This morning, I had a morning that will live in infamy.
Seriously, this one will go down as one of the greats.
Slight amount of background- The Hubs leaves for work every day at 5:30am and I usually sleep through that and get up around 6:30am, walk the pups for a while, then shower and get ready for the day. We've got this down to a routine that we can all deal with. Most days, the time the Hubs is awake and getting ready to go the dogs split their time- OD (the small kiddo) either stays in bed, or moves out to the couch in the office, where he snuggles under a blanket. Piper will wander about, following her Boy and getting pets on the head until he leaves, then she tries to wake me up by standing up on the side of the bed, then gives up and gets back in bed until my alarm goes off. Yes, she understands the alarm and that it means I am awake and moving. Crazy.
This morning, The Hubs came in to say good bye- I grunted some sort of loving word-like noises at him, and then he left. Within about 5 minutes, OD was standing up on BOTH sides of the bed to try and get my attention. I ignored it, thinking he was just being hopeful. He left and got on his couch. A beat or 2 later, my muddled mind realized I hadn't heard Piper in a while (silence is the first sign of trouble), So I perked up and listened.
I heard rustling. The sound of Feet landing heavy. More rustling.
Oh crap
Not good.
I get up and head out to the main rooms, and as I leave the bedroom, Piper comes around the corner, walking so hunkered down she was practically crawling....
oh crap
not good.
I look in the kitchen and see a plate on the floor. I wrestle with my sleep addled brain and then realize- GRAPES! I had left some grapes out on the counter the night before.
She had pulled down the plate, picked the grapes OFF the stem (she's so delicate) and eaten maybe 15 LARGE green grapes.
Now, in case anyone doesn't know- and apparently not many do- grapes (and even more so, raisins) are toxic to dogs- they can cause renal failure and death. Some dogs are more sensitive then others, and the exact chemical cause remains unknown.
I knew this. I also knew that Piper has survived MANY incidents with the toxic chocolate in her day. I wasn't panicked at all, but I knew I wasn't going back to sleep. I grabbed my phone and got in bed to research what had to happen next.
As per usual when you research medical things on line- most of the information was VERY fatalistic. I found one article that was more even in tone, so decided to listen to that one. Basically, it told me what COULD happen, and what to look out for, but also what I could do to help. There was one very simple thing I could do to help make sure her system rejected as much of it as possible.
Make her Barf.
Oh great. It's 5:40 am on a Thursday and my main goal in life for the next while would be to cause dog barf to happen. Oh joy!
I grab the hydrogen peroxide (look up information before using this- there is a specific weight to amount ratio, and it can easily be overdone and therefore dangerous) a spoon and a cup, and I make the dog come outside with me.
I apply the first amount and wait with her, in my pajamas, in the predawn-ish, to see if she'll vomit, and if she does what will be in it.
ugh, are you kidding me?
15 minutes later, we got nothing. So application # 2 is done- and let me tell you, she was less then thrilled about this the second time. I can't imagine why- I'm sure it tastes soooo good.......
I move her onto the driveway- a fenced in area where I can see more of what she's doing since there's no grass to hide in.
Within 5 minutes we had liftoff. We had liftoff all over the damn place. Every color and texture of liftoff you could possible handle at 6:05 in the morning. I got to inspect it even.
As far as I could tell, we had gotten all of it, or at least the vast majority of it, out of her system. I sat with her for a while out there, waiting for the effects of the peroxide to wear off. Those effects are as unpleasant to witness as they are to experience, I would wager. While I was waiting, I hear a little scratching at the door. OD is sad he's been alone for so long and wants to come out. At this point I figure what the hell and let him join in the fun. He's more interested in hunting rodents in our ivy anyway.
After about 20 more minutes, I figure the worst of it is over, so we all go inside. Mistake. Within 5 minutes of being inside, round 3 starts up, and now I'm cleaning the carpet. EVERYONE OUT- the dogs got locked in the back yard, and I got to cleaning. Eventually, the vets off ice opened, and I called in our little experience- an hour later the Vet called me back and let me know she thought everything would be fine since I got the barfing happening so quickly. Pat on my back for barf timing!
The second question- WHEN would the barfing stop? 'Cause I have to go to work eventually.... By 3 hrs, we should be in the clear? Ok, great, I can work with that- a tiny bit late to work was worth it.
I should note- through ALL of this mess, Piper stayed her attention starved moonie-eyed self. She just wanted to be with me the entire time, even when I was practically throwing her outside mid- vomit. Her sweet disposition just doesn't change for anything when she's home with us. No matter what the circumstance. You have to admire that just a little bit.
So a few hours, and a lot of vomit later and everything was cleared up. We'll keep an eye on her for a couple of days, but it looks like we're most likely in the clear at this point. If we see any signs of odd behavior or changes in eating/ drinking habits we'll rush her to the Dr, but for now she seems to be doing fine.
As for me, I don't know what will happen now, I'm tired, for sure, but now I'll be so paranoid to be asleep when The Hubs leaves for work in the morning.... I think I have a new alarm for a few days....
