We spent last Saturday helping family clean out and start renovating a farm house they purchased in Mid-Missouri. The house has been empty for a while and the previous inhabitant was more than a little lacking when it came to general home upkeep and cleanliness. So, we spent the day cleaning up, patching walls and tearing out carpet. We were crazy busy and didn't give much thought to the rodent poison that was in closets and the garage to help rid the home of those lovely woodland creatures that like to take refuge in empty houses. Ellsie and Oscar had sniffed at some when we first arrived and quickly turned away from it. The dogs were busy exploring, swimming and harassing our nieces so I didn't think they would bother with it. Bosco, evidently, felt the need to prove me wrong.
That afternoon as we began preparing to leave, Bosco, who had been driven inside by rain and was following me around whining, became suddenly quiet in a walk-in closet. I walked in to find him quickly polishing off a tray of mouse poison. Of course he would do that. If any dog was going to chow down on a harmful substance like the fat kid in the river of chocolate in Willie Wonka, it would be Bosco. He once ate a large helping of a grass, fertilizer and mulch composite from the yard just for kicks. So, anyway, I immediately went into panic mode. . Not having any children yet, my dogs are my little fur babies. One of them dying a horrible death from poisoning would be devastating. I knew we had to get him to throw up ASAP so we needed peroxide. Being in an empty house there was no peroxide around. Thankfully my parents live just a few minutes away so we loaded Bosco in the back of the blazer and I tore down the driveway. The faster we could get the poison out of his stomach the better so I was doing 50+ on the gravel roads and scared the daylights out of an old woman when I flew past her on the one lane road. Sorry for that.
At my parents house I ran in like a maniac, told them what happened and grabbed peroxide. My dad and I went to the garage armed with a peroxide filled squirt bottle while my mom called everyone she knows in the veterinary field. Dad holds Bosco's head and pries his mouth open. I get a couple of squirts of peroxide in and Bosco immediately projectiles half of it back out and into my dad's face. Whoops. Dad actually handled it very well: wiped his face and grabbed Bosco again. We hold him down and squirt a bit more peroxide in and we wait. I get a phone call from Luke (who stayed behind at the house with Ellsie and Oscar) who tells me that he found another empty poison tray in the garage that he knows had been full at the beginning of the day. Great. There are potentially two trays of poison in Bosco's stomach. After 10 minutes Bosco still hasn't thrown up. He's just walking around the garage wagging his tail, getting into the recycling bin and whining because he wants to go outside. Time for round two of peroxide. I squirt some more in and wait another 10 minutes. Bosco starts looking a bit uncomfortable and begins pacing. He does a couple of dry heaves but nothing comes out. I'm telling ya, this dog looked like he was determined to keep his little snack and was swallowing his vomit back down. Ten minutes later he still hadn't puked so I squirt a bit more peroxide in his mouth. That did it. In just a few minutes Bosco begins hurling all over the garage- not a pretty sight. Sure enough a large pile of poison comes out. Definitely more then one trays worth. After the puking subsides I start to relax a little bit.
I went inside and my mom tells me that she found out Bosco needs to get a vitamin K shot to reverse any effects the poison could have on him. She also got ahold of the vet who just happens to live down the road and that she has a vitamin K shot ready and waiting for him at her house. Pretty lucky, huh? So I load Bosco up and head down the gravel road again, this time obeying the speed limit. Bosco gets his shot and the vet tells me he needs to go on vitamin K pills but she doesn't have any at her house so we need to get him to our vet and get him started on the pills the next day. Well, being late afternoon on a Saturday, our vet is already closed and won't reopen til Monday morning so we decide to take Bosco to the emergency vet clinic our vet refers to. We load all the dogs up and head for home.
At the emergency clinic Bosco gets an exam and a prescription for some vitamin K chewables. When we get home we decide to make Ellsie and Oscar throw up just to check to see if there is any sign of poison in their stomachs. I head to our unfinished basement with them and peroxide. Poor pups. It was a terrible scene, the two of them walking around heaving. They wanted nothing to do with me for a bit after that. Evil woman with her evil bottle of puke juice. We didn't find any blue or green in their vomit but it had been several hours so it could have been digested. On Sunday, because I tend to be a worrier, I keep thinking of "what if" scenarios for Ellsie and Oscar eating the poison. I feared that even a pellet could hurt 10 pound Oscar. Monday I talk to our regular vet and fill her in on all that went down over the weekend. She suggests that if we aren't 100% sure that Ellsie and Oscar didn't eat even a little bit of poison that we should start them on vitamin K just to be safe. So, we now have 3 dogs getting daily doses of vitamin K for 3 weeks. It's like we're running a doggie nursing home.
