Tails of Dogs, Cats, and other Furry Friends

When I was little (probably around 7 or 8 years old), one Xmas eve I left some chocolate chip cookies out for Santa.  After a night of very little sleep due to the excitement of Santa’s visit, I got up really early and rounded up my brother and sister for the sprint down the stairs to the living room where the chimney was – and not to mention gifts!

I noticed that Santa had only taken one little bite of the two cookies I left out for him.  His loss…then, my mom said she had to go get our “big” present.  She disappeared around the corner and a few seconds later, a blonde cocker-spaniel came running in the living room excited as he could be.  Like most dogs, he went straight for the food!  He practically swallowed the chocolate chip cookies and immediately turned around and threw them up right in my LAP!

This was my first dog, so I just thought that that’s what they do and I was in for a long, unpredictable relationship with Snuggles.  I think my mom named him.  How could you not love a dog named Snuggles?  I quickly forgave him and that’s where it all started with the dogs in my life.

Thanks again to Su-bones for inspiring me with the Good Eatin’ story.  Another one coming soon.

A friend who likes to cook left a pound of lard on the kitchen counter while she ran her daughter to a soccer practice.  When she came home it was gone, and her two dogs looked guilty.  They slept through the night, but when she awoke there was a nice  blob of undigested lard on the floor.

I once read about a dog who ate some bread dough that was in a bowl on the counter.  At the doctor’s office, its belly began to swell as the yeast started to rise, and they had to perform emergency surgery to remove the dough and save the dog’s life.

Ahh…dogs do love to eat, and many will eat just about anything.  My girl has been known to swipe the butter off the counter, and my daughter’s breakfast often disappears “mysteriously” when she gets up to pack her school bag.

When Cassidy was a puppy, I would come home to find her cheeks swollen out as if someone had blown large bubbles into them.  Nearby I would find a nice depository of partially digested snakes and bees.  Nothing has ever triggered my gag reflex like the smell of those little piles.  It didn’t faze her that the bees would sting the insides of her mouth as she ate them;  nothing seems to deter my girl when she sets her mind to eatin’.

When she was about 8 months old, my daughter and I took a trip.  I had packed a ziplock bag with our medications and vitamins, and when we got home I left it sitting on the counter.  A few hours later we returned to find the bag ripped open and Cass looking green.  My heart leapt into my throat as I realized what she had eaten – what these meds might do to her, and I frantically called the vet, who told me to bring her in to have her stomach pumped.  Despite some more serious medications she had ingested, I was surprised to hear that the only thing they thought might hurt her was the Flintstones vitamins…they contain too much iron for dogs.

We  got her into the back of the car and started driving towards the vet’s.  About five minutes into the drive Cassidy threw up, and from the length of time that took, I figured that was all of it  – no need to pump her gut – so we turned around to head home.

About a minute later we heard a slurping noise coming from the back of the car;  my pup was licking it all right back up.  Alrighty…I turned the car back around and we continued on to the vet’s office.

At least she cleans up her own messes.

OK, I have to admit that I probably don’t wash my dog’s food bowl as much as I should, but I think the dirtier it is – the more my dog, Bianca, likes it.  It gets real crusty at the top edge of the bowl, so before she starts eating the food – she licks the crusty part around the rim and then dives in.  She must have loved Margaritas in a past life.  I think I’ll try putting some salt on the rim and see what happens.  I hope she doesn’t get upset when she dives in and there’s not a margarita there!