When a dog eats something he should not

Every job has its perks. Being married to an attorney means free legal advice. Being married to a chef means at least one of you knows how to cook. Being married to a cab driver means you can always get great directions (admittedly less valuable in the age of GPS). And being married to a veterinarian means (convenient but not free) pet care. 

This is never more valuable than at 11pm and your dog

(Leo from a few days ago)

is vomiting and won't stop. First, she can tell the difference between incidental vomiting and vomiting that signals trouble. Second, she can pack him up in the car at 11pm and take him to get x-rays, which she can also read for herself and deem to be inconclusive. She can prescribe and administer medicine right there-- no waiting. And she can keep an eagle eye on him through the night.

The next day she can determine he's not doing better. Then she can pack him in the car again and get more x-rays, which today show something more suspicious. She can email them to specialists and have then concur that there is an obstruction and she can schedule surgery twenty minutes later, which she can perform herself. 

She can remove a peach pit from the middle of his intestine and text me a photo (WARNING--possible gross alert.

And she can recite all the possible post-op complications so we can worry about him together.

All this she can do, and I'll tell you, it's pretty great.



Thanks for reading.

So hide the chocolate covered raisins.

We all know chocolate is bad for dogs. And did you know onions are bad too? So when you let your dog clean up the dinner plate make sure you didn't cook with onions. And then there is gum with xanthan.

Also, grapes. And raisins. You may have heard that too. Just so you know how seriously pet professionals take it, here's a little story.

Our new dog, Leo, a seven month old golden doodle, was table surfing on Sunday and got into some grapes that were left out. We figure he ate about a half dozen. My wife, the veterinarian, immediately fed him milk laced with hydrogen peroxide to make him vomit. After several minutes of waiting we decided it wasn't going to work so she took him to the clinic to give him an injection to make him vomit.

Within two minutes he started heaving up all the grapes, plus what remained of his breakfast and anything else he'd gotten into that morning. Poor little guy. The bad part was that he had obedience class later that day and was a little out of sorts for it.  The good part is, after careful inspection, all the grapes were accounted for. (Inspection isn't as fun as it sounds).

The lesson here is that any grapes are bad. Even one. We don't know what element of grapes is the problem, but the result can be acute kidney failure.* And it's not dosage dependent. It's not like a big dog can eat one grape and be fine. It's more like a roll of the dice, where some dogs have a problem and some don't, like some people can die from a bee sting and some don't. And there's no way of telling.

* this link is to an article that requires registration to read. It's free and you can opt out of unwanted emails

Many years ago, before we knew about grapes, which have only been implicated for a few years, we fed our doberman grapes all the time. In fact any grape that has a bruise or blemish was called a Katie grape and fed to her. She never had a problem. And if she'd developed kidney failure at some point we'd have had no clue it was due to grapes.

One day well know what causes it, but that probably won't change the rule: No grapes for dogs. Or raisins, which are 4.5 times more concentrated. Save them for yourself.


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Dog Toy of the Month

My wife went to a veterinary conference, and part of the fun of that is the huge exhibit hall they have with vendors of anything from antibiotics to x-ray machines. She collects brochures, business cards, pens, To-Do lists, and those red and white mints that don't quite satisfy your sweet tooth and only make your breath smell fresh for ninety seconds. She gets to watch videos of the latest in laser equipment and ultrasounds, and practice her polite smile that tells the salesperson, "No thanks, I'm not interested in hog castration tools today."

She also likes to find the latest in toys for our dog, Titus, while she's there. One year she brought home a set of purple toys made by Premier, which have lasted very well through vigorous chewing. But this year she found the best ever. It's called a Bouncy Bone, with a ball made of the indestructible purple rubber in the middle, and nylon ends. One of the nylon ends unscrews and you place a "gnawhide" disc on it and screw it back together. The disc is made of cornstarch and probably flavored like a steak dinner or one of your tennis shoes.

This is Titus enjoying his Bouncy Bone

[Dog Toy of the Month is a periodic feature of Aurora Boardealis and is not to be confused with Toy Dog of the Month, which will celebrate a tiny canine we have met.].