Blog  >  Penny Ate a Penny: A Warning for Parents & Pet Owners !

Penny Ate a Penny: A Warning for Parents & Pet Owners !

FIDO knew we had to spread the word about this important health concern with you and thank Guest Blogger Shay Lorseyedi for sharing her story with us!  Please share this with your friends and family, too!

Penny, a beagle/cattle dog mix, has been obsessed with metal for as long as we've had her. She will gnaw on zippers and lick our metal coffee table, cabinet knobs, jewelry, and coins. She loves coins. This particular habit has been at best, our dog's funny quirk (ie licking of women's jewelry while they're wearing it), and at worst, a nuisance (ie destroyed zippers on jackets). We had looked into the reason for her behavior, but we have her on premium food and she has no dietary deficiencies as she's had her blood checked before.


Penny has discovered and promptly eaten coins on about 3 separate occasions; every time she has thrown up the change like some kind of gross slot machine. We always thought the biggest danger with her coin obsession was the risk of it getting stuck in her intestines. While we were right that she would be at risk if she didn't throw it up, but we had no idea that pennies can cause serious damage to the body before they even get to the intestines

The recent incident occurred over the holidays, on the night after we had returned from a weeklong trip. My husband caught Penny eating a nickel she had found on the floor and pulled it from her mouth before she could swallow it. She then had a big bowl of food before going to bed. The next morning, she was lethargic but still walking around. We assumed that she was in a funk because the family she had stayed with had another dog in the house and she probably missed her; she has acted like this before. She then threw up about 86 cents in change and, based on our experience with this, we assumed she'd be feeling better.

The next morning, she had not improved and was not drinking water or eating. I lost it when she went outside to go to the bathroom and her urine was the color of blood. We scooped her up and rushed her to animal urgent care. The vet we saw (Dr. Shenandoah Diehl, the bright spot in this whole experience) told us that it was the pennies that she had eaten that had made her sick.
Penny's stomach acid had partially digested the coins and, because pennies minted in or after 1982 are more than 95% zinc with a thin copper coating, her stomach ate through the copper allowing the to zinc leach out at toxic levels. Because the coins had stayed in her body for more than 12 hours and she had

Symptoms of Acute Zinc Toxicity
• Stomach pain, headaches, lethargy
• Diarrhea, Vomiting, Nausea
• Urine retention
• Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes)
• Pale gums and/or tongue
• Orange Colored Feces
• Dark, brown, or red colored urine

Symptoms of chronic zinc toxicity may also include fever, joint pain, chronic cough, low blood pressure, seizures, or metallic taste in the mouth. Some welders or people/animals that spend a lot of time in a similar industrial setting my experience "Zinc Shakes" which is caused by chronic inhalation of zinc particles/fumes.


If you suspect your dog or cat (or child!) has consumed a penny or similar zinc containing item, get them to the hospital ASAP. The sooner they receive treatment, and the quicker the zinc is removed, the better the prognosis.


In general, for diagnosis, you can expect the following:

1. An overall physical examination including questions about your dog's history of foreign object ingestion or past incidence of vomiting up coins or similar items. Younger animals tend to express this behavior more than older ones.
2. Your pet may require an x-ray to confirm the presence of a metallic object.
3. A vet may perform a blood test, urinalysis, and/or liver and kidney panels.
 

Treatment of Zinc Toxicity will depend on the extent of the condition:

1. If the coins or zinc containing object are still present in the stomach, your vet may induce vomiting.
2. Coins that have been in the stomach for a longer period of time may adhere to the stomach lining and require either an endoscopic procedure or surgery to remove it.
3. To help flush the zinc out of the system, your vet may hook your dog up to an IV.
4. To combat anemia, your pet may be placed in an oxygen chamber, or in extreme cases, be given a blood transfusion.
5. During their stay at the hospital, your pet's blood and urine may be monitored.
6. Your dog may be on medication during their stay and once you take them home.


Every animal is different, but in general, once the zinc object is removed acute symptoms will resolve within 2-3 days. Fatality will continue to be a possibility as long as the blood or urine levels remain abnormal.

Overall, Penny was in the hospital for about 48 hours. She had already thrown up the coins, so the treatment she received was to take care of the zinc that remained in her blood and fluids. She was placed on an IV while her blood was monitored, and when she became anemic, she was placed in an oxygen chamber (which basically looks like an incubator for newborns). Eventually, she needed a blood transfusion. We were told not to assume Penny was "out of the woods" until her blood levels returned to a normal. When your pet is very sick, the only thing you want to know is if they will be okay; the uncertainty was one of the most difficult things to deal with. We ended up bringing her home on New Years Eve.


Penny took about a week or two to return to her normal appetite and energy level. For the first few days, she would eat nothing but rotisserie chicken (she was hand fed, spoiled animal). We then worked in plain boiled chicken, rice and potato. She was eating her normal food (more voraciously than before, I might add) after a week.


We realize that we were very lucky. We had always taken care to keep coins and other metal objects out of her reach, but we never knew how important it was to be vigilant at all times. We limit her access to certain rooms in the house and we tell all visitors about her metal fetish so they know to pick up dropped coins immediately. In hopes of curbing her habit, we now stop her from licking any kind of metal object. We know that we may not be able to prevent another incident like this from occurring, but at least we know what to do should it happen again.


Please visit http://shaymarie.hubpages.com/hub/zinc_toxicity#  for the full story of Penny.

Penny Ate a Penny: A Warning for Parents & Pet Owners

Pennies are toxic and can be deadly when ingested by dogs, cats, or children. Visit http://shaymarie.hubpages.com/hub/zinc_toxicity to learn more about zinc toxicity and Penny's story. -- Penny is a Beagle/Australian Cattle Dog (aka Blue Heeler, Quee

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