Can Your Dog Eat A Baseball? (Tips & Warnings)

If you can find some ball in most American homes, it’s a baseball. The same goes for animals where dogs are the most popular housepets, and as we all know, dogs love balls!

This often creates scenarios where your dog is nibbling or playing with the ball, and that’s often harmless. However, what if your dog goes a bit too crazy and eats a part or most of a baseball?

Your dog can’t eat a baseball as its leather cover can absorb fluids in the dog’s stomach, creating an obstruction that can be dangerous, especially in large pieces. Baseballs rubber or yarn isn’t beneficial either and should not be eaten. However, playing catch and slight nibbling won’t do any harm!

In essence, you shouldn’t let your dog eat a baseball in a way that any part gets off from the ball. Biting and playing is okay, as you might know, because playing catch with a dog and a baseball isn’t something unusual and it’s quite fun for you and the dog.

If your dog has eaten a large part of a baseball, it might be a good idea to contact your vet about it and see what they instruct. Making your dog vomit on your own can also create obstructions, especially if the dog has just eaten a large piece of leather or rubber from the baseball.

Although dog’s bowel systems are known to filter the most unusual and dangerous things, but not always. Below, you can find a quote from a licensed veterinary technician Angel Alvarado.

Do not induce vomiting at home without the advice of your vet. The concern is that the cover, as a whole, may cause a gastric or intestinal obstruction. If it was chewed into pieces, it will likely pass on its own. Monitor the dog’s appetite and stool.

Angel Alvarado, LVT

If your dog starts to vomit on its own, stops eating, or shows symptoms of pain, then you should take your dog to the vet. Depending on the size of the baseball’s part and your dog, it can take even a week for your dog to pass the baseball’s cover.

You can feed your dog foods with high fiber counts, such as plain pumpkin, mashed potatoes, bread, or sweet potatoes, to accelerate the passing through the bowel process.

Finally, your dog’s size always affects how dangerous the baseball’s cover is or will be. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the dog, the less risk it presents. However, as a large dog can swallow considerably larger pieces of leather or rubber, it isn’t certainly harmless for large dogs either.

Are Baseballs Dangerous for Dogs?

Generally, baseball isn’t dangerous for dogs. However, if your dog eats the cover or other parts of a baseball, it can be dangerous depending on many things, such as the piece sizes eaten, your dog’s size, and luck.

The most common hazard in eating a baseball is obstruction. There are two kinds of obstructions; partial and complete obstruction.

• Partial obstruction: These can happen in any part of the route from your dogs mouth to the stomach and beyond. Partial obstructions can be of different sevierities. It can be so suddle that your dong won’t notice it, which isn’t dangerous if you can notice the leather, rubber, or baseball parts coming out with the stool. However, partial obstructions can be also severe, for example, letting only fluids pass through the dog. In this case, your dog will start to feel sick or get a diarrhea. If the obstruction isn’t coming out with the stool, contact your veteranerian.
• Complete obstruction: A complete bowel blockages are very hazardous, as it won’t let anything to pass. Luckily, these are easy to spot as your dog won’t eat, will become very ill, vomit, weight loss, or lack of movement. If you notice the adresset symptoms, take your dog to the vet as soon as possible.

Fortunately, in most cases, your dog will pass the baseball’s cover on its own even if large parts are eaten. Just keep an eye on the dog, and it will let you know if there are problems or not.

Can Dogs Digest Baseball Leather?

Leather as a material isn’t dangerous or toxic. However, it can create dangerous blockages as dogs can’t digest baseball leather because it’s indigestible. Even though dogs can’t digest baseball leather, it will often pass through naturally, solving the problem as its own.

Can Dogs Chew Other Kinds of Balls?

As a rule of thumb, dogs can nibble and play with most balls such as tennis, baseball, and cricket balls as long as they don’t eat them and do it excessively, as it might cause enamel abrasion and teeth damage. Small balls such as table tennis or racquetballs are very dangerous, especially to large dogs.

Bigger balls are generally okay to play with; however, smaller balls can be lodged on the throat and prevent airflow, which could rapidly danger your dog, and there wouldn’t be much time to handle the situation.

I recommend that you read my article about cricket balls and dogs if you want to learn how well they fit for dogs!

How to Prevent Your Dog For Chewing On Baseballs?

Dogs love baseballs, and it’s fun to play catch and watch it as it plays with the ball. You wouldn’t want to prevent your dog from playing with baseballs, but as you might worry too much, it’s ultimately better to be safe than sorry.

However, if you follow certain instructions, there is no need to deny baseballs from your dog! There are two steps I like to follow to ensure a dog isn’t eating a baseball.

1. Watch your dog

Depending on your dog’s breed and personality, it might play with baseballs in a calmful and playful way, or it can tear it down in seconds.

I suggest that you watch out for your dog as it plays with baseballs to see whether it, in fact, is biting huge chunks out of it or is it nibbling and rolling it around.

If your dog isn’t eating it as you have seen at least a couple of times, you can let it play on its own with it without constantly watching.

However, if your dog can’t control him or herself and tears it down every time, don’t let it play with baseballs, at least when you aren’t watching.

2. Don’t keep baseballs laying around

Last but not least, if you still are concerned about how your dog will act around baseballs, don’t leave them anywhere that your dog can get them. Instead, store them inside of a cabinet, your garage, baseball bag, or where ever!

Can Dogs Chew On Baseball Gloves?

There are many everyday items that you can convert to as a dog toy. Baseball gloves are often something dogs would enjoy chewing on and playing with, so is it safe to let them?

Generally, your dog can chew on baseball gloves as they are tough and won’t detach any hazardous parts such as leather covering. However, don’t let your dog chew on similar items that you have and care about. Thus, if you have a new baseball glove that you use, don’t let your dog chew on the old one.

Even when baseball gloves are often safe to chew, you should check out the type of glove and its part and see whether something will come off easily.

Another thing to keep in mind is that baseball gloves are made from leather, and if you allow your dog to chew on them, it might get used to the taste of leather and chew on other leather items even when they aren’t similar. For example, your expensive leather shoes might be at risk.

So, in conclusion, baseball gloves aren’t usually dangerous to chew on. However, they might encourage the dog to chew on other leather items.