CHARLESTON, SC......It seems like I am at the ER facility in Charleston all the time lately. As soon as I get home, there is another emergency case and I am on my way back to take another animal to CVRC (Charleston Veterinary Referral Center). While checking on Harry last week, I noticed a very sickly looking bundle in a quarantine room. There was a tiny little 4 week old stray Pitbull pup with no Name, no Family and no HOPE in sight. The ER doctors told me his story and said Animal Control was on their way to pick him up. I looked up and saw AC coming in the entrance of the building and suddenly decided I couldn’t let them take this tiny little boy. I told them to tell the AC Officer that the owner had come in and taken the puppy and they were not needed. I then looked at the surgeons and got as much information as possible about what was going on with Copper. Our little boy was brought in by someone that said he was a stray. She said he was pooping out condoms and pennies and was very sick. We later found out the same person had called and spoken to one of the Vet Techs and asked what to do about a puppy her Boyfriend had. The puppy had the same condition as Copper. There can’t be two little pups with the same problem. Copper’s bloodwork showed that he was very anemic. He was bloated and skinny. I immediately said for them to x-ray him and see if he had an obstruction from more coins in his intestine. The x-ray came back that he did have something lodged in his intestine. I told them to go in immediately and do surgery to remove what was there before our little Angel got any sicker. Coins can cause an obstruction in any animal especially one this tiny. Among the circulating U.S. coins, only pennies pose a toxicity hazard. Pennies minted after 1982 contain a zinc core surrounded by copper plating. Each penny contains about 2,440 mg of elemental zinc. Subacute or chronic zinc toxicosis can affect the renal, hepatic, gastrointestinal, and hematopoietic tissues. Zinc toxicosis can cause hemolytic anemia, which can lead to hemoglobinemia and hemogloburinia. Because of these severe effects, consider all penny ingestions potentially dangerous, and each case should be treated aggressively. When the surgeons got in, they found pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters that were all clumped together. They were eroding the lining of the intestine that was now bleeding. I don’t believe our little boy would have made it if he had been transported with AC and not had immediate x-rays and surgery to remove the items. Copper was improving but has now developed other symptoms from the coins that we are having to address. He is still in Critical Care and will be there until his bloodwork is stabile and his diarrhea is completely gone. We had a full Gastro Panel done on him and we should have the results back in a couple of days. Copper and Harry are certainly keeping everyone on their toes at the ER Facility. We would have called him Penny if we didn’t already have one named this. We decided Copper was the next best choice given what has happened to our sweet boy. I am sure he ate the items because he was hungry. Once we get him well, that will never be a problem for him again.
Adorable little Copper has certainly had a lot to deal with for such a little pup. We just got the GI panel back and it turns out he has Salmonella. It looks like he was eating garbage to survive which is probably how he got it. We have him on antibiotics to fight it and also new meds for his stomach. He is slowly improving but is still not as chipper as we would like. He atleast is looking like he feels better. The other major issue we are having to deal with is that when we got him he was Parvo negative. The extensive bloodwork we had done is now showing he has been exposed to Parvo. He is being closely monitored for any signs of him breaking with it. So far, we are not seeing any indication he has it. Our sweet little Angel could not be any cuter. He is all puppy and loves to chew on things and put whatever in his mouth. Copper is going to be the best family dog. Right now, all he wants to do is curl up in your arms and sleep. Thanks for caring about our dear boy.
