I feel terrible Halloween came and went and I forgot to send out my yearly Holiday reminder about safety for Pets and Holiday’s, and unfortunately someone in the Family Dobe Family learned a very hard lesson. I am sharing it because we can all plan ahead for safe Thansgiving, CHRISTmas, New Years and Valentines as they always seem to have Chocolate around as well as other hazards…

Steve- I thought you might like to share our last night’s nightmare with your groups.  This time of year we all have extra goodies lying around and even though we think we are being careful it still happens.  Last night while out running errands my son called to tell us one of the dogs had vomited all over my youngest son’s bed.  He had cleaned it up but could tell which dog was sick.  I got home in time to find another sick pile on my new couch and area rug and it looked like chocolate.  My kids started searching for candy wrappers as I watch in horror as our 8 pound dachshund threw up a 4^th time- a dark chocolate looking mixture.  We found  only 2 chocolate wrappers from the kids Halloween candy- but the vet agrees it had to have been more and she never threw up any wrappers.  Her heart was beating extremely fast and her whole body shaking violently.  We rushed her to a late night Animal hospital where they induce more vomiting and  later a large dose of charcoal to absorb any still in her.  Her heart rate was 200 when we first arrived with normal being 90 at rest to 160 at full out play.   After several hundred dollars we are still not out of the woods.  I spent a long night lying beside her on the floor as her body shook violently from the effects of the stimulants in chocolate.  We were lucky it was probably milk chocolate and  we will have to monitor her for another 2 day as effect can last up to 72 hours she is most like going to survive- but the unkown heart damage may already be done.  If it had been dark or bakers chocolate she would have died last night and probably before we could have even gotten her to the vet.   My kids were convinced they had all their candy up high enough the dogs could get in it but my dachshund did- so we our lucky the dobes never did.  It is now high in our pantry but we have learned a hard lesson.  Not only do we have an incredibly sick dog but we may have just shortened her length and quality of life.  Even small amounts of the wrong food can have long lasting  effects.  As we approach the Christmas seasons and plates and boxes of goodies come in please watch that they are not left down- high cupboards are much better, safer places for our four legged friends.  We almost lost one of our precious 3 dogs last night- don’t find yourself in our shoes.    Kirsten and Matt Wallace

So here is the archived copy of last years holiday warnings hoping we can prevent further problems… From the Doberman Blog:

This entry was posted on 12/9/2006 7:20 AM and is filed under Health.

Our warmest Holiday greetings to the Doberman Gang,

This time of year most folks begin to reflect with gratitude on the things in their lives. We have been blessed and definitely are grateful for the wonderful people who have crossed our paths and enriched our lives. We learn from all of you and you help us grow and develop for which we are grateful. Naturally we are grateful for the four legged family members we have that bless our lives in so many ways, and we hope your four legged companions do the same for you.

Being the holiday season, I woke up last night and though I ought to send out some holiday health tips, and realized how I should have sent it prior to Halloween. Halloween is a season with lots of candy and lots of dangers to dogs. But as we come up on Thanksgiving and CHRISTmas we have other things we need to be aware of as well. Chocolate that carries over from Halloween and certainly is around us through Valentines, is potentially lethal to dogs. It is a compound called theobromine that is the toxin, and there isn’t much you can do about it except try to get the dog to vomit. Once it is in their system it is too late to do much of anything but pray. Dark chocolate and bakers chocolate are generally the worst, and it doesn’t take much to make the dog very sick. A full chocolate bar could kill a puppy or young adult. So naturally keep the chocolate away from the dogs. Other candies are very tempting to dogs and they sometimes get snatched wrapper and all. Usually the wrappers aren’t life threatening but can cause blockages and impaction. Sometimes surgery is required and you don’t want to incur the expense or the discomfort for your dogs. Thanksgiving tables are eyed with drooling mouths by our dogs, and I know I always feel inclined to share. If you share table scraps with your pets, make sure it isn’t food you have added additional salt to. The high sodium causes lots of problems for them. When it comes to Turkey, the meat is fine and very beneficial to our dogs, but poultry bones can be life threatening. In the wild dogs eat birds all the time with little or no effect, but when we cook poultry it makes the bones very brittle and they break into sharp pieces that cut and poke all the way through the GI tract. Share the meat, throw the bones away outside in sealed garbage cans all the time so there is no risk. Also poinsettias decorate many homes for the holidays. They are beautiful, I enjoy them as well, but they are toxic to dogs. Many house plants are. Here is a link describing some of them: http://www.uexplore.com/health/poisonplants.htm If you have these plants in your home make sure they are somewhere they can not be consumed by dogs. Lastly (well for now until I remember the many things I forgot) holidays mean lots of cleaning. It was just discovered that Swiffer floor cleaners have a toxin in them that does kill dogs. I know they are convenient, but when it comes to floor care, old fashioned brooms and dustpans, mops with mild soap and water are best. If it safe to use bleach on your floors that is better than soap. If anyone has any more tips, please forward them on to the group, if you have more questions, please ask!

This entry was posted on 12/10/2006 6:50 AM and is filed under Health.

We sent out a health tips yesterday, for the new members to the list go to http://blog.familydobes.com to read it. I also realized I forgot to talk about tinsel and “icicles” that we hang on CHRISTmas trees. They also get eaten by dogs and cause harmful blockages, so please keep them away from your pets as well! If you have a chewer, Christmas lights are also a temptation that can be fatal, if a dog is in a chewing phase, keep all cords out of reach! Have safe happy holidays!

Stephen Parsons

Family Dobes

http://www.familydobes.com