We're back home. The ER vet took an x-ray. She has A LOT of metal inside her. One large piece, looks like about a 3/4" oblong piece is still in her stomach.
A lot of fragments are already on their way through her system, but haven't entered her colon yet. I couldn't believe my eyes!
We think the BBQ pit is made of Iron. He told us to get a magnet and go outside and see if it would pick up a piece of what she ate. It does. That's not good, because it has the possibility of turning into iron poisoning if we don't get it out of her system. We're going to call the company tomorrow and ask what it is made of.
He also looked up on his computer and found a case that was almost identical to hers, where a dog ate the shavings off of an iron BBQ pit that the owner had cleaned. This other dog turned out OK with the same treatment that he is prescribing for Betty Boop.
He said we need to take the x-ray to our regular vet tomorrow, but that it might be too soon to do another x-ray, ideally 24 hours would be better. But, if we wait until then, our vet will be closed for the weekend. Knowing me, I will wait until about 4:30 tomorrow afternoon and it will be around 21 or 22 hours since she ingested the metal. I would be a NERVOUS WRECK if I waited until Monday to do another x-ray! Of course, I could take her back to the ER. I think this particular vet is working this weekend.
He gave us enough Prescription Diet W/D for a week to try and get bulk inside of her to get the metal out of her stomach and push everything through her system. Also, he gave her something to coat her stomach to protect it against inflammation from the metal, called Sucralfate, enough for a week.
If a week goes by and she still has the metal inside her, he said one of two things can be done. 1) Since the metal is magnetized, he could put something down her throat to try and pull out the metal. This frightens me though because of Yorkies' history of collapsed trachea. ?????? 2) Surgery.
I just fed her 3/4 of a 13 oz can of W/D. She didn't even chew it and swallowed it whole! Then, she threw up a small portion. You would think I haven't fed her in a couple of days!
Please keep her in your prayers this entire week. I'll take her back to her regular vet in a week for a final x-ray. But, I am taking her in tomorrow and talking to them about everything.
On another note, I asked this ER vet what he would do about her LP. He felt of it and said it felt like a 1 or 2. His advice would be not to do surgery until she was showing pain and it was hendering her a lot. He has a pekingese that has LP3/4 in both knees, but said it doesn't bother her at all, and she is 8 years old. He said the meetings he has attended where Orthopedic surgeons were the speakers recommended no surgery unless absolutely painful to the dog.
Thanks for everyone's prayers and concern.
Lila and Betty Boop, aka: metal dog