Poison Control

[bubba]

So there I sat yesterday afternoon. Cooper was being the perfect dog (or so I thought!) . I kept watching him as he lay outside my craft room door chewing on his rawhide and other toys he had scattered around him. I do not know how in the blink of an eye a rawhide turns into a tube of prescription steroid creme used for psoriasis, but it did! At first, I was in a panic because of the the metal which is heavier than normal tubes was now half gone. Then I realized that there had to be medicine in it to boot. I quickly call my husband to see how much may have been left in the tube, since by now it was pretty much flattened and half eaten! He thought there was probably 1-2 teaspoons left. I call the vet....they know nothing and refer me to the emergency vet. I call them, they know nothing and refer me to the ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center (http://www.aspca.org/apcc), explaining that they are non profit and charge $50 for a consultation. I get out the wallet and call. For some reason, they did not charge me a fee, which I gladly would have paid just for the information they gave me. Turns out, what he had ingested can be fatal and they told me what to watch for. I then call the emergency vet back, and we went right in.

They whisked him away for treatment, then explained what they were going to do. Seems they induce vomiting by placing eyedrops in the their eyes. Whatever drug this is, acts as a binding agent, so he proceeded to puke up all the metal, plus the medicine, plus the food he had eaten right afterwards. Once he was done doing that business, they gave him the charcoal stuff. After that, came something that makes you quit being sick all over the place. They then brought him out and you never would have known anything had been wrong!! Had he not been on his leash, he'd have been prancing all over the waiting room, meeting and greeting everyone! They said the anti-throwing up drug even had morphine in it to keep him calm and sedated and they could not believe their eyes! I asked if they'd ever seen a cairn puppy before! Another couple in the waiting room who were visiting their recuperating cairn saw Cooper and said, nope, he's normal!

After paying out my nose, off we went. We get home, and after the warnings of what the charcoal w/it's India ink can do to fabric, wood, and porous surfaces, I let him in the yard where he proceeded to make at least eight laps at the speed of sound then roll around in the wet grass till he was soaked! Morphine??? Sick??? Fatal??? Appears not to be! He was still alive and well this morning as I left for work, so hopefully he won't be harmed. They said that in 3-4 weeks, his body could produce an abundance of steroids causing Cushings disease and what to look for, but that that was treatable/curable. I'm hoping for the best.

Anyway, this was just to let everyone know of the Animal Poison Control, as I had never known it existed before.

pat.

[wags]

Pat, that must have been so scary and I'm glad Cooper is okay.

[bradl]

Glad Cooper has you looking out for him... he sounds like quite a trooper, too. Thank you for posting the Poison Control link. I just had a look. Did you see one of their photo's has as a mascot Cooper the Careful Canine?!

[bubba]

I never made it that far into the webpage before the phone answerer picked up the phone....I just talked to her, hung up and left! But thanks....I'll have to back and check it out. The 'careful one' certainly isn't my Cooper!

pat.