Drugs and wreckovations

The saying “you can’t kill a brown dog” must be true.

Bert the wonder dog was leisurely lazing about on the bed, waiting for Rob and I to get back home after “pruning” a tree at my sister’s house. We were taking bets as to what he had chewed up in our absence. I said an Ugg Boot and a bra, Rob thought shoes.

We walk through the door at nearly 6pm. The little bugger is on the bed, tailing wagging, surrounded by many many Nurofen tablets and bits of plastic Nurofen bottle.
We pried 2 out of his mouth and there were some half tablets on the bed with a lot of them being licked and gooey.
He stole the bottle off my bedside table.

PANIC stations.
Petcare says this about Nurofen:
Please do not give your dog human NSAID medications such as panadol, aspirin or Nurofen as they are potentially toxic with side effects including gastrointestinal upsets and ulcers, vomiting and/or diarrhoea, blood abnormalities, kidney and liver failure.

While I was explaining to Rob what was likely to happen, I phoned the Emergency Vet and we hoofed it out the door.
We counted; out of a bottle of 96, 45 were left. I have no idea when I opened that bottle or how many I may have had myself. Some speed records were set on the way to the vet. Bert seemed oblivious to all and got the hiccups on the way.

The first lot of stuff they gave him to make him vomit didn’t quite work, so out came the big guns – Apomorphine.
Apomorphine is a derivative of morphine. Its primary action is to induce vomiting. Apomorphine is one of the most effective medications that can induce vomiting in dogs. As with all vomiting medications, usually only 40 to 60 percent of the stomach’s contents are removed.

He threw up a lot, but no tablets came out. This means one of two things,
1) He didn’t actually eat any or
2) He had eaten them and they had already been absorbed into the small intestine.

So he threw up a few more times while we talked with the Vet, and then we drove him home a few hours later. He also threw up on me in the car.
The poor little bugger was feeling very wobbly and out of his head, so he got to sleep with us. I took him out at 2am for a wee, and he was still very unsteady, and thought he was very amusing for trying to run around while I wanted him to go to the toilet so I could go back to bed where it was warm!
Monday am, we had to go to the local vet, he seemed a bit better. He boarded there for the day under observation and then I picked him up at 2pm, with a bucket load of drugs for his tummy and liver/kidneys etc.

So Bert the wonder dog is still with us. I was pretty emotional for a few days; I was really scared he was going to die. This was not a nice feeling. Even now I tear up a bit when I realise he is a special part of out lives, and no matter how ratty or goopy his is, I’d really miss the little bugger!


Back to the Renovations.

We have made a doorway into the bathroom now, which really means that entire inside wall is missing, so now you can sit on the toilet and observe the cooking. I like to call it multi tasking!