Welcome to The OBay Shelties blog! Our blog is an honest diary of our life with our dogs along with news from Obay shelties around the world.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Scared sh**less

I should have been writing a post about my new exercise program (Sussex Bootcamp) and how stiff and sore I feel today.

Instead I am writing a quick post about how scared I was last night when I had to rush Hex to the vet. You all know how I adore this dog and I was scared shitless that I was going to lose her. All of a sudden (of course at 7pm right after the vet closes) Hex started vomiting and having diarrhea. It was so quick; she went from being bright and happy to being severely ill within minutes. It had to have been a bad mushroom. The fluids were just pouring out of her; she was salivating from the mouth, tearing from the eyes, vomiting and diarrhea like water was pouring out of her while she was just lying there. It was obviously a toxic poisoning of some sort.

I have had something similar happen about 5 years ago with Pax and Joy so I immediately thought of the mushrooms. We always have bad mushrooms (toadstools)popping up in our garden; I go out every morning to clear them up and at this time of year cannot let the dogs just hang out in the garden by themselves. I must have missed one as they are so hard to find and Hex probably ate it quickly.

I called the vet right away. At first the on-call vet started to tell me that I should just withhold food and water for 24 hours and see how she was the next day. Uhhhh No freakin way! I insisted that I bring her in immediately. This was not a normal intestinal "bug". Then when I get there she says "Oh it could be because your vaccines are out of date or maybe she has Addisons disease:....ARGHHHH! Yeah like she has come down with Addisions disease within the last 1/2 hour.

I am glad that this vet has 24 hour emergency call out but it is frustrating to deal with an in-experienced vet. Anyway no matter what the cause the important thing was to get her on fluids and then pray that there was no liver/kidney damage. They did do blood tests last night and they all seemed normal. She gave her an injection to induce vomitting in case there was anything left inside her but she had already gotten everything out of her system herself.

This little girl has never been sick and it just broke my heart to leave her overnight but I wanted to make sure she had every possible chance. I am grateful that the vet was there to work on her. I got home after leaving her and Johanna called. She called for no reason other than she had a feeling telling her to call. That was a huge help as Dennis is away and I needed someone to cry to! Johanna knows (having Hex's daddy and brother) just how special this dog is to me.

I spoke to the vet this morning and she is doing much better. I am going to pick her up in the next hour. I cannot wait to see her!

21 comments:

Shetla said...

What an absolute nightmare!!!

I wonder if perhaps there is something that can be done to the soil in your garden, so you won't have that mushroom problem. I don't know very much about these things, but I do know that mushrooms will not grow everywhere; and there must be a reason for that.

Anonymous said...

How awful! Stamp also once almost died from toxic mushrooms and the reaction is so fast and so massive, it's terrifying.

Give Hex a hug, give yourself a hug, and try to relax now the worst is over...

sassie

Lian said...

Glad Hex is ok. Lots of cuddles for this special little girl.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad Hex is doing fine now..my sheltie is currently trying hard to recover from tick fever...she's home now as well but sigh..just hate the feeling of leaving them in the clinic with the drip.

Regards,
Shanice & Nova
Singapore

Anonymous said...

I can just imagine how frightened you were - especially with no one there to help and support you. Thankfully Hex is ok - I know how special she is to you.

Every once in a while though I think we ALL need a little reminder about what's really important. Titles, ribbons, awards and placements - who cares!

Hug your dogs a little tighter today.

Anonymous said...

Oh my god Bernadette, you must have been beside yourself with worry about Hex. We will be keeping everything crossed that she makes a full and speedy recovery.

Anonymous said...

Almost lost our now 13 year old tri boy similarly back in 2002. So glad you stuck to your guns with the vet - they tried to tell me to "watch him" overnight and I ended up ignoring that bit of advice and driving in a Christmas snowstorm to the 24 hour hospital - thank God he made a full recovery and so will Hex! She is the wicked one after all!!!
Ann & Spooner

Anonymous said...

How awful and scary for you! I can't imagine how I would feel if that happened to one of my shelties.
So glad to hear Hex is ok and hope she makes a fast recovery.

nellie-bean's blog said...

aw wee girlie. Glad she is on the mend and you are collecting her. You'll be a nervous wreck long after she is 100% though.Henners ate poison on a beach back in 2004 (we were on a beach miles from a vet and had to carry him convulsing and stiffening for half and hour before getting to the car and then to a vet - nightmare)he was on a drip for 48 hours, shouldv'e died the vet said - only his fit, strong heart pulled him through it. So know how you must be feeling.Hxx

Macfarlane Dogs said...

OMG you must have been terrified!! How absolutely awful. I hope that Hex is feeling much better soon, We are thinking about her. XX

Paula said...

How awful for you, I hope she's now home and your nerves have settled down a bit.

Karen said...

OMG I am so pleased that she is ok Karen and the woofs xxxx

Anonymous said...

Whew! Glad to hear all is okay....things like this never happen when I'm home.

Talk to you later today...

Miss youi...

Love,
Dennis

Lorna said...

Oh no poor Hex and poor you - and so worrying - fingers crossed she is now well on her way on the road to recovery.

Lorna x

Anonymous said...

Geez Hex - don't DO that to your Mom!

How awfully scary! And don't you just love inexperienced on-call vets? It's good that they're THERE, but I can't count the number of times I've had them try to tell me similar off-the-wall things.

I don't think you can get rid of mushrooms but there are things you can do to discourage them.

Glad she's going to be OK - hugs to both of you!

Anonymous said...

Hi- had this with little Oki once after a walk, after one long night he was back with us the following morning! glad shes ok! oki went in there sick as anything and out completely normal!

Anonymous said...

Hello !

Thank god that you insist on bringing her to the vet.
Happy to hear she is recovering and hopefully soon 100%.
Never heard from such mushroom poising here in germany.
So maybe you need more snails to destroy them.

Best reagrds


Margit

leah gardner said...

GOD! Poor you! I hope that she is getting better and that you are both ok. Love Leah, Jay and the pack x

Anonymous said...

Hi Bernadette, what a nightmare, hope the Wicked One is doing OK and getting back to normal. I don't think there's an easy way to rid a lawn of mushrooms- there's no readily available chemical solution, I guess being a fairly damp lawn doesn't help. Maybe a vigorous brushing every morning, not v practical I know!
Tim J

Anonymous said...

OMG! Glad to hear she's back on the mend, poor girl! Poor you, too! What a scare.... hope she is back to 100%... on-call vets are difficult because they just don't know our dogs like we do. Good for you to insist on having Hex stay overnight.

Katie

Diana said...

How very scary!! Im glad you didnt let the vet talk you into waiting. Heres to a speedy recovery. Diana