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My dog ate bloody gauze pads. Should I worry about an obstruction?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Female | spayed | 8 years and 11 months old | 56 lbs

I think My dog holly ate my bloody gauze pads I was packing in my mouth after my surgery. I came in my room and the trash can was tipped over and missing its contents. There were about 10 bloody pads in the trash. Can she pass those?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jenny, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on October 9th, 2017

Some dogs can pass the oddest and largest items you would never imagine, others have a harder time. All you can do is monitor for any vomiting or blood diarrhea. The ones that seem to pass these have no symptoms at all and you may or may not even see them pass it out. If vomiting starts with weight loss or no appetite, then I would get her checked to see if any are obstructed. Usually this only take 24-48 hours to monitor

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    Answered By Rodrigo Roca, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Hello, sorry to hear about Holly. Its honestly uncertain. I have seen small items cause an obstruction in a big dog and large items pass in a small dog. Only time would be able to tell. If she just ate them not too long ago, she can either be induced to vomit the gauze pads or they may be able to be scoped out with a endoscopy. Other less invasive methods may include obtaining radiographs to monitor the progression of the gauze pads for a day or so. Big things to monitor for are sudden onset of vomiting, lethargy, and loss of appetite. All of these would indicate a potential obstruction. To be safe, I would have Holly evaluated by a veterinarian tonight. Hope this helps and best of luck.

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