My sister-in-love, Laurie, has told me I could probably write a blog exclusively about Bosco. I would say she is probably right. All of the above didn't slow Bosco down for even a minute. Poison? Ha! He must have an iron gut. Bosco is a one of a kind dog. He keeps things very interesting around our house. If there's a dog that is going to get into trouble in any situation, its Bosco. Perhaps he ate the poison because he just couldn't handle that the Tigers lost in a huge upset the day before and wanted to end it all. Perhaps he thought our day at the farm was a bit dull and wanted to add someexcitement chaos. Perhaps he just really thought it tasted delightful. I mean, millions of dead rodents couldn't be wrong! Perhaps, that's just so very.......Bosco.
That afternoon as we began preparing to leave, Bosco, who had been driven inside by rain and was following me around whining, became suddenly quiet in a walk-in closet. I walked in to find him quickly polishing off a tray of mouse poison. Of course he would do that. If any dog was going to chow down on a harmful substance like the fat kid in the river of chocolate in Willie Wonka, it would be Bosco. He once ate a large helping of a grass, fertilizer and mulch composite from the yard just for kicks. So, anyway, I immediately went into panic mode. . Not having any children yet, my dogs are my little fur babies. One of them dying a horrible death from poisoning would be devastating. I knew we had to get him to throw up ASAP so we needed peroxide. Being in an empty house there was no peroxide around. Thankfully my parents live just a few minutes away so we loaded Bosco in the back of the blazer and I tore down the driveway. The faster we could get the poison out of his stomach the better so I was doing 50+ on the gravel roads and scared the daylights out of an old woman when I flew past her on the one lane road. Sorry for that.
At my parents house I ran in like a maniac, told them what happened and grabbed peroxide. My dad and I went to the garage armed with a peroxide filled squirt bottle while my mom called everyone she knows in the veterinary field. Dad holds Bosco's head and pries his mouth open. I get a couple of squirts of peroxide in and Bosco immediately projectiles half of it back out and into my dad's face. Whoops. Dad actually handled it very well: wiped his face and grabbed Bosco again. We hold him down and squirt a bit more peroxide in and we wait. I get a phone call from Luke (who stayed behind at the house with Ellsie and Oscar) who tells me that he found another empty poison tray in the garage that he knows had been full at the beginning of the day. Great. There are potentially two trays of poison in Bosco's stomach. After 10 minutes Bosco still hasn't thrown up. He's just walking around the garage wagging his tail, getting into the recycling bin and whining because he wants to go outside. Time for round two of peroxide. I squirt some more in and wait another 10 minutes. Bosco starts looking a bit uncomfortable and begins pacing. He does a couple of dry heaves but nothing comes out. I'm telling ya, this dog looked like he was determined to keep his little snack and was swallowing his vomit back down. Ten minutes later he still hadn't puked so I squirt a bit more peroxide in his mouth. That did it. In just a few minutes Bosco begins hurling all over the garage- not a pretty sight. Sure enough a large pile of poison comes out. Definitely more then one trays worth. After the puking subsides I start to relax a little bit.
I went inside and my mom tells me that she found out Bosco needs to get a vitamin K shot to reverse any effects the poison could have on him. She also got ahold of the vet who just happens to live down the road and that she has a vitamin K shot ready and waiting for him at her house. Pretty lucky, huh? So I load Bosco up and head down the gravel road again, this time obeying the speed limit. Bosco gets his shot and the vet tells me he needs to go on vitamin K pills but she doesn't have any at her house so we need to get him to our vet and get him started on the pills the next day. Well, being late afternoon on a Saturday, our vet is already closed and won't reopen til Monday morning so we decide to take Bosco to the emergency vet clinic our vet refers to. We load all the dogs up and head for home.
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| Waiting at the Emergency Vet. Looks so innocent, doesn't he? |
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| Attempting to escape the exam room and follow the vet. "Darn leash, always holding me back!" |
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| The peroxide at our house. When you have a Bosco you invest in the value size. |
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| pills, pills, pills |
My sister-in-love, Laurie, has told me I could probably write a blog exclusively about Bosco. I would say she is probably right. All of the above didn't slow Bosco down for even a minute. Poison? Ha! He must have an iron gut. Bosco is a one of a kind dog. He keeps things very interesting around our house. If there's a dog that is going to get into trouble in any situation, its Bosco. Perhaps he ate the poison because he just couldn't handle that the Tigers lost in a huge upset the day before and wanted to end it all. Perhaps he thought our day at the farm was a bit dull and wanted to add some
Big THANK YOU to all who helped us during our little crisis.
Thanks to you Bosco will live to die another day.....hopefully
in the distant future :)
