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An Interesting Morning … to Say the Least

Let’s start this post off with several points:
–        
Toby is perfectly fine.
–        
This is a personal website, and nothing here should
ever be used in place of advice given by your vet.
–        
I debated long and hard about writing this, because I
was afraid some group wouldn’t ever adopt to me because of it.
All that said, here we go.
If you’ve been reading this website since it started, or
follow us on Facebook, you likely know that Toby has bad knees, and specifically
suffers from luxating patella. He has had it since he was a puppy.
We have researched and been presented with different options
on how to treat it over the years, and the he one we decided to go with, and
what seems to be most advised for a dog his size, was just crate rest.
Toby is definitely an all or nothing type of dog. He’s
either totally into something and gives it his all, or he has no interest in it
and doesn’t want to do it that he actually freaks out a little.
So, when Toby decides he wants to play, he really wants to
play. Sometimes, he pushes his knees too far, and sometimes it’s before I can
see any signs that he’s done that. Apparently, this past weekend was one of
those times.
When it bothers him, he won’t put down his leg and holds it
in the air. Usually, it’s just for a day. Well, Sunday he started doing it a
little, but he brought me his ball and wanted to play and pretty much acted
normal. 
 

Monday, however, he wouldn’t put his leg down at all, and
was even whimpering at time, but overall he was acting pretty normal, so crate
was not necessary. But, I did give him his pain pill that I have on hand in
these situations. He gets half a tablet.
Tuesday was another story. It seemed to be getting worse. So,
we started carrying him up and down stairs and wouldn’t let him jump on or off
the couch.
Wednesday morning as I was leaving for work, I went to give
him a hug goodbye and he made a loud yelping noise. I got very upset, and
decided it was time for another dose of pain meds and the crate.
I put my bags down went into the kitchen, cut two small
pieces of mozzarella cheese – one with the pill it and one without – and brought
them in to Toby who was laying on his bed in the living room. He gobbled them
up.
As I went back into the kitchen I realized, “Oh, sh**! I
gave him a whole pill and not the half.”
Every worse case scenario went through my head. I
immediately tried calling my vet, but they weren’t open. So, I called the next
best thing to a vet – my aunt. She pretty much is a vet just without the
letters after her name.
She explained that what I would have to do is make Toby
throw up the pill, and the way you do that is by giving them 5 mil of hydrogen peroxide
(which is one teaspoon). I had never heard of this and freaked out (although
apparently, this seemed to be common knowledge to many pet owners who I talked
with afterward, and a simple Google search will tell you this, too).
I called my vet one more time. A receptionist was there, but
no vets who could help me. They wouldn’t be in for another half hour. I was not
waiting a half hour.
Called back my aunt and she walked me through it. But, how
was I going to get hydrogen peroxide down Toby’s throat? My aunt rattled off a
bunch of idea, which of course with my luck, I didn’t have. Then I thought of a
shot glass. It was small so Toby would think it was some kind of liquid treat
maybe?
Somehow, it worked and he let me pour it right down.
Then it was time to wait. I cleared an area in the kitchen
for him to walk around, and where he could safely “get sick.”
In the meantime, I stood at the counter cutting every single
pill that was left in half, so this mistake could never be made again by either
me or someone else.
A few minutes later, it began. I’ll save you the gross
details, but I quickly found the piece of mozzarella and found the pill.
Poor Toby just looked at me like, “What the heck?!” I just
keep reassuring him it was for his own good.
  
His dosage is a half a pill every 12 hours, so in
retrospect, and after talking with some experts, he would have likely been
fine, because it wasn’t one pill every 24 hours.
But, I still panicked.
He was with my Dad for the rest of the day and was perfectly
fine. He was even excited to see me when I got home from work, and cuddled with
me all night on the couch.
I felt like a terrible pet owner for most of the day
yesterday, until after I posted a photo of what the counter looked like after
it was all over {because it did kind of look a little like a celebrity hotel
room}, and started hearing stories of other incidents, I did feel a little
better. 
One of the lessons out of this is, however, that now I know
additional dog related “first aid” should I ever need it, which I hope I will never to
have to use again.
I decided to share this for several reasons: 
– We all screw up sometimes. 
– Mistakes happen.
– I’ve always been honest with my readers, and owning a dog is not all about playing in the snow and cuddling on the couch.
– No one got injured, or hurt. 
– I didn’t know using hydrogen peroxide in an emergency situation in this way would aid the situation.

2 thoughts on “An Interesting Morning … to Say the Least

  1. Poor baby. I hope he is feeling better (tummy and knee). We had to use hydrogen peroxide with one of my family's dogs growing up. We found this out by using the animal poison control hotline (very useful when the vet is closed and you need an answer asap when you dog ingests something).

  2. Oh, I'm so glad it worked, and Toby is ok! Ya know, I've never heard of the peroxide for vomiting either. I've always used salt. That works too. Butt, some dogs can't have extra salt….whatever works!
    Well, sometimes shite happens…
    Kisses,
    Ruby

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