Annie and Lulu are growing into fine young ladies, especially after I sent them to finishing school while I was in Italy this fall. For three weeks the girls learned the finer points of sit, stay, heel, come, inside and place.
Now the biggest challenge they face is me.
THEY’RE NINE MONTHS OLD NOW. LOOK HOW TALL THEY ARE! ALWAYS CURIOUS AND ON THE MOVE.
ANNIE (THE BROWN ONE) AND LULU WHEN I ADOPTED THEM AT EIGHT WEEKS OLD. THEY’D JUST BEEN SPAYED. I STILL FEEL LIKE IT’S ROLLER DERBY TIME! THEY RUSH PAST ME LIKE THEY’VE GOT WHEELS ON THEIR FEET.
The other morning I noticed a pair of scissors on the kitchen counter. Earlier I’d used them to cut open a strip of individual foil packs with Lulu’s antibiotics. The scissors were there but not the strip of antibiotics. Oh dear! What if Annie grabbed the remaining 12 packets off the counter and ate them?
After all… Annie’s the dog who’s eaten part of a heavy duty rubber glove, an empty foil wrapper of Famous Amos Cookies… Then there was the wire she ate followed by major, abdominal emergency surgery.
If Annie had gotten them, it would have been after I’d cut open a packet and put an antibiotic in Lulu’s breakfast. Three hours earlier! My next thought went to worse case: If Annie ate them, foil and all, what would the sturdy foil—complete with serrated edges—do to her intestines? Foil, schmoil… What about taking that many antibiotics at the same time?
I’m careful about what I leave lying around, so part of me thought everything was fine. Maybe I just couldn’t remember where I put the antibiotics. It was 6am when I’d fed them, and I wasn’t fully awake. I searched everywhere, even inside the refrigerator. Maybe my half-awakened self had carried them to my bathroom, or maybe Annie took them to the bedroom and then lost interest…
This is Annie we’re talking about! She never loses interest in anything she can chew!
Then I wondered if she’d taken them to the backyard and eaten them? That’s where she eats all of her treasures. Surely there’d still be remnants from the crime. Small sharp pieces of foil… Perhaps even a few pills… Nothing! Next I wondered if Annie… and Lulu… had eaten all 12 antibiotics, foil and all?
I called the vet who said to bring them in “right now!”
The vet and his techs x-rayed both girls and showed me the results. Nothing! He said the next step was to wait and see or induce vomiting in both girls. I chose the latter. Ten minutes later we saw what looked like kibble—gobbled whole—no white pills or foil packets and…
“What’s this?” the vet asked. “It looks like wood.”
“Tree bark,” I said. “Because the girls kept finding harmful things to swallow, I had the yardmen remove four inches of my entire backyard. The only thing left for the girls to eat is the tree!”
THE LITTLE DARK PATCHES ON THE TREE IS WHAT THE GIRLS HAVE EATEN. YOU CAN SEE I ONLY HAVE DIRT IN MY YARD. LOOKING FORWARD TO LANDSCAPING THIS SPRING.
A YARD FULL OF NOTHING BUT DIRT HAS MESSY CONSEQUENCES WHEN IT RAINS!
A few hundred dollars later, I took the girls home. While Annie and Lulu recuperated from their ordeal, I looked, again, for the 12 missing packets. I opened the drawer to put the scissors back… There was the strip of antibiotics! In my sleep-deprived state, I’d put the pills, not the scissors, in the drawer.
“Please tell me I’m not the only idiot you know!” I actually said that to Annie and Lulu. Fortunately they think everyone is smart and wonderful except the guys who drive the noisy, yellow garbage truck with the big claw. Even when it’s one street over, I’m pretty sure they think Armageddon is rolling our way.
I’m grateful neither girl swallowed anything harmful, and they don’t know what an idiot their Brenda is! I love these little girls.
6 Comments
Darling Brenda, you are certainly no fool and that story is hilarious! I can completely relate to sticking the medicine in the drawer. You are not alone!! So sorry it took going through all of that to find out what happened, though! What a blessing to have your girls. Kind of wish you’d had them in your little apartment in NYC! So grateful you are safely back in your new home in your old stomping grounds. So many things to give thanks for! You are greatly loved by so many of us. Thanks for the giggles today!
Hi Beckye, Thank you, sweet friend. I appreciate you! BTW, I was taking business trips to NYC every month, but still living here in Texas. Know it must have seemed like I’d moved there. I sold my place where James and I lived, then moved twice–still near San Antonio–until I bought my house last year in SA. It is great to be back. My support system is here, so it’s much better than living in the middle of nowhere. I felt like an idiot when I found the pills in the drawer and happy Annie and Lulu didn’t understand what happened… Felt terrible about what I’d put them through. Thank you for always being here for me. Love, Brenda
Oh my goodness! Annie is one BIG girl. It won’t be long before she’s taller than you! Just chalk the misplaced pills up to “menofog” – I do all the time!
Hi Val, Isn’t she BIG? Amazing! Thanks for relating… I’ve never heard of “menofog!” That’s hilarious. That, on top of chemo brain, and I’m lucky I can find my way home! xoxox, Brenda
I can identify! I was taking some cough suppressant pills and a few of them rolled onto the floor……where my 10 lb. mini dachshund gobbled them up…..within 5 minutes he was throwing up, pooping, and having convulsions…….I flew to the emergency vet with him, convulsing in the car, and he actually survived! Luckily, I only live 5 minutes from the E-vet…….they gave him Valium and kept him for 4 hours, but he came home never knowing what all the fuss was about……..So, now I NEVER take pills around him……..a good idea for all dog parents!
That must have been terrifying, Cherrie! Thankfully he’s alright. I’m so careful not to take meds, even a Tylenol, around them for just that reason. Even though Annie and Lulu didn’t eat any of the antibiotics and/or their packaging, it boosted my awareness and cautiousness to the next level. They depend on us to make decisions that are in their best interest and to be great caregivers. Don’t think I could handle knowing I’d done something careless that injured or… killed them! Great reminder, Cherrie! Thank you, Brenda