My Poor Little Cocoa!

[Leslie J]

This afternoon Cocoa threw up and was a bit listless. When I checked on her she felt damp around her mouth and on her front legs.. I tried to get her moving a bit to check on her and she was having trouble walking. She threw up again. I rushed her to the vet who had me take her to the doggie hospital. It seems that she ingested something toxic. She was drooling like crazy (thus the wetness), listless and couldn't walk well when I took her in. Her blood work came back normal... so it a neurological reaction to something. I am so worried about her. I can't imagine what she ate- my house is quite safe because I have 5 year old twins. We never let her outside unsupervised. Of course, she is 5 months old and eats everything in sight. Has anyone else had this happen?

[Leslie J]

Cocoa is much better and seems to have most of her spunk back, but what caused the problem is still a mystery to me. Two toxins that came up- chocolate and mushrooms are possible. My kids have been eating chocolate gelt for Chanukah, but I'm really strict about where they eat it, and they are wrapped tightly in foil (to look like coins) so it would be difficult for her to sneak and eat a few without being noticed.

There are mushrooms in our yard, but they don't look like poisonous ones. I never heard back from the vet at the animal hospital about the ones I dropped off, but I looked at a mushroom Identification book. It is VERY difficult to identify mushrooms, however, and our goal is to remove all of them from the backyard. I'm also going to call back the hospital vet- after charging me $850 for the night in the hospital I think she could at least call back.

My regular vet called me last night and also said to keep an eye on her because another (less likely) possibly is that she could have a liver shunt. I sure hope not!!!

Thank you again to everyone for their supportive messages... it really helped reduce my stress while all of this was happening.

[shelly]

Oh my gosh, Leslie! I feel for you! We had our Tori hospitalized twice! I felt so horrible BOTH times. I was so upset that she was sick, and even more upset with myself for "allowing" it to happen. The first time, she got into our garbage and ate some boneless pork ribs from the chinese restaurant (mostly was fat). She threw up only once or twice for a weekend, by Sunday, she had blood in it and they said she had pancreatitis. The second time, same symptoms. I began to blame anyone in my house for not watching what she got into. BUT.... when they did the blood test, her enzymes came up fine. They did an x-ray, and found she swallowed a very TINY screw. The ones that are on the back of a kid's toy that you unscrew to put batteries in. We searched ALL over our house and can't for the life of me find where it came from. These guys just scoop up anything they can. I feel so bad for you! I know the torment you must have felt. I'm so glad she's better now. If it makes you feel better (lol) - we paid $1,100.00 the first time and $1300.00 the second time ~ We're looking into pet insurance now!

[Leslie J]

Wow... you've been through so much! I guess that $850 wasn't out of line. It seemed like so much, but at the time all I could think of was saving my puppy. They really will eat anything. The vet at the pet hospital told me about a poodle that had been in 15 times for swallowing stuff (socks, toys, tampons, etc.). I'm glad Tori is okay. Like you, we are so careful, but now I am a bit paranoid. I agree about pet insurance- those vet bills are not cheap!

[Ann]

Wow, I bet it was the mushrooms. I am glad Cocoa is better!! It is soooo horrible when your pup is sick and they can't tell you how they are feeling!! We have a lot of mushrooms outside during the spring and summer...I will get rid of them asap. Gosh, these dogs eat anything sometimes!!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am glad to hear that Cocoa is doing so much better.