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Some of you will know that Bob & I have a most beautiful toy poodle called
Pebbles who is the love of our lives.

I want to tell you of the near disaster which nearly befell her.

 She was roaming around the PAWA office (as she usually does - and probably
shouldn't) harmlessly, Bob was photocopying, and all of a sudden he heard
her crunching away on something and he said "OH NO!"  She had been eating
the rat/mice poison which had - unknown to us - been put down on the floor
under a cupboard.

How do you make a dog vomit?  Fingers down the throat did not work.

We stopped at a deli (to get some salt) on the way to the vets, and I gave
her some salty water, but this didn't work.

It was about twenty minutes after she ate the poison the vet gave her an
injection of APOMORPHINE into a vein  and within 15 seconds up came all the
rat poison & everything else too. We could see she had eaten a lot of it,
enough to kill her, for sure, within 4-5 days.

 He then pumped her full of salty water to make her vomit quite a few more
times.  The poor little darling was pretty distressed for a while.  He gave
her another injection - an antidote called Konakion and a supply of pills
(same stuff) which she has to take daily for the next ten days.

I am to watch her for bleeding, (gums, pale eye lids) and not let her run
vigourously for the next two weeks. She is not to have bones or biscuits =
anything which may make her gums or stomach bleed.

Whilst the vet is pretty sure she will survive, the real test will be in
about four - seven more days.

I did not think to ask how much apomorphine - it looked about one cc. - she
was given (I will check) but thought you who have apomorphine may like to
know that you have something which could save your pet's life - if needed.
Even if not given into a vein, but just into the neck area, it would work
pretty quickly as an emetic.

  It did cross my mind to crush up some of Bob's Permax for her - but
wasn't sure if that wouldn't kill her for some other reason!

I am determined to do an emergency course for dog first aid now.

What a day. Please keep your fingers crossed for Pebbles.

Joy Graham