I never thought I'd be a dog person. I didn't have pets as a child, save a parakeet that just drove everyone nuts for a short while the mysteriously disappeared from our lives. Like any kid I occasionally asked for a dog, but my mother's response was always "there's only one thing poopin' in my life at a time, maybe after your sister and brother are potty trained."
They didn't get a pet until my brother was in high school. I'm not drawing any conclusions from that.
Enter Norm.
Norm is supposed to be a rat terrier, but a rat terrier should be 8-12 lbs. Norm weighs about 35. He sleeps with his head on a pillow and likes to be under the covers. He steals food compulsively. He is an escape artist rivaling Houdini. Once he ripped up the carpet in our apartment trying to dig under the door to escape. And then of course there was the recent cinnamon roll fiasco.
We "bought" Norm from a breeder, but I consider him a rescue. We answered an ad in the paper and drove to a farm in the Glencoe/Silver Lake area. It was winter, and all over the yard the snow was all bloody. There was a pack of mini collies roaming wild, and I swear a banjo playing cousin on the porch with missing teeth.
I picked the fattest puppy who had no interest in playing with us, all he wanted to do was eat out of the dog dish. The dog dish that contained a whole apple pie. No lie. I didn't initially know it was an apple pie, that I found out when we loaded up our puppy and drove around the first cloverleaf back on to the freeway and he threw up apple pie all over the car.
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Norm has a few quirks.
George calls it "personality."
I've called him a lot of things over the years (nearly 9) we've all been together, but the truth is he's absolutely found his way into my heart. He's always excited to see me when I come home, and he curls up to sleep in the crook of my knees when I'm cold. He licks my tears away when I'm sad, and his entire body lights up if you say the phrase "car ride?"
Tonight Norm is in the hospital at the emergency vet. He's on IV fluids and a heart monitor.
Sometime while we were out, Norm got into my craft room which is the attic. He's never shown much interest unless one of us is up there, and even when we are he seems annoyed to climb the full flight of stairs. But at some point today he decided to investigate, and during that time he found a bag of dark chocolate Wilton Candy Melts. Those are the melting chocolate wafers I use to make candy or dip strawberries or s'mores on a stick.
They are highly toxic to dogs.
We've all joked about Norm's iron stomach, and he's eaten chocolate before, so I wasn't that worried when I found the half eaten bag ripped open.
Until a few hours later Norm started to pant.
Then he kept walking over to strange areas of the basement away from our company, which he never does. He seemed like he was hot, and it was far from hot in our basement.
When he threw up we called the ER immediately. It was like pure chocolate sauce. Plus a few mini pepperoni slices I guess, but mainly chocolaty.
When we went upstairs to read the candy bag to the vet he threw up again. They told us to come in right away, and we did.
They induced vomiting, administered charcoal, and admitted him for the night. Chocolate has two toxic chemicals, and they affect the heart and the kidneys. His heart rate was off the charts, even after sedation. The plan was to put him on the IV to flush the chemicals out of his kidneys/bladder, and to monitor his heart rate and rhythm.
Poor Normy.
When we got home, we found he had also puked all over the bed & bedroom carpet.
Did I mention all of these carpeted areas are cream colored? We've been scrubbing and laundering for hours, in between worrying and wondering.
I never thought I'd be a dog person, but I'm pretty wrecked over this.
Get well, Normy. Please get well.
1 comment:
I am so sad to hear that Norm isn't doing well. How is he today. Even when you try to keep them from stuff they get into it. Ginger ate a whole thing of crayon's once and popped wax and her face swelled up like a fighter.
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