Chocolate shocker

[MEL AND ZULU]

Well here i am, the voice of "dont give your dog chocolate" Hhhmmmmm

Easter must be a time when dogs get at the eggs and get poisoned the most.

While reading the forum on Sunday night i was eating an egg i got from my mum and put a quarter of the egg next to me while i was reading, fumbling around a few seconds later, the egg was gone and Stumpie my small 6kgs Malti poo was sitting by the chair licking his lips.

Well i almost had a heartattack and an hour later he was sick. My brain went into overdrive and i started to really worry that he had chocolate poisoning.

Read up on the net, big mistake caus says all kinds of nastys. Didnt know what i was supposed to be looking for caus my dogs dont get chocolate so have never had to worry about it before now.

And didnt get a wink of sleep all night caus i was watching him looking for signs that he was ill, which he wasnt in the end lucky enough.

That'll teach me to be carefull where i leave things in future.

Question is though, what should i have in my dog first aid kit if this should ever happen again. I read about charcoal but wasnt sure what to do with it or if it was a special kind?

[Mattie]

Being sick is a good way and he done that for himself

I nearly lost Merlin when he managed to get a box of Roses off a shelf that was 7ft up. He ate the chocolates, most still in their wrappers, box and Christmas wrapping paper as well, there was no evidence so I didn't notice until the following day. Hubby was in hospital and I had got to a friend's for Christmas dinner then onto the hospital so was gone for 4 hours.

I rushed Merlin to the vets when I realised what had happened, luckily my vets is an emergency hospital and they operated right away because there was a blockage as well as chocolate poisoning. Merlin was in intensive care for 4 days and the vet bill, £2,500

Vets give dogs with chocolate poisoning charcoal so I now keep charcoal tablets in just in case although now I am on my own, I rarely have chocolate for them to get and when I do, it is locked away. Greyhounds and lurchers are notorious for getting into places that other dogs can't

[MEL AND ZULU]

Gee whizz looks like we had a luck escape then!

Dont worry, i wont put choc anywhere near them again after that!
Luckily Merlin was ok in the end.

I think Lurchers are prone to a sweet tooth. My family dogs since before i was even born were always lurchers caus my dad loves them. The one dog we had since she was 7 wks , Lucy lived till she was 18! We were all devastated when she was pts after a stroke. She was like a hoover when we were all young and seemed to favour maltessers. Then we kept a pup of hers Saxon, beautiful dogs but luckily she didnt pass down her sweet tooth to her!

So where did you get charcoal tabs from, vet or chemist?
And should it happen again, do you just give them a tablet or is there a dosage? Sorry for all the Q's but when it comes to the dogs i always worry and like to be prepared and know what to do in an emergency.

[Owdb1tch]

You can get charcoal dog biscuits too

Last year when our terrier jumped on the worktop and scarfed down half a bag of raisins, she had a pile of charcoal biscuits and I syringed a lot of olive oil into her mout afterwards. Luckily she's greedy so thought it was a treat.

No harm done. Sounds like you got away with it too.

Little devils, aren't they!

[Mattie]

By the time I realised what had happened Merlin was too far gon to eat charcoal biscuits. I got the charcoal tablets from a heath shop. and will give them to any of my dogs that has an upset tummy. The dosage should be on the packaging.

[Owdb1tch]

Tablets would certainly be easier to give.

[MEL AND ZULU]

Hey theres two gr8 choices, i'll just get both to be on the safe side

You have to have eyes in the back of your head with dogs, they're just like kids