Zinc Toxicosis - My Dog

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DocStram

DocStram

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One of my closest friends is my 14 year old Golden Retriever. She's got to be one of the friendliest dogs you'd ever want to meet. She's a house dog. If a burglar ever broke in she would probably take them right to the silverware. One of her bad habits is that she will try to eat anything on the floor ... paper clips, receipts, cat food, coins.

Well, late Sunday night/early Monday morning, she found some change on the floor. I didn't realize that it had fallen out of my pants pocket. I couldn't understand why she got sick on the rug .... then, a couple of hours later, she couldn't stand up. I literally picked up all 75 pounds of her and carried her to the car. By the time I got her to the vet, her head was tilting and bobbing, her eyes couldn't focus, and she was having trouble breathing.

The vet did surgery and found $1.26 in her stomach. The pennies she had eaten were made after 1983, which means they are zinc clad in copper. The vet diagnosed her as having Zinc Toxicosis. She's still at the vets and is slowly recovering. Yesterday, for the first time, we were able to get her to stand. She wobbled a lot, but she was able to get up. It looks like she has a good chance of recovering.

I had never heard of Zinc Toxicosis until this happened. Just thought I would give our IAP pet owners a heads up ... and wondering if any of you have ever had the same thing happen to your pets.
 
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Sorry about your dog. I hope it has a speedy recovery.

As a Jack of all trades; Master of none[:D] I have also done some blacksmithing around the farm where I grew up. Zinc is needed for life in "trace amounts". Too much and it can be deadly. You saw signs of heavy metal poisoning. Zinc builds up in the body and getting too much is real bad news. The galvanized metal people use all the time is Zinc. While it is safe for everyday use problems arise when it is ingested or worse inhaled. I had a good friend and mentor die from inhaling Zinc fumes while blacksmithing.

Sorry for being a downer but I feel more people should be aware of the dangers.
 
Al, I AM very sorry to hear about what happened to your best friend, but I am glad that things ar looking up now. I had never heard of that before, but I will definitely, pass that on to my Wife and my nextdoor neighbor as we are Dog people too. The Wife and I have 2 Siberian Huskies, and we wouldn't want anything to happen to them.

Sheldon
 
I'm glad you were able to get her to the vet and he was able to do the surgery! If something like that happened to one of my cats, I'd be a basket case- our pets are great friends. You should have told the vet the $1.26 was her paying her co-pay amount. [:)]
 
Glad your friend is on the mend. Not exactly the same, but close, my cat got sick, doubled up and started howling, took to vet, x-ray led to surgery and vet removed a shoelace cat had swallowed and knot on end caught intestine as it was moving through and pulled it into a knot. ouch. Vet also removed what was left of a $20.00 dollar bill. My son worked as a chef and was complaining of losing the bill from his apron pocket. It must have smelled like the food he prepares and went with the shoelace. Cat is healthy now, but not much wiser, lol
 
I hope your friend will make a full and speedy recovery.

Momma and I get so attached to out animals that is is devastating to lose one.
 
Al, I don't have words to express how I felt when I read the topic and the I opened this thread with apprehension. After personally meeting your beautiful golden retriever I was expecting the worst. Thankfully she is on the mend and I pray for a complete recovery. Be well my friend.
 
Oh Al, I am SO HAPPY your baby is doing better, I had never heard of such a thing. Thank goodness she is doing better. We are so very lucky to have such friends. The unconditional love pets give people can enrich our lives so much. When you see her, give a smooch for me and let her know your friends are keeping her in our thoughts.
 
Al, I was a little scared when I started reading your post. I'm glad to hear that your Golden is recovering. I just lost my 13 year old Golden this year. It was one of the most painful things I've ever had to deal with. Good luck with the recovery.
 
Fred ... sorry to hear about your Golden. I bet it was 13 years of faithful companionship.
We brought Shadow home yesterday afternoon. She looks so much better than she did earlier this week. She's not to crazy about standing up but she just can't resist that cheese. She wobbles and sways when she walks but she's doing much better. Thanks everybody for your concern.
 
Al,

Thanks for the heads up, had no idea pennies would do that. Only in recent years have we become "dog people", my daughter got a black lab a few years ago as a gift from a worthless ex-boyfriend. He's long gone luckily, but we stil have the dog and we have all fallen in love with the lovable thing. She will be moving in the fall and taking the dog (thought about a custody battle but decided to be the nice guy this time), so plan to get a golden of our own when she moves.

Glad Shadow is doing better, tell my daughter's dog says "woof woof"!
 
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