Vomit and Vomitus

I wonder if there are others out here who, like me, see an awful lot of similarities between dogs and kids... not necessarily good or bad, just similar.

OK, some good, some bad. Today, not so good. I left early this morning for an hour or so, without my purse - and (also) without my dog, Keelie. My trusted companion, my guardian, my watchdog!

I came back to find a trail of stuff down the hallway, like children leaving marks on a trail so they can find their way back. Except of course, this was the dog and she wasnt exactly thinking ahead (I didnt say there weren't differences!) So I follow her trail. Its' definitely looking like she'd gotten into the garbage . . . until I saw that was untouched and looked again. Trail mix candy bar wrapper - wait, I hadn't ate that yet! Evidence of a pack of my favorite gum. Hey, that stuff was in my purse!

Keelie is not in sight, she knows better... (actually I think she thinks if she's hiding somewhere that she can't see me, then I can't see her!)

But I'm certainly seeing evidence -and this isn't good at all; the dog has gotten into my nicorettes, which were in my purse from the night before, in case I was tempted to smoke while I was out and about. Not good! I see at least 4 or 5 empty crinkled up packages that they come sealed in. I could tell they were her work from the teethmarks on the plastic. And I wondered if it were possible that she might have swollowed some whole. Now I'm getting really worried...


I look online, and learned 5 0r 6 of the 2 mg. size shouldn't kill her, but they wont do her any good, and what if she chewed more?


So I see a recommendation on a doggie poison control site to give a dog 3% Hydrogen peroxide for nicotine poisoning - get it out of their stomache, quick as possible. I called my vet to confirm, and then got the goods. I then, well, forced her to drink that stuff and took her outside to let her stir things up a bit. The idea is to get the dog to puke, ralph, throw up, regurgitate, - whatever your word for that wonderful reversal of fortune (cookies.) If you do that in time, you can get most of the nicotine out and perhaps spare the dog a stomache pumping - or even save its' life.


It didnt take right away, so I gave her a second dose And about 5 minutes later, as I was giving her the last of it, things started working a bit more effectively. Rather quickly this time, I might add. I ran with her, poor thing gagging, for the door. But just as we got there, she couldn't wait any longer. And that's when I got to use another thing I learned on the poison control site. There is actually a different word for puke the noun than for vomit the verb: vomitus. And there was quite an ample supply. Lots and lots of vomitus. Just inside the door, and quite colorful with red gum and white gum (if i'd only had blue it would have been patriotic vomitus.)

OK, disgusting post, I know, but that is how it is sometimes, with dogs!