chlorine accident

[karenz]

I know this sounds crazy but any advice would be helpful. Last night I put a heavy dose of chlorine in the pool and forgot to backwash the filter first. So I turned the backwash on without thinking that all that chlorine was going to dump out the pipe. Of course Xander immediately starts biting the water coming out. It took a minute to run over and turn it off. He ingested some of the chlorine water. He immediately started shaking his head and threw up. I called the emergency vet office and they directed me to call the pet poison control center. They told me that he needs pepcid (the same as people take) and sucralfate. I called the vet back and they said to give him pepcid and milk and that would do the same for preventing damage to his esophagus and stomach. He has been acting perfectly fine but I'm so worried that it caused damage. I'm going to call my vet today and see about getting the sucralfate. Does anyone have any suggestions that would help as far as preventing damage? Is there anything else that may help coat his stomach and esophagus? According to the poison control center the main issue is coating everything so it doesn't cause ulcers etc....

[Dutchringgirl]

not sure about how much chlorine got out. once you put it in the pool it dissipates and the back wash may not be heavily concentrated as if he just drank out of a bucket of the stuff. I always worry too as my girls like to drink from the pool so when I am going to put stuff in it, I keep an eye out to keep them away.

[karenz]

Our backwash pipe runs to the other side of the fence but out filter is broke so I hooked up a temporary one that I barrowed. I just stuck a straight pvc pipe on it and it's dumping in the ba kyard. I'm so use to not worrying about it that I just did it without thinking. I got the sucralfate now. He acts perfectly fine. He probably didn't swallow as much as I think he did. I just want to do as much as I can to prevent any damage. Also can anyone give me any suggestions as to what to look out for, symptoms or signs, that may indicate ulcers or bleeding or any other serious problems in the digestive system? Anything that would scream "run to the vet".

[karenz]

Also I didn't put the chlorine in the actual pool. I had put it in the stainer which completely sent it directly out the backwash. It didn't have time to dilute very much.

[Dutchringgirl]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

Check out these articles Karen:
http://www.vetinfo.com/vets/answers/did ... oisoning#b
http://m.petmd.com/dog/emergency/poison ... ed_poisons

If you notice burns in the mouth, not eating, black stool, blood, or anything that would indicate he was harmed, I'd be worried. However, chlorine is soluble and reacts with water, so the amount in pools should not be harmful even if ingested a few minutes after. He may have vomited because water went down the wrong pipe. I would still check with the vet but I think you caught it early enough to prevent any damage that may have been caused.

[karenz]

Owned by hendrix: thanks for the info. No burns in the mouth that I can see. He doesn't act like his mouth bothers him. He is eating, no blood in stools, no black tarry stools that I can tell. Lol.... I had to google pictures of poop today so I would know what to look for.. No vomiting no diarrhea. I hope you are right and I caught it quick enough. The reason I think it was strongly chlorinated is when I realized what was happening the water coming out was white and cloudy. The pool is clear. Plus he was shaking his head a rubbing his snout on everything including me as if it was burning badly. I talked to the vet this morning and got the sucralfate. He was nice enough to give it to me without seeing him. He said if I had any doubts any time that something was bad wrong to bring him but if everything seemed ok it wasn't necessary. I'm sure I will worry for a few more days. I'm sure a paranoid over protective momma.

[Dutchringgirl]

Im sure we all would be acting the same way. Maybe if he was biting at it it went up his nose and down the wrong way so that is why he threw up. We will be thinking of him and hoping all is well and its nothing.

[karenz]

Thanks dutchringgirl. I will keep y'all update. At least I got the pet poison control center number stored in my phone now. I never even knew there was such a thing.

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

Please do keep us updated!