Sophie strikes again!

[retiredhappy]

OK, yesterday I have a plumber in to put in a new kitchen faucet. He left the cabinet doors open while we ran to the hardware store to get new supply lines. Apparently waaaaay in the back of the cabinet was a mouse bait. When we got back there it was - the CHEWED UP PIECES OF THE BAIT HOLDER. Quick, make her swallow a big tablespoon of salt and and a quick trip to the vet. $72 later they've put peroxide down her to make her throw up the bait and yes, she had swallowed quite a bit of it. A shot of vitamin K and pills of vitamin K for the next 14 days. Will this dog EVER stop getting into trouble?????? For a free dog that just wandered into my life, she has cost me a fortune but since she holds me right in the palm of her little paw, I just keep on paying the vet (who loves her of course) and waiting for what's next.

Buddy just stands around with his halo saying: "See Mom what a good dog I am - I don't get into anything."

[Liz]

Oh, so sorry Sophie got into stuff she shouldn't have. Hope she's feeling fine now, with no more sickness. Good boy, Buddy.

[VickieP]

I think maybe Sophie just likes taking trips to see her admirers at the Vet's office. Glad she's going to be okay.

[BirdbyBird]

It is a good thing that we love them. Sophie, you picked the right woman to team up with!

When I applied to adopt Remi, the application had a question about how much money I was willing to spend on an animal emergency. The talked about how expensive animals could get. I replied that I knew that illness and injury can come at great cost for animals and did suggest that I probably did have a limit as to how much I would spend on my animal just that in 40 years and multiple animals I had not found that limit yet and if I was real lucky I was hoping I never would. I have to say that the 30 thousand dollar dog surgeries are beyond me.

Then again I remember back in the 80's one vet trying to tell me that he "might" be able to save my 16 year old cat that hadn't been eating, was down to skin and bones and that blood work showed that her systems were shutting down. He suggested some more extensive blood tests. I replied by asking what quality of life would that actually give her, since she was 16 and apparently had multiple systems damaged and had been struggling with her health even with vet care for the last year... He got real quiet....and I cried all the way home....

[mitch5252]

..

OMG - how scary! I'm sure glad that little cutie is okay.
However, I did love the way you told the story!
Good boy, Buddy.

..

[Echo]

Glad to hear that so far, so good!!!

But you don't say how you are?? Good grief what a scare!!! Me? I would have had heart failure at seeing what she had gotten into!

Can you buy a mesh muzzle for her? Keep her from 'eating' the bad stuff when you are not at home?

[avalen]

omg
I've had to use the peroxide treatment before, back when Bandit ate a whole bunch of bologna with that red string stuff around the edges.
The peroxide works good. That red stringy stuff was what I was actually worried about, not the bologna

[AlmostThere]

Glad you acted quickly and got the little stinker some help! She sure keeps you on your toes.

[bluepinecones]

Poor Sophie! So glad she will be okay.
Know pets can get expensive and usually at a bad time for whatever else is going on at the time. But like Tina said there's probably a limit out there somewhere but we can all hope to never have to figure out how much that might be. She is one lucky lady to have found you.

[Bethers]

I can only repeat everyone - first, Good, Good Buddy. Then, Sophie, oh, poor Sophie. Poor Lucky Sophie.

As to a limit. When I was with the humane society - we had those questions about how much. Mainly they were to get a discussion going with folks - many of whom think having a pet won't cost anything. Many people figured $100 for food for a year. For a big dog. It enabled us to have real discussions on the cost. And on the fact that adopting a pet is for their life - not for a whim or for only the good times. Sometimes people who put low, low numbers would still be able to adopt, but often, we'd steer them towards bunnies or guinea pigs. Less expensive.

Karen, Sophie is sooooooooooooo lucky to have found you. I know, you think you found her - but really?

