April 10, 2007
chloe survives her brush with death.
the day started out as any other. me getting ready. chloe eating breakfast and following me around. running late in general b/c mike was late getting out of the bathroom. last thing i went back to my room to get my boots on, put on a necklace and grab a spritz of perfume. on my way out the door i see chloe happily chewing away on something in the hallway. i yell bye to kev and for some reason i decide to take a double take. i look back and go “shit”. apparently unbeknownst to myself, the boys put out ant traps which i had already informed them was poisonous to chloe the night before. and an ant trap was what chloe had turned into a rawhide in the minute or two i was in my room.
i immediately took it away from her. i grabbed the trap box i now see on the counter and scan for info. i call the emergency pet number for our vet and they forwarded me to the poison control service that if you are a person you can get info for free but if it’s for a pet, then you must pay $55 before you can even ask a question. ridiculous. anyhow, by this point my vet had opened so i got ahold of them. they of course asked for me to immediately bring her, the box and whatever was left to the vet immediately.
once there, they got quick facts from me, took the box and remains and took chloe to the back room. for the next two hours i sat in the waiting room completely uninformed about what was going on. was she ok? was she having issues? i finally realized on a smaller scale how scary it must be to have a loved one in an emergency situation and all you can do is wait. you want to be with them. yet you know you would only be in the way. it sucks and it seems like an eternity.
after close to two hours, the vet finally came out. he first informed me about the poison and it affects the body. he then informed me how they pumped her stomach/induce vomiting of sorts. they then gave her activated charcoal to act like a magnet i think to attract and then either destroy or wrap itself around the remaining insecticide. went so quickly the facts are getting blurry. anyways, he went on to say that we were lucky that she had eaten almost 30 minutes earlier. he said her breakfast had begun to wrap itself around the insecticide and plastic pieces and prevented absorption. he also said that they would have to keep her and if i was lucky i would get a call to pick her up tonight.
luckily for me, i got the call at 7. picked her up. she’s very weak and exhausted and i think a bit hungry. she’s past out laying on my lap here on the couch. in a good sleeping soundly kinda way. i think we’ll be heading to bed now. we’ve both had a long day.
i’m just so thankful that a) she started to eat it while i was still there and not 5 seconds after and b) that i did the double take even though i was running late.
bonus: we got into the vet for her skin issue from yesterday today instead of having to wait a week and a half. poison yourself - ya immediately get bumped to the top of the list and get in right away.
