Hey All! I have five greyhounds of my own and sit for many local greys in my home when their owners go out of town. I want to let you know about a danger that might be missed by vets.

Several weeks ago I got a visiting grey that had lost about 20 pounds in just a couple of months. The dog was emaciated. He had been to the vet twice about his weight loss. All exams and blood work were normal. No explanation for why this dog was so skinny. The owner said he was eating well. He fed the grey and his two other dogs before leaving for work and upon returning from work. He knew they were all eating but he did not watch closely.

I tripled the grey’s food, which upset his tummy. The day after arriving at my house he threw this up:


He vomited up the sock. The nail clippers are for size comparison. The next day he vomited up another sock. No wonder the dog was losing weight. Socks obstructed his stomach. He was probably vomiting up his food and the other dogs were eating it. No way for the owner to know he was vomiting.

I took the dog to Poplar Animal Hospital. They are an hour from me but they are the local greyhound experts. The dog’s liver enzymes were slightly out of whack, probably due to infection from the socks. He is good now. He gained 12 pounds in 10 days. YIPPEE!

Please keep in mind that greys might eat anything, and foreign objects in the stomach might not show up on xrays. I had another visitor that threw up sanitary pads wrapped in blue plastic. YUCK but true. If your dog gets sick with no explanation please take a look at what is in his stomach.

Best Wishes!
Karen Ferguson

OMG!! Thank goodness he didn't eat the nail clippers!
Glad to hear he gained his weight back, that was scary!
I also heard of dogs eating towels that we hang over the oven handle and wipe our hands with it while cooking.
Our vet has a board in the waiting room with items that they recovered out of dogs' tummies, very scary! Paper clips, coin, nails etc.

So, Karen, if we have dog who may have eaten something bad, should we bring them to you to see if they'll vomit? Sounds like you get that alot... That poor dog!! I'm glad that the mystery was solved and he's ok. You're a good sport.

I am so glad his body finally ejected the sock and that he is recovering! Thank you for posting this so others will think about this incident if theirs are sick and the vet is unable to determine why. They are just like babies everything they come across has to be tasted.

Someone at work has another breed and it ate a ball. They had to do surgery to remove the ball from the stomach. After that ALL balls were banned from the house. A friend babysat for them while they went on vacation and guess what . . . he ate another ball while there. Had to have surgery again. She said to this day if he sees a ball he wants to chew on it.