In Britain, a 14-week old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, named Ivy, lost her life after she bit through an e-cigarette device and ingested a small dose of the nicotine liquid. Within hours, the puppy died from nicotine poisoning.
Fifty-six-year-old Keith Sutton had left the bottle of the liquid on his dining room table while he stepped into the kitchen. Ivy found it and started nibbling on it. Unfortunately, she pierced the plastic container and ingested some of the poisonous liquid.
“She had only ingested the tiniest amount but by the time I picked her up she was frothing at the mouth,” Sutton told Daily Mail.
In an effort to save her life the worried owner used water to cool the pet down, but the puppy kept vomiting and soiling herself. Her lips and tongue were completely blue.
Sutton and his partner called veterinarians and doctors recommended Ivy be rushed to their clinic.
“When we got there the vet went on to the veterinary websites but couldn’t find anything about nicotine poisoning,” said Sutton. “He eventually went away and got an old book on poisons. He shook his head and told us it wasn’t good.”
The young dog was given steroids and hooked to an IV to hydrate her. Veterinarians kept a close eye on her but the next morning the dog had passed away from organ failure. Ivy’s lungs and heart stopped working.
The passing of Ivy is the first registered case of a pet dying from ingesting liquid nicotine, there are registered cases of dogz dying from chewing large amounts of tobacco.
The e-liquid is a mixture of chemicals like propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol 400, vegetable glycerin, flavorings, and nicotine. Small doses of the mixture are not harmful to humans but to an animal the small dose is fatal.
The nicotine poisoning symptoms to look for in pets are: vomiting, diarrhea, problems breathing and heart problems. These symptoms can appear just a minute after ingesting liquid nicotine.
Please treat electric cigarettes and its components the same way you would household chemicals. Keep them out of children’s and pets’ reach.
