Do me a HUGE favor please!

Pascal86 · November 2015

Last night my puppy got into my messy office and found a small bottle of old caffeine pills that had fallen behind the sofa and ate a very potentially lethal dose of caffeine. He's not out of the woods yet, but things have shifted from vet talking about how this is "often a fatal situation" last night, to this morning the vet saying she was feeling optimistic. I've been doing my best to stay calm just to keep my body under control, but currently feel like I almost killed my dog, and it still could possibly happen. This has been one of the worst nights of my life, and I'm calming down with the improved prognosis, but still a huge wreck.

This is where you ladies come in - the only silver lining I can find in potentially killing my dog, losing all of my savings for unpaid maternity leave so far, and living with the crushing guilt, is that this is providing me with a HUGE wake up call about having a safe home and protecting my family. First item on the list is to clean the house in entirety, do away with any piles of clutter that could be hiding something dangerous, make safe storage locations for medicine and chemicals/cleaning products, and throw away stupid crap like caffeine pills that I don't even use. In order to maximize the benefit of this wakeup call, I urge all of you to do the same! If any of you can take on my urgency to make your home safer without a devastating reminder of how important it is, I'll feel like at least any potential positive that could come out of this situation is being fulfilled.

So humiliated and upset about this I didn't know if I wanted to post it (especially when I don't know if he's going to be okay yet), but I want to do everything in my power that nothing like this happens to anyone else! If you're like me, you thought things were pretty safe and don't worry too much, but it never hurts to check. So for anyone who has kids, pets, or any combination of those personally or that visit you on occasion, please do a safety check/clean STAT, and otherwise, make a plan to do it soon before baby comes!

yogahh · November 2015

Hey, things happen. Don't beat yourself up! Prayers that your puppy makes a full recovery!

mrstmoose · November 2015

Ditto what @yogahh said. I hope your puppy is ok!

kbrands7 · November 2015

::Hugs:: T&P for your puppy! Try not to beat yourself up, just be sure to do what you can for your pup now, and prepare for the future to prevent this sort of thing like you've talked about. It's great of you to share because a lot of times, people don't realize what could possibly be dangerous until something happens, or almost happens.

I agree, it's always a good idea to corral that sort of thing, and get rid of things no longer in use. Not to advertise or anything, but I'm a big fan of the safety first magnetic locks...they're a bit pricey, but are easy to install in a variety of places and work really well. We have so much stuff locked up since DS quickly got tall enough to be able to open doors and reach counter-tops. We left a cabinet open in each room that has stuff he can play with (like tupperware and pots in the kitchen; bath toys and towels in the bathroom) so that he doesn't even miss not being able to open the others. It's kept our pup from getting into things as well.

alexandrac86 · November 2015

Don't blame yourself. If there's something to be found a child or pet WILL find it. It is a good reminder to check those spots that are semi covered and make sure nothing is there. I can't count how many time my husband has pushed things under the couch that dd could easy get ahold of. Just one more thing to be aware of. Sending positive vibes for you and your puppy, I hope everything turns out ok.

Jesse835235 · November 2015

So sorry to hear about your dog! FX'd he's okay.

Pascal86 · November 2015

Thanks everyone! Should know more in a few hours, and if things keep progressing in the right direction he'll come home tonight or tomorrow morning. He's just 8 months old, got him after our 7 year old lab died this past winter, and I knew it was too soon to get another, but I want my baby to grow up with a buddy and knew I couldn't get a puppy for a long time with a baby around. Trying to not jump right from the guilt phase to the feeling-sorry-for-myself phase, it's hard to find a healthy/productive mindset for dealing with this!

@kbrands7 - A lot of our cabinets straight up just don't shut, so I'm going to look into those since we need something to deal with tht situation anyway, thanks for the advice

DanandVan · November 2015

Saying a prayer for your puppy! Thank you for the PSA! I want to add that it is important to make sure bigger kids know to keep the house safe with a baby/toddler. Just today, my 8 yr old left an open bottle of nail polish remover on the coffee table AND she left the jar of gummy vitamins open on our dining room table! I am glad I noticed before my 2 year old did, and I let my daughter know how very dangerous that was.

amscape · November 2015

You would not believe the things my dogs found & eaten, but especially not believe what my old neighbors dog ate. It happens!! I'm so glad your pup is okay but don't best yourself up. Yes, the lesson you chose to take from it is a great one & I'll bear it in mind too. Accidents do happen (speaking as an owner of a dog who tore 2 ACLs just by playing), especially with dogs! Also if your dogs like my lab -mix, that dog will make through crazy things quite healthily. Hope you keep getting good news about the pup!

LadySamLady · November 2015

I'm so sorry you're going through this! I had a similar experience within the first two months of rescuing my pups. Birdie, our audacious explorer happened upon medication I was taking for ADHD in the open drawer of my bedside table and ingested what thankfully turned out to be a small enough amount that it wasn't fatal. It was really scary and none of us slept at all that night. For weeks I felt terrible and guilty, and like I didn't deserve my dogs at all. I learned my lesson about safe storage and of course nothing like it ever happened again. So don't be so hard on yourself, you are not the first person to make that mistake!!

Keep us posted! Sending thoughts and prayers for both of you tonight!

Malakia024 · November 2015

Glad to hear your pup is progressing well! I worked as a vet tech for 10 years and pets getting into meds/weed/rat poison happened all the time. Puppies especially would get into those weekly pill box things. My dog is pretty good about that stuff, but my parrot is obsessed with trying to drink your coffee and alcohol if you are not careful.

vinerie · November 2015

Pascal86 I hope your pup makes it out of the woods. I know how you feel. One day my dog went into the bathroom where I had my hanging travel bag hanging from the back of the doorhandle (I had just returned from a trip). She took out a bottle of advil from one of the pockets and destroyed the bottle. (She loves to chew on hard plastic). I got home and was beside myself. I am SO careful with my dog and that still happened.

Anyhow, I didn't think she ate any of the pills (they are lethal for dogs) but I took her in anyway and they induced her to vomit which was all very frightening for me. She was fine and the vet told me that sometimes these things happen. Be aware but also recognize that dogs will get into stuff. FWIW, we now close the bathroom door so she can't get in ever.

Pascal86 · November 2015

Back at home as of this morning! Still not back to his usual self, but pretty much in the clear! The vet Tuesday night was warning me that he could very easily die, so this is huge! Extra thankful for his health today, and extra-extra-extra thankful for our other dog never getting sick or hurt and scaring us!

Thank you to everyone for your kind words! We have always had a loose baby-gate-confining, bedroom/bathroom-door-shutting policy, which we will be tightening up from here on out.

Have a great thanksgiving and give your puppies a hug!!!

LemmyRN · November 2015

I'm so glad things are well. Now you can enjoy the holiday.

saraleigh2 · November 2015

So glad it worked out!! These things happen to the best and most careful of us, so I must agree don't beat yourself up! Thanks for sharing, its always a good reminder to baby and pet proof when you can. Happy thanksgiving!!

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