Betty Boop ate METAL - OFF TO VET
 

Please pray for Betty Boop. I saw her eating three bites of something that turned out to be metal from my dh's steel, rusted BBQ pit. He cleaned it in our yard tonight and didn't pick up his mess!!!!!:mad:

I am so upset!! Please pray!

Will update when I know more......

Oh no! I hope shes okay.

Oh, no! I will keep Betty Boop in my thoughts and prayers. Please update us when you get back form the vet's!

I hope she does well.

OMG we are praying for Betty Boop
Please come back as soon as you can and let us know she is ok.
OMG. So worried!!

I hope everything is OK. How big were the pieces of metal?

Here for an update. Praying for her.

I hope your baby is doing ok, please let us know as soon as you find out!

Praying she is doing ok.

Poor Betty Boop! How is she doing??? :eek::(

No word yet on poor little Betty Boop, Hope all is well.

Oh my just now seeing this. I hope poor Betty Boop is ok. She has been suffering from allergies and now this. I pray she is ok.

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. :eek: 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!:rolleyes::)

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

OMG this is so scary. We will be praying for Betty Boop. Hopefully the diet working the metal out will be fine! I am hoping that the metal is NOT iron. I'm also hoping you can just keep doing xrays until you pass this through her system without the need for surgery.

I also might give the ASPCA poison control a call to ask about the iron toxicity - a toxicologist will give you info for a $65 consult and confer with the ER vet. Just in case.

Keep us posted.

Praying for you and Betty Boop...

Here is the # for ASPCA poison control Reach the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Hotline 24 hours a day at 888-426-4435.

Also - here is a link to some ASPCA articles - there is a practice brief on iron toxicity if you scroll down the page. Just FYI. I didnt read it, but it seems informative if it is iron.
Animal Poison Control Center Articles for Veterinarians : ASPCA Professional

OMG that is just horrible! What brand grill do you own? Maybe you could do a search to see if you could find the info out tonight. Not that it would make any difference overnight. Please keep us all posted how things go over the next few day. Hopefully she will be able to pass it all and everything will be fine. One step at a time. :(

Hoping for Betty Boop to pass all the metal she swallowed and hoping you get some rest while waiting for it to happen.

I know...it is SO scary. I am SO worried right now. She is very lethargic right now, but then again, it IS 10:35 pm and she is probably just sleepy. She always makes me go to bed around 8:45 each night. She is so funny! I'm not going to get much sleep tonight.

Thank you for the suggestion to call ASPCA poison control. This little dog has become my new bff! I love her more than words can say.

She is at my feet wanting me to crawl in bed with her. She keeps running up and down the stairs which is her way to tell me to GET OFF THE COMPUTER. I'M SLEEPY!! :D

Please keep us updated! Poor Betty Bop!!

Thanks everyone! It means a lot to me to have everyone here praying for her. What a great group of people. I'm off to bed and will see how she does overnight. The vet said she will probably be pooping tonight, might be bloody. I hope not. :(:( The ER vet said it wasn't that the metal will cut her, but rather the inflammation it will cause.

I'll keep posting updates.

Let us know how she does - I'll be checking here first thing for your update. I think she will be ok - I'm so glad you took her right to the vet - she is lucky to have you as her peep.

I just can't imagine how scared you are. :big_hug:

She will be in my prayers.

wow, just catching up. I will keep Betty Boop in my prayers. I can only imagine what you are feeling. Hugs to you both.

Oh no! This is so scary. I'm sending lots of prayers along with my best wishes. Please keep us updated!

Well, it's morning and we both made it through the night. She slept well and was up doing her usual thing this morning. She has pooped 5 times since we came home last night. W/D works miracles in that department! :p:) In fact, I put on the ol' latex gloves and did what any good mom would do........I went through it looking for metal pieces. :D Couldn't find any!

She is acting completely normal this morning. I have a call in to her regular vet and he will call me back.

The dh was out last night picking up the pieces of scraped off iron out of the grass. He is going to mow it with a bag attached to the lawn mower tonight. I just don't see how he can get every piece of it. Betty Boop is a nudger and she finds anything and everything in between blades of grass. Over time, I imagine it will works its way down deeper.

I'll post again after I talk to the vet.

Thanks everybody for your prayers and good thoughts.

Just reading this now, I'm glad Betty Boop had a good night and hope that she continues to do well and passes everything. And yes, you are a good mother:)