--- title: 43 Socks Removed from Dog's Stomach During Surgery description: The dog came in only second in a contest for the strangest objects eaten by pets canonical: https://time.com/3268917/dog-socks-surgery/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-04T16:01:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:12:57.788Z og:title: 43.5 Socks Removed from Dog's Stomach During Surgery og:description: The dog came in only second in a contest for the strangest objects eaten by pets og:url: https://time.com/3268917/dog-socks-surgery/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24248e0aba718ae3/6986a1f9169ab0179027b03a/dog-eats-43-socks-surgery-stomach.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Sock Eating Dog og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 43.5 Socks Removed from Dog's Stomach During Surgery twitter:description: The dog came in only second in a contest for the strangest objects eaten by pets twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24248e0aba718ae3/6986a1f9169ab0179027b03a/dog-eats-43-socks-surgery-stomach.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 43.5 Socks Removed from Dog's Stomach During Surgery  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Sep 4, 2014 4:01 PM UTC  This Feb. 2014 photo provided by DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital shows socks that were removed from a dogs stomach in Portland, Ore. This Feb. 2014 photo provided by DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital shows socks that were removed from a dogs stomach in Portland, Ore.DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital/Associated Press  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Sep 4, 2014 4:01 PM UTC After owners rushed their dog to an animal hospital because their 3-year-old Great Dane was retching in pain, doctors noticed something unusual in his X-rays. The dog’s stomach was full of “a large quantity of foreign material,” which after two hours of surgery—plus time spent carefully counting—turned out to be 43 and a half socks, according to the [_Associated Press_.](http://news.yahoo.com/surgery-ailing-great-dane-yields-43-socks-095534587.html) A spokeswoman from the Portland, Oregon, animal hospital that treated the dog said the pet is alive and still kicking, and that it was perhaps the strangest case in the hospital’s history, according to [_The Oregonian._](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/09/mystery%5Fsolved%5F--%5Fa%5Fdog%5Fate%5Fne.html#incart%5Friver) But apparently it wasn’t strange enough to win the “They Ate WHAT?” contest sponsored by the _Veterinary Practice News_ magazine, which solicits each year entries of the weirdest objects eaten by pets. The Great Dane’s case placed only in second. The grand prize winner? An exotic frog that had [eaten 30 ornamental marbles](http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/2014-X-Ray-Contest-Winners/) from its cage. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3268917/dog-socks-surgery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3268917/dog-socks-surgery/"},"headline":"43.5 Socks Removed from Dog's Stomach During Surgery","datePublished":"2014-09-04T16:01:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:57.788Z","description":"The dog came in only second in a contest for the strangest objects eaten by pets","url":"https://time.com/3268917/dog-socks-surgery/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Bizarre"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24248e0aba718ae3/6986a1f9169ab0179027b03a/dog-eats-43-socks-surgery-stomach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24248e0aba718ae3/6986a1f9169ab0179027b03a/dog-eats-43-socks-surgery-stomach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sock Eating Dog","caption":"Sock Eating Dog","creditText":"DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital/Associated Press","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3268917/dog-socks-surgery/","name":"43.5 Socks Removed from Dog's Stomach During Surgery"}}]}] ```