Friday, February 19, 2010

The $130.88 Pack of Bubble Gum

Yesterday evening after Tea Kwon Do and a very long day, I headed to the grocery store with my kids to pick up something quick for dinner.  I have no idea what happened to the dinner I planned out earlier that day and had waiting in a slow cooker...oh yeah... that was a dream.

Anyway, we were checking out and there was all this gum on sale for 88 cents.  So, I let each kid pick up a pack.  We went home, made and ate dinner, watched some Olympics and then headed up to bed.

Which is when I found the remnants of the outside cardboard box of one of the packs.  Extra Classic Bubble Gum - Sugar Free.  Not a piece of gum in site.   Not even a wrapper.  This stealthy dog of mine somehow managed to get the pack of gum off of my son's desk and eat the ENTIRE thing.  

Now, you may or may not know that there is a sugar alcohol in most sugarless gum and candy called Xylitol.  And it is toxic to dogs.  Even after only one or two pieces in a 50 pound dog.  Imagine what 18 pieces will do to a 38 pound dog.

No Hubby home.  8:30 at night.   Poison in my dog. 

I call the emergency vet and they instructed me to induce vomiting by giving my dog a TBSP of Hydrogen Peroxide. 

Did they know I just got new carpet?
And kinda have an aversion to dog vomit?

Yeah, if we don't start vomiting he could go into hypoglycemic shock.  Really?
Really - it is true.

So, while I wait for him to start ridding his body of this toxin (on the wood floors) I start a search on the ingredients.  Luckily, Extra does not have Xylitol in it but another type of sugar alcohol which is not toxic to dogs.  Whew.    (Orbit and Trident both have Xylitol in them, just fyi)

But I still needed to bring him in.  Really?

Yeah, the gum could obstruct his intestines.   Especially 18 pieces with the wrappers. 

It is good to have your mom living 5 minutes away.   Thanks Mom, for rushing over. 

So, $130 and two hours later the emergency vet was able to rid Elmo of his bubble gum party and we were back home resting safely.

Knucklehead Dog.  




In other fantastic news, you might remember my B having surgery a couple months ago.  Well, yesterday was her follow-up appointment to make sure the surgery was successful.  It was!!!  Yay, no more surgeries for her.  That was truly a relief for all of us.  So, we headed to the mall to celebrate over a sandwich and markdowns at Justice.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!
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8 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my stars!! Thanks for the heads up on the gum.....note to self, do NOT let Bella eat that, she only weighs 4 pounds!
Ugh on the Vet visit.
Yay on the follow up from B's surgery....certainly something to celebrate!

GladMom24 said...

if its not the kids its the dogs always something :)
glad B & Elmo are ok!

jen@odbt said...

Phew - glad he's ok and great news about your daughter. I would not have been able to handle the dog vomit either.

Kim said...

Another reason not to have a dog! Thanks for the reminder!

Where you and B at UNC Thursday? Us too!

Stefani said...

So glad to hear that B and Elmo will both be okay! A friend's dog ate gum with zylatol in it not too long ago and spent a few days at the vet hospital. She was one sick doggie. Thankfully, she is okay now. Thanks for the reminder to keep that stuff away from the dog! :)

Unknown said...

Oh goodness. Never a dull moment is there?

I didn't realize that Xylitol was toxic for dogs! I'll be sure to remember, we chew Trident by the Warehouse size boxes!

Kathy L. said...

I had the pleasure of making our golden take hydrogen peroxide to vomit up the 40 or so cotton balls last month. Fortunately it was a nice day and with the fenced in yard and it did come up eventually...fun times.

The Chubby Dove said...

Great news about B...Yay!

Poor Elmo, there are other ways to get rid of your dog breath....

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