual wake up time (6:15) Rippley started that wretching sound. The first of three bouts was expelled at the very end of his crate (this good boy purposefully kept his bed clean!) It consisted of maybe five inches' worth of a soft toy covered in some undigested kibble. He apparently snagged/ripped another pup's soft toys at a friend's house (these soft toys have been banned from our home) on SATURDAY when he was on a play date with my hub (no DH label today). Today is Thursday!! The next two bouts immediately following were brown liquidy with red dots (small amt clotted blood?) and then he was done. Hub took him out and he did his pee and a normal, large poo, which made us happier, lol! Now four hours later, his behavior since this episode has been normal happy dog, normal energy, went for two sniffer fun walks, no probs.
It's 11:30AM, I'm home with him and assessing his every move now, poor dog. He turned his nose up to bit of boiled chicken, and his kibble so far. I'm hoping his tum probably needs a rest and he doesn't eat breakfast until about 10:30 on a normal day anyway. He ate some snow on that first outing but hasn't drank anything since...
I'm still waiting for that typical 2nd AM poo, but maybe it won't happen due to him expelling that meal or part thereof? If he didn't expell that piece of toy this morning though, I would never have known it was in there...he has been acting FINE.
I'd hate to run to the vet and add stress to this if he just needs some time to rest and recoup. But, I have that lingering worry (per usual). Vet spoke to me on the phone for a long time, saying if he doesn't usually have great appetite, we can wait since it has been only a few hours since his vomit. After 24 hours if he is still not eating or drinking, she would definitely bring him in as there could be more toy parts or string in there. She said she would feel him, and the X-ray could show gas patterns consistent with string or other objects if she couldn't actually see it on X-ray. She recommended luring him into eating with the canned hills food of course and when I pushed back about its ingredients, she touted them as having the only reputable studies done on nutrition, that they only have foods for thyroid diseased cats, etc... Guess it has it's uses?
Frankly I'm shocked that he gulped that toy. He never behaves that way, but I guess it must have been for him the "forbidden fruit." Goes to show you how hawklike we need to be at all times. Sigh. TIA for any advice.

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Vet did mention something interesting : "the labradoodles like to swallow stuff, like a lab, but then they can't pass it, like a poodle..."

[Kate, Mel, Tenley & Harper]

Poor Ripley. I don't have any specific advice but I know my friend's dog had to have major surgery from a rope toy that caused a linear obstruction. Supposedly, when they swallow things like string or rope (or anything long and thin), it can create a "drawstring" effect with their stomach and intestines (or maybe it's two different things-- I haven't brushed up on my anatomy in awhile, but the premise is the same). Part of the linear item remains in the stomach, part in the intestines, and as it naturally attempts to get pushed from one to another that "drawstring" effect happens. So, if what he threw up was linear in nature, I would worry about that. Sorry you have to go through this-- I'd be freaking out!!

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Yup, am freaking. Worry mommy nerves really suck. What he swallowed and regurged was the tail from a soft toy (maybe a raccoon?). Called hub and he thinks that the only thing that could have been missing from the toy was the tail. Aargh!

[Shari Becker]

Ha! Dads are always so much more laid back...

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Totally, Shari! Then again it's probably a good thing that at least one of us is, haha!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

String, rope, socks, etc can also become tangled and even choke off part of the intestine. We have had more than one member here whose doodles have had to have a bowel resection due to this.

[Kate, Mel, Tenley & Harper]

Yes, I think that's what I was probably trying to explain but my limited knowledge of anything-anatomy made it difficult! I think that is what my friend's dog had-- a bowel resection. 

[Shari Becker]

I think you may need to wait, but watch vigilantly. When Lexi was little she did eat tons of things she wasn't supposed to eat, including wool yarn, a long skinny balloon, and a menstrual pad she found in the trash (that made her really sick, but she just kept throwing up until it all came out.) I was beside myself each time.  Most stuff just came out the other side, but I did spend a full 24 hours watching her each time. If all pees and poops are normal, that's a good start, but if the dog doesn't eat anything all day (as a puppy, esp.) I would have him looked at. Better safe than sorry. As for that Hills food ... please, a little boiled ground meat would be just as yummy and WAY healthier. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree about the food. Your vet is misinformed regarding Hill's, which makes sense because what she knows about Hill's comes from the Hill's sales and marketing people, lol. If the goal is to tempt him into eating, a little cooked chicken, beef or eggs (or canned salmon) would work a lot better and be a lot healthier. JD was once given canned Hill's crap food for a barium Xray and he refused to eat it, lol, so I wouldn't be so sure Rippley would be tempted anyway. He may be smarter than that. 

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

He ate! He ate boiled chicken n sweet potato!! I am soooooooooooo happy!!! :) (image of snoopy dancing which I couldn't figure out how to insert, here) thanks Shari and Kate for keeping me company during my max worry time!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

A few years back, I stupidly gave JD a smoked ham bone (made for dogs, made in USA, yadda yadda) which he managed to splinter and then ingest some of the pieces before I could even get it away from him. 

It seemed that all was okay and I had dodged a bullet. 

Almost 2 weeks later, he became nauseated from an antibiotic he was taking for a skin infection and there in the vomit was a sharp, pointed shard of bone about an inch and a half long, shaped like a dagger. A piece of that ham bone. It wasn't digestible and sat in his gut all that time. I thought at the time that I was amazingly lucky that he didn't choke, and that the shard didn't puncture or otherwise injure him internally; but a year later, he was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Did he develop it due to an immune response to that foreign body sitting there in his gut for two weeks? I'll never know. 

My point being, I would go with the vet's advice and not wait longer than 24 hours to get him in there for further testing if he doesn't seem 100% back to normal. 

My only issue is, if you tempt him into eating, what does that prove? It doesn't mean he's got his appetite back or is feeling perfectly fine and hungry, it only means he was tempted to eat against his better judgment.

I also know an awful lot of Labs who ate things they couldn't pass; it really has nothing to do with the Poodle part, lol. 

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Thanks, Karen! Yes, it was surprising to me that this foreign object stayed in his stomach for FIVE days! Apparently it was too big to enter the intestines but small enough, or the right shape, for food to get around it. Probably like Poor JDs shard of bone. Ouch. Give him a pat for me.
But, thankfully: Rip just ate, is hungry and motivated for treats (chicken bits) and just pooped a lovely normal poo with nothing foreign in it, haha... I hope that means we have dodged a bullet, to use your words, and it's entirety has left the body! But I will keep your sweet JD in mind, and be on cautious watch with Rip.
BTW, is there anything preventative for IBD, or any other possible digestion issues? I'm doing the daily probiotic already. Hmm...
PS her reason for tempting his eating was that the high fiber could possibly push through whatever might be remaining, if anything... would also love and "reputable" ( her words) nutrition studies besides hills to show her! ;)