So I had a very major event with one of my dogs this week I would like to share and hope that from this tough lesson, you would learn from my situation.
My Pointer (the one in my avatar) opened a dresser drawer by the handle and ingested wife's Arthritis medication around 3pm, chewing the bottle to open and taking all pills inside. We were just out getting groceries as we have done a thousand times before. Luck #1 - I spotted the cap as soon as I got home. My first thought was to induce vomiting with salt and peroxide, with no luck. Raced to Vet, for this and charcoal. Identifying the drug as baclofen at 20mg tablets, my vet was VERY concerned. This is a pain reliever and muscle relaxer... Poison book shows mg of drug to dog weight in kg for mortality rates, effects ect... Luck #2 - this script was low and due for refill with only 10 pills in bottle left. Her calculated number was a 6 and in the book, 8 was "iffy" toward mortality... NOT GOOD! From my vet , we rushed to the ER in Tacoma and admitted her. The poison center had started a case and the vet could carry dialog with them thru the entire process. We started her on a relatively new drug called Intralipids around 9pm, basically fat into the blood, which absorbs the drug and allows time release... I was allowed to stay with her and by 10pm, I thought I was loosing her, she was just jello, only shallow breathing, no blinks, tongue out, incapacitated completely. This medication however, turned the tides and was still alive in the morning. By the evening of second night, she could lift her head for a couple seconds, and that was it, she was still very much tripping on this drug... +60 hours from start I write this with great heartfelt joy that she is still showing some residual but home and happy. SO moral of this near tragic event, GET A SAFE FOR PERSCRIPTIONS! Lowes had a lockable composite safe box and keep everything in it! Thanks for listening, and if just one of the dog owners does this, it was worth my sharing~!!! Cheers , Bruce