[retiredhappy]

Thanks for asking about me - I'm fine. I'm getting used to panics with Sophie. As for her, she never even seemed to have an upset stomach - just keeps wagging her tail through everything. As long as she's getting any kind of attention she's happy. Let's see, her list of stuff she's eaten is:

Entire chicken breast I was defrosting
2 boneless chicken thighs WITH the seran wrap (Called vet from New Mexico)
Big piece of leftover prime rib
Chocolate (watched both dogs all night for symptoms - they slept fine, I didn't)
Ant bait in a plastic thingy (Call to vet on a Sunday evening)
Mouse bait
Various puzzle pieces

This list doesn't include all the various things she's snagged off my plate when I got up to get water or something. Don't know how long she was running loose before she found me but she's not taking any chances when it comes to anything she thinks is eatable.

She's fine but apparently my learning curve ain't so good.

[Forestgal]

When I applied to adopt Remi, the application had a question about how much money I was willing to spend on an animal emergency. The talked about how expensive animals could get. I replied that I knew that illness and injury can come at great cost for animals and did suggest that I probably did have a limit as to how much I would spend on my animal just that in 40 years and multiple animals I had not found that limit yet and if I was real lucky I was hoping I never would. I have to say that the 30 thousand dollar dog surgeries are beyond me.

I try not to think about how much having my dogs has cost me over the years. If I had considered that before I got them -- and I've only had 2 -- I probably wouldn't have gotten them. All I know is that I'll do whatever it takes to make them well as long as their quality of life isn't compromised.

Karen, what about putting baby locks on cabinet doors? I've always maintained (with all due respect) that I need to be smarter than my critters. If they get into something then I just have to figure out a way to out-smart them so it doesn't happen the next time.

Glad Sophie's okay. Rat posion ... whew.

[Redetotry]

Sophie, Sophie you are so lucky you found a good Mom. It is amazing how they can find things or do things you never had a dog do before.

I had a dog once who ate strange things, had her at the vet two times the first week I got her, first for eating a pill or pills I was supposed to take before some procedure for pain, have no idea where she found that, can't remember what the second visit was about but thank goodness the vet knew me and this type of thing hadn't happened before with any of my dogs. After an evening emergency trip to the vet when we came home to find a broken jar of peanut butter on the floor and blood all around, she ate the PB shards and all, he told us how much peroxide to give. She was ok from the glass, it didn't get all the way down due to the paper towels she had ate first...socks seemed to be her favorite but after several doses of the peroxide she finally made the association and we learned to never leave our socks in reach.

When it comes to money Charley the poodle I have now has been the most expensive,he has bloated three times, almost all die the first time so he is a medical miracle. There does come a time in their life though when I know I'll have to consider quality of life (theirs and mine) when something happens.

[BirdbyBird]

I think that "through the years" stuff is why I have never reached my limit. I refuse to track the cost from one year to the next. I have had several critters that have ended up with chronic but treatable issues. I stayed far away from doing the estimation of total cost on those guys and as long as they were comfortable I was happy to support them. The one year after I retired I worked in a vet clinic (to help pay down a particular outstanding loan) and witnessed the other extreme...Animals that were kept alive by some pretty costly extremes and with questionable results....usually because of a human need and inability to let go...and through repeated costly measures. These are personal decisions for sure.

[Acadianmom]

The last time the vet came to vaccinate the cows he had just operated on a big dog that had eaten a sock. What would possess a dog to eat a sock. It's a good thing we don't have a house dog because the cats can open cabinets and they would probably let the dog in. The cats aren't bad about eating strange things. About all they get into are the dog treats and just leave them chewed up in the floor. We use to have a cat that would tear into a loaf of bread. If you gave her a slice of bread she wouldn't eat it.

I don't want to know how much we have spent on our dogs and cats not to mention the horses and cows. We had a Border Collie that got kicked by a horse and broke some ribs and punctured her lung. The vet borrowed a pump from the hospital and we went in the motorhome with the generator running to run the pump to bring her to a specialty clinic North of New Orleans. Thank goodness the puncture closed on its own so she didn't have to have surgery. Those dogs will give their all for you. She was trying to work cattle when Harold noticed something was wrong with her.

Martha