Terrier likes to eat cotton

Question
My boyfriend has a 3 month old Jack Russell Terrier and we have put training pads down for him to use when we are gone during the day.  When we get home he has eaten and torn up the cotton in the training pad. He got sick a couple of weeks ago and we thought it may have been because he ate some cotton.  The cotton he ate that day was from the recliner (my boyfriend's brother dozed off on the recliner). He started throwing up and had to take pills.  Our vet did not know why he was eating cotton and what we could do to prevent him from eating it in the future.  Please help!  We do not want him to get sick anymore.  And we want him to use the training pad for what it's for.  

Answer
Hi, all puppies chew, but if they are ingesting alot of what they are chewing there could be another reason.   I would change him over to Eukanuba puppy food to start.  I find Jack Russels need more ash in their diet.  He should be getting fed three times per day at age 3 months.   I would also give him some meat in that food. A tiny ball of chopmeat nuked up in a bit of water can be spread over the top of the food.  This promotes good coat. (this is great for the wire coated JR)  
He should not have free reign of the house if he is not house broken.  He should be confined in a room where he has a bed and about 3 inches of floor space and then the rest of the room should be papered.  I would use newspaper until he stops chewing up the cotton.  As he uses the paper, he will start to pick a spot he likes to go.   Each week a layer of the paper should be picked up leaving more and more floor showing.   This will start to train him to be clean.  At the same time he should be taken out and encouraged to "potty" outside.  Make sure you give it a name of your own.  This helps greatly later on.

Puppies housebreak in one room at a time.  Just because they are housebroken in the kitchen doesn't mean he is housebroken in the living room.  If he keeps his "den" clean he thinks it is ok to go in the living room.  He is being a good dog according to his instincts.  Introduce him to each new room only when you are watching and can see when he has to go.   As he starts to sniff to go, get to him quickly and put him out telling him he did a "good Potty" or whatever you decide the word is.   Three month old puppies go immediately after they awaken,  withing 30 minutes after eating.

I know the dog food I suggested is expensive, but you can change to anything you want after a year old.  This food may keep him from ingesting the cotton, and save you on vet bills.   By the way, there is ash in cotton and sheetrock, etc.  So he may be needing some of that.

Good luck  you have a wonderful breed
nancy