Ever feel like a failure as a Furbaby Parent?

[mickeysaver]

I was giving Deuce his treat with the Phenobarbitol that he takes for his seizures tucked inside of it, like I do twice each day, and for the first time ever, he dropped the pill ladened treat and our youngest dog, Toby, grabbed it, ran across the room, and swallowed it whole before I could even step around Deuce to get to him.

Deuce is about 13 pounds and Toby is a little less than half of that and Toby doesn't need Phenobarbitol. I took him to the vet straight away. They gave him Hydrogen Peroxide to try to make him throw up. He wouldn't throw up. So, here I sit at home watching him snooze. I have to make sure that he is woken up every hour and continues to breathe ok.

I feel like the worst doggie mom ever for letting this happen.

 

[PghLybrt]

It is not your fault. Mine would have done the same. My youngest (2) gets into EVERYTHING! He ate an entire bag of treats for the oldest (15) full of glucosimine. It made him so sick! He threw up at least 10 times that day. All you an do is watch them and love them.

 

[mickeysaver]

Toby is now throwing up. He has "decorated" about 6 blankets so far. He sleeps, wakes, cries, and pukes. It's so pitiful.

I called the vet back and he said that if Toby keeps puking that I will need to take him back to the vet to get him a shot to help stop the nausea and vomiting. When he stops, I have to wait about 3 hours before I can let him have any water and it will be tomorrow before he gets food again.

 

[npmommie]

oh Maggie don't beat yourself up. I think you are being a good furbaby mommy. These things happen, and we do our best but sometimes things like this do happen.

I remember my one pup, when she was a baby, walked up behind me and drank out of the bucket I was mopping the floor with. floor cleaner in there and all.........off to the vet we went.

another time same furbaby, got into some chocolates i had mistakenly left within reach, again off to the vet we went.

 

[PghLybrt]

"decorated" I like it!

The 1st time (yes I said 1st he keeps doing this, you would think I would learn) he decorated the bed, with us in it!

We sat up all night with him, pitifull little thing. I think that made him feel better.

The only 2 "commands" mine know are sit (if they want) and leave it. However leave it only seems to work with pills. If I say leave it over a toy , bone,food forget it. I am thankfull that the trainer we went to taught us that. We did that because we have such old dogs (15 and we just lost our chihuahua , he was 20) and baby pugs . The old ones are on meds. I never thought of teaching them that. Now if i could get the baby to quit climbing on the coffee tableto get whatever floats his boat, that would be great!

Hopefully he stops but if not that shot should do it.

 

[itsmuggsie]

you are not a bad Furbaby Parent! These things happen. I hope Toby feels better soon.

We have two dogs also, for some reason Gracie loves to eat anything plastic, once she got a hold of one of the babies bottles, chewed the heck out of it, luckily it was empty. Julie loves paper. Sometime we forget and leave stuff around and come home to a mess, but we can't get mad at the doggies we're the ones that left the stuff there in the first place.

 

[mickeysaver]

Toby seems to be done throwing up now. I was afraid that we were going to have to go back to the vet. Right now, he looks sleepy and stoned. He is still whiny though, which is not usual for him at all. He is not a whiner at all, even when he was a little pup.

On a similar, but different furbaby Mama note, Jack Jack, is now puking. I think she is having some sort of sympathy puking. She is a cat and all of our cats are likely to throw up at any time thanks to the whole hairball thing, so Lord only knows. Maybe it's from the smell of the decorated blankets. I have a basket that is about to head downstairs to the washer now that it seems that he is done.

I am feeling guilty about missing work today too, but it was going to be $200 for the vet to keep and monitor Toby or I could bring him home for free. The other ladies I work with are going to be super busy and that sucks for them. I am thinking that Monday will be a suck up with coffee and bagels day at work.

 

[jeanigor]

You are most certainly not a bad fur mommy.

You took the day off of work to be with him. That speaks volumes.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Maggie, it was an accident.
Hope he is all better soon!

 

[soulmates]

Maggie, my youngest dog would have SO done the same thing! If it hits the floor, he's all over it. Your a GOOD Fur Mama!!

 

[PghLybrt]

I am so glad to hear that he stopped "decorating"!

 

[jeanigor]

I am so glad to hear that he stopped "decorating"!

My littlest jumped on various pieces of furniture last Saturday to steal a few bites of brownie. He 'decorated' from the other end the rest of the weekend.

 

[PghLybrt]

So cute!

They can be bad! LOL Pugs are really bad, but I think thats why I like them so much! ( I have 2)

 

[C&G'sMama]

Your are not a bad mom!!

We have 2, a 170 lb 7yo St. Bernard and a 15yo 45 lb lab mix. Well the Saint joined us in the beginning of November, we've had the "old lady" for 2 years. Well, she's a bit** and would snap at him and he'd snap back (he's younger, stronget and bigger). Two trips to the emergency with her within a week for 2 separate incidents. She was bleeding everywhere. We felt awful.

She still hates him but we've managed to keep them from getting into it too much. (It usually involves possession of food or us)

Hope your little guy feels better soon.

 

[2GirlsMama]

We have two collies and the youngest will eat ANYTHING! Don't be too hard on yourself. It sounds like you are a great furbaby mom! Some people wouldn't care enough to give a dog medication two times a day. I hope he has a complete recovery quickly!

