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Krista
12-08-2000, 07:14 PM
I left work early today and went home to help my hubby with some landscaping in the backyard. The boys were out there with me. I realized they hadn't run by me in a few minutes and looked around for them. They were muching on something....as I got closer I realized it was one of those ant poison feeders.

We have never used these kinds of things for this very kind of danger -it must have been here from whoever lived in the house before we bought it. It has been out in that shed for 2 years now, and we never saw it, but they found it in five minutes and had gotten some of the stuff out of it.

I called the vet -frantic of course. They asked me some questions and determined that I needed to make them vomit IMMEDIATELY.

They reccommended using hydrogen peroxide to do that since it goes down easiest. I bought one of those oral medicine dosage syringes a few weeks ago and it was a lifesaver. I would have never managed to get the solution down them with out it. Within a few moments they were both vomiting. I didn't see any of the ant bait in their vomit thankfully, which means they didn't ingest much of it, if any. Of course they are still under close observation.

I called the vet back and described the vomit, and told him how old the stuff was, and that it had been outside in our shed. The vets felt there was no need to bring them in, unless I saw anything unusual. I guess that stuff loses its properties with age and exposure, and the main reason was of course that I saw it happen and got them to vomit quickly.

I am still really shoook up. Needless to say, I scoured that shed over for more, but found nothing.

Anyway, if you don't have an oral syringe to administer liquid GET ONE -you never know when you may need it. It also helped to force water into them after they vomited. I think I used 2-3 teaspoons of the regular hydrogen peroxide solution (3%) per dog and it worked very quickly and very well. I held their mouths shut with the syringe in the corner of their mouths while I pushed the plunger -forcing them to swallow it.

FYI: you can also use regular mustard to make a dog vomit according to the vet if nothing else is available in a pinch. They said jsut keep making them swallow a spoonful at a time till you hear them heave....

Oh my....I'm so drained. I don't know what I would do without my boys. I'm relived that they seem to be fine -in a panic that I let something bad happen to them, and obsessed with making sure nothing even slightly abnormal is happening with them now...one sign and I'm on my way to the Emergency vet.

Everybody, hug your puppies, and make sure you have the right tools on hand should you need to induce vomiting.

Maggie Aggie
12-09-2000, 12:53 AM
Krista,

How scary! http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/afraid.gif I'm glad the boys seem to be fine.

I believe I will have to take your advice on getting an oral syringe.

Sending some dachsie rays your way ....

Vicki and Maggie

Mark
12-09-2000, 04:39 AM
Hi Krista,

Never a dull moment with Dachsie's around, eh? How terrifying! But, alls well that ends well.

I'm so glad it turned out well. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

Mark

PS - Thanks for the mustard tip . . . I was unaware of that one.

Roxane
12-09-2000, 12:04 PM
Oh, Krista, that is really very frightening. We all go out of our way to keep any harmful chemical or plant materials away from our animals and then something like that happens. So glad you were on hand to take immediate action. You really turned things around. Thank goodness for the happy ending.
I didn't know about the mustard, either.
Roxane and crew

Penny's Aunt
12-09-2000, 12:21 PM
Just be sure to use the medical 3% Peroxide, not the strong hair-dye stuff.

If you don't have a syringe, you can also use a spoon or a soft plastic glass that you can squeeze to narrow down, or step on an empty food can to make a spout.

You don't even need to open their mouth to give it to them: just pull out their cheek & pour it in there. Keep their muzzle tipped just above level, not back so far they might choke.

And you might write on the bottle of Peroxide to give it in case of poisoning, for your family members to use if you aren't home.

Oscar's Mom
12-09-2000, 03:06 PM
I'm so glad your boys are ok. I cant imagine how scary this was.
I do have some syringes. They are good for lots of things, now I'm using one to clean Oscars ears because if he sees me with the ear cleaning solution bottle he runs.
Thats good to know about the peroxide and mustard.

Susan's Freddie98
12-11-2000, 01:55 AM
I had a similar scare with ant spray when Freddie was about 6 months. Long story short, he got a hold of wadded up paper towels SATURATED with ant spray!<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm24.gif" border=0> It happened at my folks, they were having a BAD ant problem in the kitchen. My Dad had plugged a small hole under the cabnit by the floor with the saturated spray. Sure enough the little fart found it! I had been gone, and I think it had been a good hour or so that it happened when I got back. I don't think he fully ingested any of the towel, as he was fine, nothing happened. But talk about freakin out, I started panicking! I never did call the Vet, guess I should have. I'll tell ya, ANYTHING is possible with a dachsie!<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm13.gif" border=0>
Thanks for the mustard tip. Vinegar would probably work too, since it's in mustard.

Susan

dutchman
12-11-2000, 10:41 AM
Good to hear things worked out OK. We covered the use of hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting in our pet first aid class. They did recommend calling a vet or posion controll center first to confirm vomiting is a correct treatment. They also stated in the class that in general it is better to get tem to the vet since the drops they have to induce vomiting tend to be more effective. It's a good idea to check with your vet and see if they can give you the phone number for an animal posion hotline.

Don't you just love how exciting our little frineds can make our life? Never a dull moment with a dachshund around. If there is a dull moment you better be checking to see what they are into.

Tom and the boys (Frank and Tanner)