My dog just ate part of a mercury thermometer

[tridim]

Google says that if she swallowed any mercury it'll pass through her system intact, so it's not that dangerous. Bad luck just seems to follow her everywhere. Two knee surgeries, epilepsy and bi-weekly seizures, a pierced eyeball, and now mercury ingestion all in less than 2 years. What's next?

[Massacure]

1. Mercury is poisonous...

[democracyindanger]

2. Will vote republican?

[BrklynLiberal]

3. That is one very curious little puppy....

Why do't you call a vet and make sure it will be ok.
Did your pup eat the glass part too. That is what could do some damage.

[tridim]

5. It looks like she just popped the silver part off

and gave up after that.. It was in it's plastic case and she cracked that open to get to it.

I also gave her some hydrogen peroxide and she vomited up everything including some treats I gave her 6 hours ago, so I think it's all out of there.

[drdon326]

4. Mercury used to be used as a laxative eons ago.

i would put some pads out.

[tridim]

7. My Grandpa used to bring home big jars of mercury

for my Dad to play with when he was a kid. He said he would push it around on the floor with his hands.. Like the melting scene in Terminator 2.

[Kat45]

12. So did Frank Zappa's father.

[lakeguy]

6. take a look at this link if you came into contact...

http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/genpub/topics/mercury.html

once mercury is out in the open, it can vaporize, be absorbed through the skin, etc. very dangerous stuff!!!

[DrWeird]

8. You're sure it was mercury?

Not good if it was. But a dog's lifespan is short enough that they might not live long enough to see some of the harmful effects.

[sleepyhead]

9. feed her some gooey white bread (like Wonder)

It will surround any glass shards and help her pass them without damage to her intestines.

[tridim]

10. Good advice. Thanks.

[sir_captain]

11. Not gonna work, sadly

It might help in the stomach, but by the time food gets to the intestines, it's a liquid called chum, and the glass might still be able to do some damage.

[lakeguy]

14. the glass will pass through with no problem, most likely.

it's the mercury you should be concerned with. make sure you clean up properly according to the link i gave up a few posts.

[sleepyhead]

20. The bread will still add volume

so that the glass may still be surrounded and not abrade the intestinal walls. It's an old-timey remedy that we used to use when I worked at an emergency clinic out in the boonies. Seemed to work pretty well.

[brentspeak]

13. Now if it was a single drop of dimethyl mercury...

...it would be quite tragic.

About ten years ago, a chemistry professor at Dartmouth had a single drop of dimethyl mercury touch her latex-gloved hand. Three months later, her vision had narrowed to the diameter of a pencil and her limbs were like spastic tubes of rubber. She died three months later.

One of the many horror stories you learn about in chem grad school.

[lakeguy]

16. yup, methyl mercury is the nasty stuff. it's generally what bioaccumulates

in nature and is why we can't eat the fish we catch any more. but bush cut mercury protections because the energy industry wasn't making enough money. could have been a 90% reduction in emissions by 2006 (clinton's plan) but now we're looking at 70% in about 10 or 15 years.

[sir_captain]

17. What is it with chem grad school?

My TA in gen chem in college was a grad student who worked for the Harvard Chemistry professor that caused a couple of his students to kill themselves!

[brentspeak]

18. Well, that would be Prof. E.J. Corey

Nobel prize winner, organic chemist.

I know the story: two of his students in the past ten years committed suicide. One was a brand-new student from China, two weeks in the U.S.; almost certainly not Corey's fault. The other was a sixth-year American, who killed himself in traditional chemist fashion: swallowing a capsule of cyanide.

Even though I think Corey is probably a real jerk (guy has a traffic light affixed to his office door -- red means stay away, yellow means 'don't piss him off', green is rare), his student had inner demons separate from Corey's harsh supervision.

[sir_captain]

19. What I heard

was that Corey told the American student that he (Corey) was going to prevent him from ever advancing in the field of chemistry. And the guy's suicide note pinned the blame on Corey, whether that's fair or not. And he's only allowed to supervise post-docs now, for what that's worth.

[brentspeak]

21. It's a "he-said/he-said"

Corey claims that he told his student that he really liked him, and that he had nothing to worry about re. finding a good academic position; the student's suicide note said otherwise. In any event, Harvard chem dept. changed its mentoring policy as a result, and students can now deal with a committee of three profs rather than be at the mercy of just a single prof, who otherwise would have the unilateral power to make-or-break one's career.

[sir_captain]

22. Interesting...thanks

I definitely got a biased point of view, for sure...

[tridim]

23. Everything I've read so far says no worries ingesting liquid mercury

They say it stays intact as it passes.. The answers were in response to questions about kids breaking a thermometer in their mouth. I'm not too worried.

I'm also sure she vomited up any glass, there's no way she had time to digest it. It was only in her belly 10 minutes or so, and that's assuming she ate any at all.

[soothsayer]

15. We played with mercury all the time when we were kids

Didn't eat it, but touched it, held it, scooted it around. Had a big ol' (heavy!) test tube full of it!

Sigh, those were the days.