Dog left at the vet's

klmno

Active Member
My dog got into the garbage this morning- there were coffee grounds, left-over fries (the frozen kind cooked in the oven), and old lettuce in there. Then she ate some grass/weeds outside until I caught her and brought her in the house. She was lethargic and quivering, like she had a stomach ache, with a warm dry nose by mid-morning. I decided to run my errands to fax infor on difficult child's father to DSS and check her later. When I came home about 1 hour later, she didn't greet me at the door and could barely stand up and was foaming at the mouth. I picked her up and her legs stiffened, her head went limp and fell back and her eyes were closing. I rushed her to the vet where the tech said it sounded like a seizure. The vet, however, said it was probably toxicity from eating garbage and he kept her to put her on fluids for the day. I'm supposed to pick her up tonight so she has someone to keep an eye on her thru the night, just in case. (What would I do if something happened during the night?) He said she would probably be fine with this because the fluids would get it out of her system quicker instead of her coming home and possibly not being able to fight it off herself. It would be horrible if she died while difficult child is incarcerated- this is his dog.

Has anyone else had experience with this?
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Maybe the coffee grounds? I dunno. My dog eats everything! Could there have been weed killer on the weeds? Or maybe some medications that may have fallen down into some crack or crevice some where? You may never know what she got into.

Hope she is ok though.
 

DaisyFace

Love me...Love me not
K--

I'm SO sorry to hear about your dog. The thing with accidental poisonings is to get the dog to vomit whatever it ate IMMEDIATELY....but after thirty minutes or so....if vomiting has not been induced, then the dog will have to process the toxin through its system. Veterinarians can provide support with fluids....but the rest is up to the dog.

The good news is that your dog has made it this far. That means that whatever he ate is not immediately deadly.....and that he has a good chance of recovering. Unfortunately, even side effects of toxins (such as rapid or irregular heartrate) CAN be deadly.

We will all rattle some beads and say some prayers that your dog can get through this ordeal. The veterinarian's office is the best place for him to be right now.

((((hugs))))

--DaisyF
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure about the coffee grounds but french fries and lettuce shouldn't have hurt her. But lettuce, like most greens, will probably be vomited right back up again. Was there any chocolate or grapes or raisins or onions she might have gotten hold of? All of them can be toxic to dogs if they eat enough of it. She may not have been feeling well anyway if she was eating grass and weeds out in the yard. I hope she's feeling better soon. It's so scary when they have to stay at the vet! I know when I take my Katy to the vet now, he just rolls his eyes and says "Well Katy, what did you eat this time?"

For future reference, if a dog has eaten something they shouldn't have, to make them throw up, give them plain old HYDROGEN PEROXIDE! Give them a few tablespoons at a time, several minutes apart, until they throw up ... and they WILL throw up! Just force it down their throat if you have to. It won't hurt them at all and if whatever junk they ate is still in their stomach, it WILL be coming back up!
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
I am so sorry
I hope she gets through this.
I will be thinking of your fur pup.
As if you need one more stressor in your life.
 

klmno

Active Member
You guys are good! These are the same questions the vet asked me! I was shocked to hear that grapes could be dangerous for a dog to eat- she has eaten them before but only had what I mentioned this time. I'm wondering if it could have been one of the weeds. Also, I heard that some mushrooms that grow in the yard can be toxic to pets. When I found her so sick after running errands I didn't check the house to see if she had thrown up but I don't see any signs now that she did. Oh- the vet said that coffee grounds would hype a dog up but were not toxic and a dog wouldn't each much of them anyway. He said he thought she would be ok because if it was an immediate acting poison, she wouldn't have held on for 2-3 hours like she had- which I think is what your were saying DF.

medications never occurred to me but I don't think there would have been any in this can of garbage. I'm glad to hear about the peroxide- I didn't know that.

I'm going to be making phone calls this afternoon so won't be on here too much, but thank you all for your good thoughts!
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Hope she's feeling ok! Poor puppy.

