My silly puppy!!

[KobiD]

Decided to lick up a very small coolant spill today in the shed! I was mindful the whole day and knew I'd have some leakage while working on some machinery. End of the day, moved something around a little coolant came out. In the time I told her to leave it while cleaning it, her nose had already hit it. Very small amount.. but regardless off to the vet she went for a purge, and some charcoal tablets. I'm sure due to the quantity she'd have been fine, but better safe than sorry.

 

This dog will eat anything. She tried to eat her own vomit after the purge, and then willingly ate the 5 x activated charcoal tablets out of the hand. She's a fruitloop!

 

In other news, its a full moon and the other kids are going mental too! Been a tiring afternoon.

Edited June 8, 2017 by KobiD

[PossumCorner]

Good that you were right onto it.  I'm at the other end of the spectrum.  Rheneas is 'about' 14, give or take a couple of months.  And going through all the old-doggie syndromes - aside from diminished sight and hearing, the sense of taste flies out the window.  Constantly need to stop him from wolfing down something he shouldn't that normally wouldn't even be sniffed at.  Have to keep sheds closed and make the house kid-safe for him.  Funny thing, he has always hated apples, was even offended if Piper and Frodo enjoyed a windfall apple.  Now he is competing with the possums that come onto the deck for an apple handout, apple comes ahead of liver treats.

 

"Been a tiring afternoon" - yes an 80k wasted round trip for something I'll have to do a 150k round trip in the other direction to pick up tomorrow.  Full moon means the geese down the paddock are screaming at birds flying overhead on migration to warmer places - geese it is almost midnight, go to sleep.  

[KobiD]

I over reacted a bit. Instincts said it was a minimal quantity, google said get your pet to the vet right away. Science says minimum lethal dosage is 4.4ml/kg of body mass. Given that it was a mixed coolant and not pure ethylene glycol we'll assume approx. 50% dilution. 16kg dog, and even erring on the cautious side of stronger dilution and 4ml/kg she'd still need to consume 100ml of fluid.

 

Regardless, any of it that was brought back up vs absorbed can only be a good thing. This dog is a scavenger when it comes to edibles. Only thing I've seen her willingly spit out was raw broccoli.

 

[Tassie]

So good that you were onto it quickly KobiD.  It's not just the fatal consequences you need to consider, but the possible liver damage.   Do know what you mean about the eat/try anything though .. but it can be handy.....easy to get those charcoal tablets down.

[KobiD]

It was pretty frustrating because I was aware/on to it before it happened.. but it happened anyway! I also agree that anything below minimum fatal can still include damaging effects. She's still very much a puppy though, and learning more by the day. 

 

 

[Tassie]

Thanks for the picture .. she's looking great.   And yes .. they are so very quick ..and their first response is to use the mouth.to investigate.   I guess all we can do when we are working with stuff we don't want them to have, is to confine them.   My new puppy is very quick (BC), but thankfully, she loves her crate, so I have a choice of 2 crates and 2 xpens I can put her in when necessary .. with things like snuffle mat, and Kongs to keep her happy.

[ish]

I think silly owner! Fancy working with something known to be toxic to dogs and not keeping a curious pup safely away! Lucky for you both it didn't end badly

[KobiD]

2 hours ago, ish said:

I think silly owner! Fancy working with something known to be toxic to dogs and not keeping a curious pup safely away! Lucky for you both it didn't end badly

Great input ish. 

 

The world is a dangerous place. Should I keep her bubble wrapped? It's not as if I left dangerous products laying around and a dog unsupervised. It was an accident, and from what I can tell I have owned that mistake, taken the appropriate action that a responsible owner would do, and shared the experience so others can also learn from it. I don't know what value you intend to bring with your comments. 

 

I take it you have never made a mistake in your life? 

 

 

 

[KobiD]

And for what it's worth I do agree with you. Silly on my behalf indeed. It probably won't be the last silly thing her or I do either. 

[ish]

You're right, my input isn't valuable - I guess found it distasteful that you blamed the puppy for being a guts, instead of yourself for not ensuring the puppy didn't have access to the coolant. 

I definitely don't believe in wrapping pups in cotton wool but I definitely believe in harm minimisation - especially if the pup has a predisposition to get in to trouble. For example, I see lots of people allowing dogs to follow ride on mowers around their backyards and paddocks without a care in the world. My high drive dogs would be very much at risk of biting at the mower after chasing it so they're contained elsewhere when the mowing is happening. 

 

I have and do make heaps of mistakes with my dogs, but they're rarely the dogs fault 

[KobiD]

I see your point, and I can see how the title of the thread could indicate that I put complete blame on the animal and none on myself.

 

I guess the biggest different is that I also believe in harm minimisation, and actively was doing so. The dog had some frozen treats to work on while I was working. All spills were cleaned up immediately. All fluids kept in a container out of reach, and even as far as to put a lid on it. It was a lapse later in the day where I moved something and some residual leaked out of a radiator. I was also right onto it and in the process of cleaning the small spill as the dog licked it. It wasn't even as much a lap, as just a lick. That is probably why I fired back a bit.

 

In saying that, I do need to learn to better manage the area as it has highlighted how quickly she can get into something. The same can happen anywhere, anytime though, and it wouldn't be hard for her to do similar or worse when out on a walk.

 

She is a silly dog though too! There's no denying that! They all are to a certain extent, as are we humans. It just varies in degrees of how much.