Doggy Bird Seed Bender

*Yucky details in this entry*

I haven't slept in 40 hours. Despite feeling completely drained, I know I won't fall asleep until I have emptied my head and let myself unwind.

Yesterday, after an already very long day behind me, I came home late from work (about 10). Honey (the dog) had only been home alone for about 5 hours. On previous occasions when she was home alone, she did very well. No major messes, nothing chewed up, no in-house accidents.

This time I noticed she had emptied her basket of toys which were everywhere. Which is OK, they are her toys, after all; and we haven't given her many so it took all of 15 seconds to put them back.

Then, I noticed, on our screened in lana'i, she had somehow jumped up to a 5.5 foot shelf and pulled off the sack of bird seed we keep to re-fill the bird feeder in our yard. Bird seed was scattered everywhere, though not as much as should have been given the size of the bag. In other words, she ate approximately 1.5 lbs of seed. She went on a bird seed bender!

This was all very educational for me. First, I had no idea that my dog was so agile and gravity-defying. The shelf is a wall shelf, bolted to the wall, nothing under or next to it to climb. Second, I had no idea a dog could eat so much bird seed; or that any dog would want to.

Dax knows when something is bad for him; and he rarely eats people food. He just does not like it. He is a naturally healthy decision maker.

Apparently not all dogs are like that.

Anyway, her activity level was still WAY up and she was happy to see me, so I thought nothing of it.

Until she got really fidgety around 11 am, and kept having to go out to go potty. Which kept me up because I have to escort her out at night so she doesn't lick a Cane toad (whole other story). This happened about every 15 minutes. I thought I could ignore her once and try to sleep, since I know she has the bladder control, but she could not hold it.

Then, around 2 am, she started getting fiercely sick. She was hot and vomity and well...I will spare details. I called the emergency vet at about 4am. He said if she got lethargic to bring her in ASAP, otherwise, bring her in around 6 or 7 am and they would start testing.

So I brought her in this morning.

Turns out, bird seed can go bad. Really bad. And with her size (30 lbs) and the amount she ate (2lbs) it impacts the small intestine in a really nasty way. It also ferments with germs and fungus and does all sorts of damage in there. The vet was glad I brought her in this morning, since she needed to be put on an IV and be admitted for monitoring. She's had several enemas today, and hasn't been off the IV yet. She has to stay overnight for more monitoring. (I, in the meantime, spent the day scrubbing and sterilizing my home, making it aromatic again, and buying and installing baby-proofing tools everywhere I felt necessary).

Who knew bird seed could be so potentially dangerous.

She might get to come home tomorrow if she "passes" a series of more tests. Otherwise, she'll stay another day, and possibly undergo slightly more invasive methods to clear out her tummy.

I am sad for my puppy, I really hope she is fully recovered so I can bring her home tomorrow. The only obstacle is that the IronMan triathlon is going on, and the highway I have to drive across to get to the vet's will be barricaded off for the safety of the athletes, and will not be open again until the evening of the 10th.

Trying to figure out that one hiccup has been preventing me from dropping straight into bed...