This is about my sister's LabX puppy, who is about 16 weeks old... I'm desperately hoping someone has good news about a dog recovering from this. Her pup started counter cruising and early on Monday morning he knocked the box of bicarb off the counter. They're not sure how much he ate, but not realising how dangerous it was they only got him to the vet some 8 hours later - when my mom found him looking very miserable and vomiting. He's spent two nights at the vet on a drip, not really eating, vomiting... I have found this info in a number of places but nothing anywhere about the prognosis: "The exact thing that makes baking soda such an excellent leavening agent in baking is what also makes it so deadly to dogs — namely that when baking soda is exposed to an acidic substance and heat... when it goes into your dog's stomach and begins expanding, releasing potentially deadly gasses into his gut." I am so heart sore for my sister and her puppy Ragnar! It seems the damage to his stomach and intestines is bad... The vet has allowed him to go home after two nights in hospital, but he's on small meals of soft food and still vomiting. The vet says it could be a couple of weeks before he can eat properly, but there may be further damage to his internal organs that they can't see. Please tell me someone knows if he is going to be okay? :'(
Okay, so Ragnar seems to be doing better - he's keen to eat but they are keeping his food and water to small portions, else he throws up! He's wagging his tail, and gradually becoming more active.
What an awful experience for your sister and poor Ragnar. I have no wise words but just to say I really hope he makes a full recovery.
Sodium bicarb should just pass through the system quite quickly. If the gas was going to be a problem, it would have been due to excess gas at the time causing stretching/tearing, it's just carbon dioxide which is what they pump in during virtual colonoscopies so the gas itself shouldn't be a problem, just the volume. There may be some limited inflammation from the bicarb, but dogs are very good at being sick so it sounds as though most of it would have been brought up. Hopefully the inflammation will soon settle.
