This story is about my first, original baby, my dear Riley.
Riley is my ten year old Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mix. I've had him since I was a college junior, and through some of the most major transitions in my life. We've moved nine times, seven of which were within a four year time span. I've had him through undergrad, graduate school, my first "real, big-girl" job (which involved a move of just the two of us more than 600 miles from anyone we knew), first home ownership, our wedding, and now my first pregnancy. He is my baby.
Yes, Riley is my precious, but he is also a little menace. In fact, I could probably start another blog to regale you with tales of his antics. And there are many people who could add their two cents, because I am not the only person whom Riley has terrorized with his mischief. This weekend, I'll add a few stories about Riley's past shenanigans in the comments section below, and if anyone reading has one to add, please do so.
Riley has always been mischievous on his own, and now that we have Lucy, our two-year-old Great Pyranees/Lab mix, it's double the trouble. I suspect with near certainty that it was Lucy who was the ringleader in the incident on Thursday.
Mark had commented that he wanted to try some of those Clif energy bars; he thought it would be a good pre- or post- run snack. So I bought him a small assortment at the grocery store last week.
The bars were sitting out on the kitchen counter awaiting Mark's sampling. Lucy, apparently bored with the usual
bark-at-squirrels,
terrorize-the-mailman,
eat-the-mail,
take-a-nap routine that she usually does while we are at work, decided to do a little counter surfing. Over the course of her perusing, she happened upon the Clif bars--pushed against the spot where the counter meets the wall--and snagged two of them.
Could she really smell them through the wrapper? Or was she just being nosy? Who knows. I came home from work that day to find both of these wrappers torn to shreds, and the contents devoured.
As you can see, both of these bars contain chocolate, which everyone knows is toxic to dogs. But, neither of my dogs are inexperienced when it comes to chocolate (told you they were mischievous), and I knew that they both had a fairly high tolerance for it. I expected some, ahem, gastrointestinal upset, and was just hoping that it would find it's way outside and not on the carpet that we just had steam cleaned last month.
The next morning, I awoke to find Riley sleeping in Lucy's pink doggie bed, which is quite uncharacteristic for him (he usually sleeps in bed with us, under the covers and in between our legs). He was shaking, but it was chilly in the house that morning, and Riley is an inherently cold dog anyway, so I covered him up with a blanket, finished getting ready, and left for work.
I came home early that afternoon; I had an OB appointment and took a half day off from work. When I arrived, Riley came crawling up from the basement, ears back, tail down, his eyes bugging out and looking at me pleadingly. Uh Oh, I thought. What did you do? I interpreted this as his I-did-something-bad guilty look. I took him outside, and he did not perk up, but continued walking crouched-down, and it became clear that he was in pain. I had never seen him act quite like this.
By now, I was pretty concerned. I thought about Riley's quivering that morning, which I had previously thought were just chilled shivers, and realized that he had been suffering all day. I called Mark and told him all about the situation, and since I had to get to my OB appointment, he called the vet, who recommended that we bring Riley in immediately. Mark hurried home from work to take Riley to the doggie ER.
The vet asked Mark the typical questions that one does when trying to initially assess a pet's ailment. Had he eaten? (no, but that's not unusual; Riley sometimes goes anorexic for a few days, and then binges for a day or two). Was he drinking? (no, but he hardly ever drinks). Did he have diarrhea? (yes, but he does at least once a week). Riley is a very finicky dog. Then there were the questions about the energy bar ingredients.
It turns out that chocolate wasn't the only ingredient that we should have been concerned with in those Clif bars. Macadamia nuts, and especially raisins (in the mountain mix one), are also toxic to dogs. The raisins are what the vet was worried about. They can cause kidney and/or pancreatic failure in dogs. Since we didn't know how many raisins were in the bars, or which dog ate what, the vet recommended blood tests, IV fluids, and overnight hospitalization so that they could monitor Riley for either of these.
And so, Riley spent the night in the ER, and all the while I thought about how devestating it would be if something happened to him. And how guilty I would feel for not putting the energy bars in the kitchen cabinet. I cried at the thought. My baby.
The vet called us around 9:00 PM to report that Riley's blood tests came back ok--no kidney or pancreas failure. But, sometimes this can be undetected for a few days, so they would continue to monitor him over the night to be sure that he was getting better. His x-rays had shown that he was a little gassy, and bloodwork indicated that he was a bit dehydrated, so they would keep him on fluids through the night. Things sounded like they would be ok.
At 5:15 Saturday morning, I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing. Who could be calling so early? It had to be the vet. My phone was charging downstairs, so I rushed to answer, but was unable to get there before it went to voicemail. I figured that they would be calling Mark next, so I rushed back upstairs, just as his phone was beginning to vibrate (he never has it on ring). "Here!" I shook him awake. "I think it's the vet! There must be something wrong with Riley!" I was petrified. Did Riley's kidney's fail? Did his heart stop? Is he in pain? I mean, why else would they call at 5 AM?
I'll tell you why. To report that Riley had eaten, and was now resting comfortably. He was ready to go home any time now; but, before 8:00 AM or we would be charged for another half-day hospital stay.
$1,000 (yes, that's one-thousand dollars) later, we can now confidently say that the Clif bars had caused a massive case of indigestion in Riley. He is now happily rehydrated, thanks to the overnight IV, and his gas pains relieved by the medicine the vet had given him. And, we have learned the very, very, very hard (and expensive) way to put our energy bars in a cabinet.
Riley was so happy to arrive back at home, and immediately resumed his post guarding the house from squirrels.
His discharge instructions directed him to rest indoors for the remainder of the day, and Riley has been following doctor's orders.
And I still can't believe that it cost $1,000 to find out that our dog has the sh#&s.
It has been discouraging; she is always interested in her toy, or her food, or her sippy cup whenever I'm trying to sign ball or eat or more or drink. I was beginning to think that it was all pointless, that she clearly wasn't ready to communicate in this way. But now, I started to think that maybe I was pointless. Lucy and Riley taught Bitty her first sign. The dogs are better at this than I am. 
and finds it operational.
Sarah and Marty! Riley gives it a thumbs up and will be breaking it in for Bitty.
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