bowel obtruction - how long til symptoms?

[Haus]

Well, we finally got over the diarrhea, and now I think Lola might have swallowed a water bottle lid!!! I found her chomping on a lid-less bottle tonight - not sure what happened to the lid or the plastic seal. If she did swallow it, and it obstructed her bowel, how long before we'd see symptoms? Could she safely poop out a water bottle lid?

[Carolyn]

These bullies just can't keep things out of their mouths. I'm sure you have already contacted your vet, as I don't think anyone here would have any idea whether or not the bottle lid would pass. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Haus]

Hi. Yes, we called the vet and were told that whether she could pass it or not depends on how chewed up it was. She told us the symptoms to watch for, but I forgot to ask when we would see symptoms if she did in fact swallow the thing and it caused a problem. I am forever calling on the vet for silly things, and I'm sure they think I'm a hypochondriac mama. I guess we'll just wait and hope for the best. Lola's chewing much less lately, and usually has the sense to spit non-edible things out (e.g. little sticks, crab apples etc), but you never know with these crazy dogs.

[imogene]

Oh poor Lola, I hope she is okay.
When Belzie had the GastroEnteritis all her symptoms were typical of an obstruction- she had loose BM, and the next morning she started vomiting like crazy within an hour of having breakfast (12 times in about 2 hours).She also showed definite signs of distress with a lot of panting and moaning little grunts.
Within 24 to 48 hour you should notice something - if there is a blockage you may see evidence of it as soon as you feed her next. If there is a GI blockage stuff can't go out normally so it typically comes back out the way it came. Are you positive the bottle had a lid to begin with? It doesnt sound like she normally eats stuff like that. Watch her close, but if her BM are fine and she doesn't start to vomit she will probably be okay. If you're really worried I would feed her a bland diet for a couple of days just to be sure that everything is okay. The bland food will help her pass the bottle-cap (if she actually ate it).

[Haus]

Hi. So far so good - nothing out of the ordinary. It's been a little over 24 hours (and 3 perfect poops!) so I'm thinking she didn't swallow the lid. It must have been without the lid to begin with when she found it. I need to keep diligent about baby proofing. Sometimes I forget that she's still a puppy, and leave things lying around. Thanks for the info, everyone!