A dog swallowed 111 pennies and was saved from stomach overload by valiant New York City veterinarians in a two-hour operation. An adorable Jack Russell terrier named “Jack”, reports the New York Daily News on Tuesday, March 12, somehow mistook the pile of change for the bagel he was intent on devouring.
“He’s like a voracious Tasmanian devil,” the owner, Tim Kelleher, admitted. “If there’s food, he’s got to get it.” But this time, the dog swallowed a few pennies too many. The zinc in coins can be lethal to the kidneys and liver. And Jack, at 13, is not exactly a puppy.
Kelleher went on: “He climbed on my desk to get at the bag with the bagel and knocked the change all over the floor. While he was licking up the crumbs, he swallowed the pennies.”
Not an easy trick. Pennies are much heavier than bread crumbs, not to mention difficult to lick up off a flat surface. But never count out determination.
Kelleher did not miss his coins at first, but Jack quickly became ill from the overload. The worried owner rushed his pal to the vet.
A penny here or there might handle a trip through the digestive system, but Jack had swallowed a killer load. The staff at BluePearl Veterinary Partners took an X-ray and planned the surgery. They fished out pennies, five at a time, for a total of $1.11.
And the outcome? “He’s doing great,” Kelleher reports. “He’s driving me crazy again.”
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