So, we had quite a week with the dogs. A little background-- (and if you don't care about our dogs, or don't like to hear about barf, skip this post! It's a little wordy....)
About a week ago, I came home to find that the dogs had gotten into one of the kitchen cupboards, and pulled out some brown sugar, jello mix, coconut, and marshmallows. They ate some brown sugar and all of the marshmallows and otherwise made a mess. I honestly wasn't positive I had left the cupboard open or closed, so I just cleaned up the mess and from then on checked to be sure the cupboards were all closed in the kitchen before I left (we keep the bedroom and bathroom doors all closed always so that's not a worry).
Well, when I got home from work on Wednesday, I walked into a GIGANTIC MESS. I instantly saw that the same cupboard was open again (this time I knew it was closed when I left in the morning!) and they had gotten into the same baking supplies, including the brown sugar again and had pulled out a bunch of containers (all unopened). The biggest issue was they had found the baking chocolate--there was 6 ounces of 100% cacao chocolate in that cupboard, and one or both dogs had found it and eaten every last bit! There was chocolate thrown up all over the house---a huge pile on the carpet and in the kitchen, plus about 5 small piles on the carpet and on the couch.
Being the neat freak I am, my first reaction (unfortunately) was to get extremely mad at the dogs--I called Adam on the phone to vent and started cursing the dogs and the mess! He caught word that they had eaten the chocolate and immediately asked me about the dogs--were they ok after eating the chocolate?? (Chocolate, especially the baking kind, is toxic to dogs.) Of course, I was just mad, and actually for the first time looked at the pups. Carex looked normal (and normal for her is weird) but Dude (Spencer) was obviously funky once I actually looked at him. He was lying on the floor at this point, swaying weirdly back and forth, and his eyes were really red. He let out a strange quiet bark and stared off into the distance. By this time I realized something was really wrong (at least with Dude) so I hung up with Adam and called our vet. She said that if there was already barf around the house, that it would be best to take them both to UC Davis emergency vet. I changed out of my biking shorts (no need to wear spandex more than required...) and called the dogs to the car. Spencer came out of his trance and trotted to the car like normal and Carex followed like normal. In the car Spence just laid down, which is a little weird.
We arrived at the vet and on the way in, Spencer was coughing up mucus but Carex was normal. They immediately took Spencer (his heart rate was more than double of normal) and induced vomiting--he vomited up ~5 ounces of chocolate! Carex's heart rate was elevated as well, so as a precaution they induced vomiting for her as well, but she didn't barf any chocolate. It was determined that just giving her some activated charcoal and sending her home under watchful care would be fine. Spencer, on the other hand, needed to stay and have lots of fluids and have his heart rate checked hourly. Chocolate is toxic to dogs, and also has caffeine to elevate their heart rate. It can also cause irregular heart beats, so Spencer needed to be watched.
Once we got at home, I was of course totally worried about Carex. Adam was great and kept an eye on her, checking her heart rate while he worked in the garage. Once she was inside, I checked it and worried that it seemed irregular, but after checking it for longer decided that I was just not feeling in the right place. She cuddled with me in bed, then slept in her bed right next to me so I could check on her in the night (sounds like my kid, I know, but I'm a total softy and really attached to her....). We got some sleep, and I took her to work with me the next day--she was fine. No chocolate eaten.
After work I picked up Spencer, who was now nearly 100% recovered, but also stir-crazy from being kept in a cage at the vet for almost 24 hours! Once we got home, I was confronted with the insane chocolate-barf-covered house...but some careful carpet and upholstery cleaning has solved those problems (if anything I now have clean spots in an otherwise evenly dirty carpet). UC Davis was great in their care of our dogs, but they are really expensive (as to be expected for a 24 hour emergency vet teaching hospital)---we are out almost $1000 for this experience! Adam has already installed some child cabinet locks in the kitchen and until we finish that job, chairs are blocking the remainder of the food-containing cabinets, just in case. And the baking chocolate is all gone, so that's not a risk anymore! Sheesh. What a week!
