My last column was on zinc toxicity for dogs and cats and this one is on batteries’ toxicity. Neither is fun to read but they’re both necessary to know.
Who knows? Reading this column could save your pal’s life!
Dogs are more likely to eat batteries, especially puppies, but they are just as toxic to cats as dogs.
Dogs chew and ingest batteries while cats typically just swat batteries around, but they can potentially swallow small “button batteries,” those round flat batteries also known as coin cell batteries.
These batteries come in many sizes and thicknesses. They are used in all sorts of things, including wristwatches; keyless entry fobs; car key fobs; garage door openers; medical devices such as a glucose monitors, digital thermometers and hearing aids; small toys; and remote controls.
These button batteries are the nastiest batteries that pets can swallow. They actually generate an electrical current on any moist surface.
So, from your pal’s mouth to their anus all there is moist tissue. So, the battery burns through the whole gastrointestinal tract and causes awful, painful symptoms.
These symptoms include mouth pain with excessive drooling, severe ulcers in the mouth and esophagus, corrosive burns causing tissue necrosis (dead tissue), vomiting food and even blood, abdominal pain, lethargy, inappetence, behavioral changes, possibly a wobbly gait, diarrhea, decrease responses and a change in your pal’s personality.
These caustic burns happen rapidly within minutes to hours, causing the dog to paw at its mouth, and red or even gray areas of burning inside their mouths on their tongue and GI tract.
There is even a potential for a rupture of the GI tract and leakage of its contents.
Often, burns cause difficulty swallowing, fever, zinc toxicity and even a gastrointestinal blockage, according to Dr. Shayna Doyle, an ER and critical care veterinarian at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.
When a cat swallows a button battery, it is typically not chewed, so the primary concern is foreign body obstruction.
The battery can get stuck in its esophagus or further down the GI tract and generate an electrical current while lodged, making corrosive burns and tissue necrosis (tissue death).
If the battery is lodged in a cat or dog’s esophagus, it will cough and have trouble breathing.
Dogs often chew and swallow alkaline batteries like AA, AAA and 9V.
If the dog swallows a whole alkaline dry cell battery or large pieces of them, the animal can be at risk for a GI blockage. If the battery is chewed and opened, it releases its internal contents, corrosive material that causes severe oral burns in their mouths, throat and esophagus with ulcers.
If you see your dog or cat chew and swallow any battery, or see evidence that it did eat a battery, do not induce vomiting unless your veterinarian or poison control instructs you to do so.
The burning substance can further damage the esophagus when the pet vomits. You can rinse your pal’s mouth with warm water.
Your veterinarian or ER will take an X-ray and locate the battery and, surgically or with an endoscope, remove it. If that battery is broken, it may be leaking substances that can cause severe tissue damage within one to two hours and full damage in 24 hours.
Preventing your dog or cat from eating a battery is essential.
- Store your batteries where your cat or dog cannot get them.
- For a cat, a junk drawer left open is just a toy box.
- Placing batteries in an enclosed box in a high, closed cabinet works well. You can use designated, child-proof battery organizers or keep them in their original packaging. Amazon sells child-proof cases for batteries and many other battery holders.
- When you change the battery in a device, take the old batteries to a hazardous waste drop-off or retailer recycling bins at stores such as The Home Depot or Lowe’s. You can also call your trash collection company and ask for its requirements to dispose of batteries.
In most cases, if your pal ingests a battery and it receives prompt medical care, it can live a long, healthy life. The timing of treatment makes all the difference to their prognosis.
