4:30AM With A Sick Dog

In the early hours this morning, my husband and I were woken up by a little dog's shrill barks. Okay, to be honest, my husband was woken up. I was sound asleep and only barely aware that he got up. I woke up completely when my husband came back into our room, and said, "Honey, I need some help. Olive is sick."

I jumped out of bed in an instant, and what I saw in the kitchen will haunt me for all my days...... Vomit. From one end of the room to the other and from side to side.

And there was our sick little dog, gulping down water like it was going out of style.

"That can't be normal," I said, pointing to her as she drained her water bowl.

"Does that look like chocolate?" my husband asked, pointing to the vomit puddles.

Oh No.

A quick google search confirmed excessive thirst and extreme vomiting are signs of chocolate poisoning, and a quick search of the cupboards revealed a missing half bag of chocolate chips. My husband put on his boots and coat, took up a flashlight, and searched the yard for the bag. He returned victorious, unfortunately.

One call to the emergency vet later, we know that 6 oz of chocolate chips, ingested by a 15 pound dog, will probably not kill her. She will be really, really, really sick, but she should be okay.

So we bathed Olive (me) and mopped the floors several times (my husband), put on a pot of coffee, let the other two dogs out of their crates, covered the couches with towels, turned on the TV to America's Funniest Home Videos (that's how tired we were, after 90 minutes of clean up, AFHV was the most hilarious thing we've ever seen) and settled down with one sick little pup.

When she rolled over to snooze on her back, totally relaxed and resting, we breathed a huge sigh of relief. She's going to be okay.

I need to mop the floors again. Now that the vomit phase has passed, I really feel the floors could use another hot, sanitizing scrub. And then, maybe a nap. 4:30am and I are not usually acquainted and I'll be real honest, we're never going to be friends.