Dogs are often dubbed Man’s Best Friend. They are capable of several functions such as protecting the environment, embarking on detective missions by the military, and hunting amongst many others.
Like other domestic animals, dogs are prone to attempt to ingest toys or balls that are harmful to their health. This article seeks to explore the various ways to prevent dogs from ingesting ping pong balls and treat them if they do eat these things.
Dogs Ingesting Toys and Balls
Most puppies enjoy a good time around toys and even table tennis balls. They are like human babies that cannot differentiate between the good and the bad.
Sometimes, puppies ingest small harmful objects causing them to fall sick afterwards. This is often caused by the fact that dogs are usually exercised and trained through activities like “hide and seek”, “go and fetch” or “tug of war” amongst many others. These exercises involve different objects, most especially, toys and balls.
Broadly speaking, dogs are exploring animals that always go at whatever they want. Their sensitive sense of smell is also expedient to why they ingest toys or balls.
Furthermore, it is pertinent to note that lack of companionship or boredom can propel dogs into this act. A lonely dog with these objects at its disposal is prone to ingest them.
In addition, dogs are open to eating toys or balls when they suddenly develop a preference and appetite for non-food items. It is a nutritional disorder that makes dogs desire to consume everything, even if it is not food. This is known as Pica.
Therefore, whenever you see your dog craving towels, pantyhose, washcloths, underwear, or socks, he or she is suffering from Pica.
However, if your dog is guilty of the above explanations, do not be afraid as you will be learning different ways to prevent your dog from ingesting ping pong balls in the following section. You’ll also learn different ways of treating them if they do.
How To Prevent Dogs From Eating Toys and Ping Pong Balls
It is almost impossible to guarantee what goes into the mouth of your dogs at all times. You can’t possibly be there to monitor them at all times. Nonetheless, you can prevent your dogs from ingesting ping pong balls recurrently by following some of the following steps.
The following are some of the preventive measures that can be taken to assure the safety of your dogs:
- Avoid littering the environment with clothing materials like pantyhose, washcloths, underwear, towels, and socks
- Do not leave many dog toys around the dogs
- Keep away children toys from the reach of dogs
- Keep a close watch on the dogs whenever they are eating or chewing an object
- Avoid exercising your dogs with balls and toys that can be easily ingested
- Always keep them in good condition and companionship
- Do not leave them to be lonely and bored. Keep them lively
- Get rid of unwanted objects that can be swallowed by the dogs
As noted above that dogs cannot be easily prevented from eating objects and non-food items, there are treatments for dogs that have ingested these harmful objects.
Treatment For Dogs Eating Toys and Ping Pong Balls
It is absolutely bad if your dogs ingest toys or balls. These non-food items are dangerous and can cause sickness or eventual death. Do not be surprised if your dog needs surgery for survival.
Firstly, there are some signs that your dogs will communicate to you indicating that something bad has been ingested and needs urgent attention.
These signs include abdominal pain, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation, changes in behavior, lethargy, etc.
Dogs may experience damaged intestines as a result of the non-food items they have ingested. When you notice any of the above-mentioned symptoms in your dogs, you are advised to take the dogs to your preferred veterinary clinic.
Where does this leave you?
Ping Pong Balls are not safe for dogs to ingest. You can check for good dog foods for better nourishment for your dog. If you are a dog owner or rearer and ping pong balls are in your environment, it is advisable to keep them out of the reach of dogs.
The result of the eventual ingestion of non-food items by dogs is costly. Your dogs are precious companions that need to be closely taken care of; you don’t want to lose them.
Also, other non-food items listed in this article should not be trivialized. It is advisable to dispose off irrelevant clothing materials that your dogs are open to ingest.
Items that are not dissolvable in the digestive system cause intestinal blockage and damage. Why don’t you prevent your dogs from this bad occurrence? Your dogs are your friend! Keep them safe and lively.