My cat ate coins. How soon will heavy metal poisoning symptoms appear?

Hi there! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes, a cat can swallow a coin. Hopefully, none of them ate the coin. Clinical symptoms that you may notice include nausea (which may manifests as decreased appetite, drooling and/or lip smacking), vomiting, anorexia and/or abdominal discomfort. If any of these signs are noted, have your kitty evaluated as soon as possible. If you really wanted to know for sure and you rather not wait to see if something happens, you can take them all to your veterinarian to have abdominal radiographs performed to see if the coin can be observed. I think it is fine to just monitor them for now to see if any clinical symptoms are observed. If they do fine and no clinical symptoms are observed, in all likelihood none of them ingested the coin. Good luck!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! The easiest thing to do is make an appointment today with your vet and take one X-ray. If he ate the coin it will be very obvious. If there is not coin the worry is over! Its a bit rare for a cat to ingest a coin but anything is possible. In the US it is pennies that contain zinc which is toxic causing red blood cell destruction. The US penny contains much more zinc but it is all weigh based. It doesn't happen in 4 hours, it take more time than that. It is the slow release of the zinc over time from the gastric acid. Even if there isn't enough zinc in the 10 cent Euro it is almost 2 cm in diameter. That is big for a cat to pass. The safest thing is to confirm the actual presence of the coin. If it is present and Max was my cat I would get it out so I didn't have to worry. Have a great day!

Silly Mochj! The main concerns in these situations is that sometimes the metals in the coins can absorb into the body and lead to toxicity, and coins can sometimes lead to a blockage of the digestive tract. I recommend that you make an appointment to take Mochj in to see your vet. They may want to take X-rays to see where the coin is, and they will likely recommend that you search for the coin in Mochj's poo for the next few days. They will probably want to do X-rays again in a few days if you do not find it, to see if it is stuck somewhere. If it does get stuck, they may recommend surgery to remove it to help prevent toxicity and blockage of the gastrointestinal tract. See the link below for more information, and I hope everything works out okay for Mochj! https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/coins/

Pennies are toxic. The acid in the stomach will cause the penny to break down. Once the penny starts to corrode, the zinc is released into the bloodstream and causes anemia and liver damage. It could take a few hours to a couple days before signs of toxicity start to show up. This is a medical emergency and you need to take Bandit into a vet immediately to have the pennies removed. You cannot treat this at home and you cannot leave him without treatment. Please take him into a vet now. Best of luck.

I am assuming your dog ate coins. Since he is not going to the loo, there likely is a partial obstruction or possibly even a blockage. this can be life threatening and therefore you need to take your dog to your veterinarian today for an exam and x-ray which will show up any problems. In the event of an obstruction the coins will need to be removed surgically.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do back home and he needs to be seen by your veterinarian as soon as possible as this type of foreign body can cause chronic inflammation and sit down in the gastrointestinal system for long time if not removed appropriately. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

It doesn’t say what the medication was. Luckily Rio didn’t eat much of it. I certainly would monitor him closely for the next twelve hours and if you are seeing any behavioral changes, vomiting or diarrhea then please take him right in for treatment. Please only give medications that your veterinarian has prescribed since cats are very sensitive to medications and many are very toxic to cats. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Rio.