Taking care of a puppy is quite similar to nursing a newborn child. They require your attention all the time. Otherwise, they may fall into unpredictable danger. For example, you see it is eating the pee pad suddenly, and you’re now wondering what to do if the puppy eats pee pad?
Puppies usually chew the pee pad when it feels bored, pass their teething phase, and are stressed. Inspect signs of discomfort or digestive problems if your puppy has eaten a portion of a pee pad. Pee pads are designed to be absorbent and contain chemicals that can cause digestive problems or blockages if ingested in large quantities.
However, the side effects of eating pee pads may often impact dangerously in puppies. Try to inspect them closely for some days to ensure whether they feel medical abnormalities.
Why Does My Puppy Eat Pee Pad?
Small changes surrounding the pets may force them to behave weirdly. If it suddenly begins to eat and play with pee pads, there are the highest chances that the pups are obsessed with something else.
Stress, the arrival of a new pet, changes in routine, noise, and curiosity may often make them behave like this or tear the pee pad.
The dog behavior researcher insists puppies going through their teething phase can act like this out of curiosity. They search for tangible things or something to chew during their teething period.
Therefore, this could be another reason the dog had eaten a pee pad. Besides, some more reasons might be the cause of this kind of affair, including:
- Your puppy may be over-anxious about something.
- It might be very hungry.
- It may be suffering from pica (a certain disease of a dog that influences it to taste non-eatable items constantly), etc.
What to Do If Puppy Eats Pee Pads?
Herein some steps you can take if your puppy eats a pee pad:
1. Check the Size of the Portion Eaten
If your puppy has only eaten a small amount of the pee pad, it may be able to pass it without any issues. However, you should seek veterinary attention immediately if they have eaten a large portion.
2. Observe Your Puppy’s Behavior
Monitor your puppy for discomfort, vomiting, diarrhea, or lethargy. Whether you notice any of these symptoms, contact your veterinarian right away.
3. Contact Your Veterinarian
If you are not sure enough if the puppy has ingested a dangerous amount of the pee pad or is exhibiting symptoms of illness, contact your veterinarian for advice. They may recommend bringing your puppy in for an exam or monitoring them at home.
In general, it’s important to keep pee pads out of reach of the puppy to prevent it from eating them. If your puppy continues to eat pee pads or other non-food items, it’s important to address this behavior with a professional trainer or behaviorist.
What Steps to Take to Stop the Pups to Eat Pee Pad?
As soon as you see your pups eating a pee pad, use the following advice to stop them.
1. Command Or Training
Give it tight command or training to stop this act further. This can be done by anything, but the most effective way is talking to the pups by showing some signs. Ablate the pee pads immediately from the pet when you notice it is eating them.
2. Find Out the Reason for Its Anxiety
Inspect a way out to determine why your dog is frustrated or stressed. It could be another efficient way to change this behavior in the pups.
3. Give Chew Toys
Give your little fur friends chew toys to play with when it is teething and barking. This will help to stop it from eating pee pads.
4. Use Anti-Chew Spray
Take action before it happens to your pups. Use anti-chew sprays that show amazing results to prevent this kind of act from happening. Spray this on the pee pad and the pups will never feel interested in it for chewing or play.
5. Using a puppy playpen or crate
Along with these, you can try out other ways like:
- Giving puppies more attention than before
- Inspecting their frustration and exercising to redirect their attention to fix them
- Buy a pee pad tray or holder
- Duct tape or adhesive as an alternative to a pee pad
What Toxicity Belongs to Pee Pad that May Ruin the Puppy Health?
A puppy eating a pee pad could feel digestive problems or blockages. Pee pads are not intended to be ingested or made of easily digestible materials.
It may be able to pass the pad naturally depending on the size of the pad and the size of the puppy, but it could also get stuck and require veterinary intervention.
Eating pee pads can cause your dog indigestion, blockage and other toxic problems related to the stomach. However, let’s take a close look at the overall harmful ingredients that lie on the pee pad.
1. SSPH (Super absorbent Sodium Polyacrylate Polymer Gel)
One of the common toxicities found in pee pads is super absorbent sodium polyacrylamide polymeric hydrogel. This ingredient is used in pee pads to hold more water or other liquids. Hydrogel is not so toxic since it mainly absorbs the water from the cloth. But it could be chewed by your puppy somehow.
2. Synthetic Pheromones (SP)
The second thing that needs to be aware of is synthetic pheromones. Generally, pheromones are the ingredients that are used to train the puppy to pee in a specific area.
That’s why, when the puppy smells that synthetic pheromone, they urinate in the exact location as directed. But if the puppy eats a pee pad, this could cause them an upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea.
