A dog from New York City is recovering today after swallowing 111 pennies over the weekend while his owner wasn't looking. The Jack Russell terrier, appropriately named Jack, was taken to the BluePearl clinic in Manhattan this weekend when his owner noticed the pennies were gone and his dog was sick, according to ABC News, on Wednesday March 13, 2013.
X-rays showed a belly full of change, just small change, but enough to make Jack sick. Using a camera to locate the pennies and a special scope that is used for grabbing, the endoscopy took two hours. The vet was able to remove all the pennies. The special tool for retrieving the pennies allowed the vet to remove five at a time.
Dr. Amy Zalcman said that Jack was a lucky dog, he avoided surgery because the clinic had the special camera and scope which allowed the vet to go into the dog's stomach through his mouth. The money hungry dog showed no secondary signs of zinc toxicity.
The pennies, if not removed, could have killed Jack as they would have eventually blocked his intestines and caused damage to his liver and kidneys. While the vet has seen dogs consume pennies, this is the first case of this magnitude. The $1.11 meal cost Jack's owner $2,500 worth of fixing!
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