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My puppy ate color pencils and threw up. Should I take him to the vet?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Shih Tzu | Male | 11 months and 11 days old | 9 lbs

Last night my puppy ate color pencils. He is acting completely normal and ate dinner. This morning he just threw up fragments of the color pencils. I know they are non toxic but I am worried they may be injuring his insides. Should I rush to the vet or wait it out?

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1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on October 7th, 2017

That was naughty of Obi to eat those pencils! It's good that they are non-toxic, but you are correct they could do some damage to his GI tract. It may be he threw up all the pencils he ate, so I would watch him for now. If he keeps vomiting, stops eating, you see blood in his vomit, stops drinking, he becomes very lethargic, or you notice blood in his feces, then yes I would take him into the vet. I would give him half a slice of whole wheat bread now and one with every meal for the next couple of days. This will form a ball of ingesta around the pencils and hopefully cushion them as they pass through the intestinal tract. I hope this helps!

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