And a word of caution on the peroxide...works great to induce vomiting, but it very well may be projectile - just be prepared! (experience speaking!)
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Ahhh...poor doggie. I'm sorry. If he's anything like my dog growing up, he'd eat a hammer if it was available. Coffee grounds don't sound good, though. Shoot, I can't drink half a cup.

(I'm trying to block out the peroxide visual.)

Please keep us updated.

Abbey
 

klmno

Active Member
Yeah- I'd really prefer to get PM's if someone wants to share that kind of info. since this is a public forum with many lurkers.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
My dog hasn't eaten coffee grinds, but she did get into a massive amoun of garbage a couple of times. Once, she got into the garbage while I was putting my kids down for a nap after a big pool party/bbq. She ate everything...burgers, hot dogs, chips, watermelon rind. She's a 12 pound dog. Her stomach was really distended. Fortunately, my neighbor called me when she saw what she was doing and I stopped her from eating herself to death. The after effects weren't pleasant, but I didn't need to take her to the vet. I had to keep her locked up in an area with linoleum floors, because she had stuff coming out both....well you get the idea.

I hope she's okay. Poor thing.
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
Ragan, my smallest Boston, has eaten some of the most gawd awful stuff! Not food, just 'stuff'. That's why I keep the trash can on top of the washer now! Usually I never know she's eaten something weird until I see it coming out the other end! She's sneaky about it and I usually don't catch her in the act. She loves those little spongy things that the grocery store puts between the meat and the styrofoam tray and will chew them up and swallow them! And she is addicted to the foil wrappers that the margarine comes in - she gets them out of the garbage and licks them. This is sort of gross, but I heard weird noises coming out of her one day, like she was trying to throw up. And finally she comes up with this enormous pale yellow lumpy 'thing' with bits of chewed up dog food stuck to it! And while I was staring at it trying to figure out what had just come out of my dog, the darned thing starts e-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g right before my eyes like it was alive! As I watched it, it got bigger and bigger and bigger ... and I finally realized that it was a big chunk of foam rubber! Somehow she had managed to swallow an enormous hunk of foam rubber that was almost as big as her whole head! I don't see how she ever got it down, much less got it back up again! And I never did figure out where it came from!
 

klmno

Active Member
She's home! She feels much better- wagged her tail a little, ate a treat for the vet, and walked around a little after the vet took out her IV so he said she's out of the woods as far as life and death but she doesn't have it all out of her system yet. He told me in order to prevent bad diareaha (sp) to feed her rice with a little broiled ground beef or chicken. He said the rice will help absorb whatever the bad stuff is and helps it go thru the system easier. The meat is just to get the dog to eat the rice.

I have a garbage can with the lid (metal) but when it's full, she can reach in and get what is on top. I should have just taken it outside last night but didn't think she would be interested or even smell what was in there. But on the way home it dawned on me what it could have been. I had eaten all the MW bacon and thrown the package away yesterday morning. I'm wondering if she ate the paper they put between the bacon.

Anyway, she's going to be ok now, thank goodness! Thanks to all of you for your well wishes for her!!

And the vet bill- For an emergency exam, keeping her today on an IV plus giving her a booster shot before we left and giving our other dog his booster and cleaning one of his ears and giving me ear drops for them = $200. More than I have laying around but I thought that was not bad.

Shoooo....what a day!
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I'm glad she's feeling better too. You must be sooo relieved!

Actually, for all they did, a $200 vet bill isn't that bad.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
$200? That sounds like a bargain to me! I got socked with over $300 in vet bills for my dog with the urinary tract infection and incontinence. She didn't spend any time at the vet.

I'm so glad your dog is feeling better.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Oh, I'm so sorry about your dog. That is so scary!
I'm glad that she's doing better.
We've done cooked rice more times than I can count.
And peroxide just once, after one of my dogs at a bag of chocolate.
The vet bill was VERY reasonable. But I know the feeling of not having $ lying around. Sigh.
Feel better, dog and mommy.
 
Top