Sewing needle
Also called: needle · needles · threaded needle · needle and thread · knitting needle · pin · pins · straight pin
Dog
Dangerous
Described signs
Drooling, retching, swallowing over and over with nothing there, choking or coughing, trouble swallowing, bringing food straight back up after swallowing, pawing at the mouth, refusing to eat, blood in the mouth or in the saliva, low energy and belly pain. Needles and fish hooks are among the objects that lodge in the gullet, and from there they can tear through it. A needle can be swallowed with nothing showing from the outside. And size matters: the smaller the dog, the narrower the passage. If you can see one end hanging from the mouth or the anus, do not pull on it.
Cat
Dangerous
Described signs
Drooling, retching and swallowing with nothing there, pawing at the mouth, refusing to eat, repeated vomiting, low energy, pain when you touch the belly and blood in the saliva. A threaded needle is the worst of both worlds: if the needle pierces the stomach or the gut, the thread can no longer move on and stays anchored, and the gut pleats up along it like an accordion while the thread cuts into it. Loose thread counts too, and it can end up caught under the tongue. If a thread is showing, do not pull it. The smaller the animal, the less it takes to block it.
This is a compendium of public veterinary sources, not a diagnosis. The weight of your pet changes what a dose means.
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