My oldest collie (Belle age 6) had her teeth cleaned on Tuesday. The vet found a tumor on her tooth (or maybe in her jaw by her tooth, I didn't quite understand). He had to pull her tooth and send the tumor away to the lab. I am so nervous that she might have a serious problem. He said it might be nothing. I called today, but the results aren't back yet.

She is such a beautiful collie girl. She is kind and loving. I love her so much. I hope it is a nothing type of thing. She has to have antibotics and pain meds for a week. She is acting completely normal, not like anything is wrong at all.

 

[TuckandStuiesMom]

Glad to hear he's doing better and you are an excellent fur-baby mom. What happened with the pill falls into the category of "stuff happens"

 

[mickeysaver]

Thanks y'all. I appreciate the kind words.

Toby is acting much less like he is stoned. He isn't quite as graceful as he should be and he tires easily, but the worst of the Phenobarbitol effects seem to have passed. I am pretty sure that he will wake good as new tomorrow.

Now, I just have to find the energy to go out to dinner with Gabby when she arrives home from the airport here in a bit. Honestly, I am pooped, but she wants to go out and has some idea about being at Walmart at midnight for the Twilight Blue Ray release. We shall see. I think it's funny that she is so wrapped up in the whole Twilight thing, but then again, she does tolerate my inner Star Trek geek, so I should just shut up now.

 

[mickeysaver]

My oldest collie (Belle age 6) had her teeth cleaned on Tuesday. The vet found a tumor on her tooth (or maybe in her jaw by her tooth, I didn't quite understand). He had to pull her tooth and send the tumor away to the lab. I am so nervous that she might have a serious problem. He said it might be nothing. I called today, but the results aren't back yet.

She is such a beautiful collie girl. She is kind and loving. I love her so much. I hope it is a nothing type of thing. She has to have antibotics and pain meds for a week. She is acting completely normal, not like anything is wrong at all.

Awww.....I hope Belle gets a clean bill of health on Monday. I will send some prayers your way.

 

[franandaj]

We don't have dogs, but are crazy cat ladies with 10 in our herd and are suckers for the hungry ones in the neighborhood. You are being a great furbaby mom. They're animals, so you can't control what they do, but you are picking up the pieces for them, and taking care of the aftermath and that's all you can do. You're doing a great job!

We have one kid who was born just after Clinton's inauguration (there is a whole story behind that), who stopped eating around October last year. We started feeding her meat baby food and she has had an amazing transformation and increased her longevity. Unfortunately baby food is like crack for cats! Everyone else in the house wants it and it gives them diherrhia.

It's difficult to make sure everyone gets what they need and those who don't need it don't get to what they shouldn't. But it sounds like you're taking great care of your furbaby and I hope the recovery is swift!

 

[mickeysaver]

Toby seems perfectly normal this morning!

As for what all we go through as furbaby Mama's in this house, it's a pretty good list for sure. There are 5 chihuahuas and 3 cats, so go figure that it's alot.

Deuce has seizures and is allergic to anything with feathers. So, twice each day he gets Phenobarbitol and due to his recent weight loss and elevated liver enzyme bloodwork results, he is also taking some holistic antioxidant vitamin suppliments to help support his liver function. We also have a devil of a time finding dog treats for him. We found the perfect dog food, Taste of the Wild, it's fish based and a quality food for all ages of dogs. However the treats are a challenge because so many list "animal fat" or "animal meal" and that is difficult for us because we have to know which animal and most of the time, since it's dirt cheap, it's chicken. The fat alone is not a problem, but how much meat was still attached to the fat? That meat has protiens that can trigger his allergies. When he eats the wrong thing, you know it in a matter of hours because is scratching like crazy to the point of being raw and losing his fur. We keep Benedryl on hand as well as Resihist lotion, just in case. At least once every 6 months, and right now every 2 months, he has to have med levels and liver enzyme bloodwork done.

Cindee has persistant issues with colitis. We have spent a small fortune over the past 9 months or so trying to get her bowels regulated. We have had to give her oral meds, enemas, and she has had a bunch of labs and Xrays to make sure that nothing else is wrong when it has flared. Recently, we started her on about a tablespoon of canned organic pumpkin twice a day and it's working great so far. The only problem is finding it outside of Thanksgiving season. I think we are going to be forced to special order it from the grocery store. Who knew that a $1.58 can of pumpkin could make a dog feel so much better over the course of two weeks?

Gracie is a rescue with a long history of abuse. She has a bunch of dental challenges and has lost many teeth in her lifetime. She gets antibiotics 5 days out of each month to keep the bacteria from further damaging the few teeth that she has left.

Perdy is healthy physically, but is a huge challenge behaviorally. She is very insecure and is very possessive of her food and her bed. It's a daily struggle to keep her in line.

Toby, well, he's the healthy pup of the bunch. His biggest problem on a daily basis right now is learning how to balance correctly with his front end heavy body, so that he doesn't fall when he lifts his leg to pee. It's quite entertaining.

As to the cats, they are indoor only cats, which of course requires twice a day litter box maintence at the very least. They are all healthy.

Our furbabies require a lot of time, money, and attention and are all worth the effort in the things that they bring to our lives and the lessons that we learn from them.