3. Artificial Scents
Pee pads are often made of artificial scents. Those are usually combined with both natural and artificial scents. It is often made with grass, flowers and other natural ingredients.
Although puppy pads are made with simple, natural elements, they could cause gastrointestinal disorders in puppies if eaten unconsciously.
Especially the grass ingredients may harm the puppy by causing diarrhea. Grass scents are useful for making the puppy comfortable during pee time. But it is not good for eating either.
4. Ammonia
Puppy pads are generally not manufactured by ammonia. But when the puppy pees on it, the pad absorbs the liquid and breaks it into ammonia.
The ammonia odors from the pad are crappy and, if accidentally eaten by a puppy, can cause serious inconvenience. Ammonia harms the puppy as they can suffer from mucous membrane irritation, throat and other digestive stretches.
5. Plastics
Another toxic element that is found in pee pads is plastics. In most cases, plastic pee pads are often made with harmful chemical ingredients that contain polyethylene or polypropylene.
They generally seem waterproof but need more leaks than others. Plastic covers are mainly used in pee pads, creating a barrier between the pup’s waste and the surface. It prevents the pads from unpredictable leakage, which is responsible for ruining the floors, carpets and other surfaces.
However, if the puppy eats a pee pad, this plastic element will not digest in its tummy. For a reason, your dog might suffer from:
- Excessive abdominal pain,
- Gastrointestinal issues,
- Vomits,
- Airway obstruction,
- Breathing trouble, etc.
6. Bleaching Elements
Pads are made with different types of colors that usually contain harmful bleaching properties. Check the pee pads the pups have eaten to inspect whether they contain bleaching ingredients. If it is, then immediately take the pups to the vet.
Your dog may show breathing problems, scolding, heavy bleeding, and behavioral abnormalities. Besides, bleach can irritate and disturb the pups if it comes close to the skin, eyes and mouth.
How to Inspect That a Puppy Had Eaten Pee Pad?
Some common signs eventually help you to inspect that the puppy has eaten pee pads. Herein the signs in detail include:
1. Find Destroyed Pads Around the House
One common sign that may help to inspect is that it has eaten a pee pad finding destroyed pads around the house. Puppies love to tear off pages, biting soft toys with their teeth while playing. Therefore, you may find destroyed pads easily if it is eaten in them.
2. Finding Pieces of Pads in Mouth
Check out the mouth of the puppy to inquire about the tearing pieces of the pads. They sometimes hide the pieces in their mouth during playtime.
3. Vomiting
Your dog will vomit if it has eaten the pee pad already. Take action immediately lest it becomes too late to rescue the puppy.
4. Sick or Indolent
The early sign you may notice in your dog is it seems too sick or lethargic. It feels disinterested to eat, play, and roam. Despite this, it used to lay in bed all the time.
5. Loss of Appetite
Eating a pee pad is dangerous and could impact your pup’s digestive system badly. It loses interest in eating food more than previously. It may also show less interest to eat loved foods like scrambled eggs, cooked chicken etc. Loss of appetite is the general sign that the puppy eats pee pads.
Besides, you may notice that dogs have very watery eyes and constant coughing. Sometimes the potty color of the puppy is changed and produces bad odors.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Happened If My Puppy Eats the Pee Pad?
Your puppy may suffer serious inconveniences like diarrhea, vomits, etc., if it accidentally eats pee pads. Pee pads are made with unknown elements and hydrogel to absorb the pees immediately. Puppies should not eat it because of this reason.
Are Puppy Pads Toxic While Eating?
Of course, puppy pads are toxic when they are ingested. Pads are often made with plastic or many undefined chemical products, which isn’t right for the health of your pups. The hydrogels inside the pee pads are super absorbent and could have dried out the pet’s digestive system or organs.
What Are Puppy Pee Pads Made Of?
Pee pads are made with super absorbent sodium polyacrylamide hydrogel, ammonia, fragrance, plastic wrapper and many other unknown chemical elements. Those ingredients are safe to use normally but could react terrifically if the pups swallowed them accidentally.
What to Do If My Puppy Falls Sick After Eating a Puppy Pad?
If the pups feel sick after eating the pee pad, take it to the nearest veterinary clinic. Let the vet inspect it properly. Maintain all the advice instructed by the vet to recover your pet.
Conclusion
The experts and researchers verify all the suggestions mentioned above. This is why those steps will be working to help you to come out of danger.
You can now discover what to do if puppy eats pee pad when it is impossible to call for a vet immediately. Besides, my only advice is to start potty-training your pup today. I know it is a long and annoying process.
But teaching your little furry friend about potty-training is the permanent solution to the end of this hazardous incident. Therefore, take action and start potty-training your puppy in the selected area.