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Warning To Coffee Drinkers

madredeperros

By madredeperros,
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madredeperros

madredeperros

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We have had a very scary nightmare happen tonight. While at our next-door neighbour's backyard birthday party today, our two dogs ripped apart some garbage bags that we had left by the gate to be thrown out. Normally, the dogs are never left outside alone, but we share a middle fence with our neighbour, and the fence is short enough that we could lean over and pet our dogs. We thought everything would be fine, and completely forgot about the garbage. Well, dogs being dogs, they ripped the bags apart which my BF discovered when he went to make us a new drink. He crated the dogs, and we didn't really think that anything too bad had happened, except maybe them drinking expired milk or eating chicken bones (which they have eaten before and do actually chew carefully).

An hour or so later, he went back to let the dogs out for a pee, so that we could head to his work to listen to a band. He wouldn't even tell me what happened, just came flying over to the neighbour's, motioning for me to come! Our one dog looked like he was having severe seizures, so we pulled him out of his crate, so that we could stop him thrashing around. He couldn't get up, his eyes were "not there" and bowels and bladder were just emptying...emptying. I took our other dog outside, because I thought he was freaking out over his buddy. I instantly noticed that he was staggery and looked like was having little seizures...almost like photo-sensitivity.

Our neighbours leaped over to help, drove us to the vets (we had been drinking, but the wife was sober). They immediately got the one dog on a drip as he was definitely the worse of the two, and made our other dog throw up. Blood tests showed that they both had caffeine poisoning, and then our second dog started vomiting and they found coffee grounds. We don't eat chocolate or drink tea, but had made coffee last week for our house guests.

Our second dog is home with us right now, but our big guy is still at the vets in an induced coma. They think because of his hyperthermia he may sustain muscle damage or even brain damage. He has no control over his bowels/bladder. There is also a lot of blood in his urine and his gums are bright red, so they are thinking that he may have kidney damage and/or the clotting agent in his blood is not working. Unfortunately, because he was in such distress from the caffeine over-dose, he has also developed a heart murmur, that the vet definitely did not hear when he first examined him. We are waiting for the vet to call us in an hour or two.

Obviously, I would love all the healing vibes you can send for our big guy. He's spethal, a pain-in-the-ass, and a lot of work, but he's OUR spethal, pain-in-the-ass boy :( But, I am also wanting to warn all the coffee drinkers to make sure your dogs can NOT get to any coffee grinds. I have not ever thought about it before. How many of us just throw the used filter in the garbage can under the sink? Even the vet was surprised, and had to go online to research how and what to do! We all thought for sure that it was from digesting something chemical, even though our chemicals are either locked-up or all-natural. We all thought he was seizuring...it really looked like seizures, but it was actually the caffeine making his adrenaline surge.

Please be careful! Also, if you use cocoa shells for any landscaping, get rid of them. They are even more toxic, apparently.

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madredeperros

madredeperros

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Thank you, all of you! And thank you, VM for the link, I will definitely have a good read.

We have just heard from the vet. They have taken him off of the medication propofol, which they gave him to knock him out so that his system would calm down. His eyes are still not quite focussing and are jumping around, but the vet said that he raised his head, seemed to know that the vet was there, and actually "saw" a bug fly by his head. He may have some neurological problems, but the vet is pretty sure that he is over the worst. We are going to go visit him in a couple of hours. The vet is hopeful that he might be able to come home tonight or tomorrow morning.

The house is not the same without him. I miss his sharp elbows digging into my legs as he sprawls across my lap or his spinning in circles when he sees that we're not paying attention to him.

Update: the vet called to say that when he went home to get some sleep, the vet tech had to call him in because the big guy had had another seizure :( They are wanting us to send him up to the Vet College, so that he can be watch 24hrs. Our vet is the only vet on duty this weekend, and has already been up for way too long. We are leaving in a half hour to go see him.

Update: He has been given his wings. He deteriorated even more in that half hour and we came to the decision that it was kinder to let him go than to put him through more....especially if the neurological damage was too severe.

:rainbowbridge: We are so sorry, big guy. We are so so so sorry. :cry:

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dogbesotted

dogbesotted

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OMG! that is awful... I am so sorry to hear that your big guy has been given his wings.. and under such tragic circumstances. Blessings to all who now have a hole in their world where he lived.

Thankyou for sharing as this will help prevent this happenenuing again

love and hugs

helen

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