Dog Lovers Please Read This

Everybody,

I did something terrible. Really, really bad.

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Nothing hurts me more than when I've failed someone I love. It's happened a few times. I was late to my grandson's birthday party. I went to the restaurant on the wrong side of town a full half hour away. It was an important birthday and I was late. He forgave me instantly and teased me that he must not be the only one getting old. Another time, years ago, my sister, my Mom and I were at a dog show in Texas. I promised Mom that we'd close up the booth early on her birthday and go out to a celebration dinner. We rearranged the booth that night. At about 9:30 my sister tapped me on the shoulder and said, "You promised Mom you'd take her to dinner for her birthday." Ah, geez. In my business mindset, I had forgotten what day it was. And to add more insult to injury, I made her walk what seemed like 12 miles that night. We'd gone to the River Walk for dinner and when we left, we got turned around and couldn't find our motel. Nobody, not even a police officer could help, "Sorry, Honey, I just moved here." No one could help us get home. There we were, carrying change which is really heavy if you haven't done that before, miles from our motel. We found it hours later, the three of us too stubborn to call a taxi. We laughed and said we'd find it sooner or later. It was the best night's sleep I'd ever had. It was Mom's 70th birthday. She forgave me instantly.

This time though, this is bad. This is nothing compared to those times. A moment of my not paying attention could have cost Kate her life. I write about the good stuff and incidents that happen every week, I have to tell you about this, too. It could save another dog's life.

I regularly eat almond butter and blueberries for breakfast. I keep the peanut butter and almond butter in the fridge...see where this is going? Dogs should not eat almonds and almond butter is worse. This is very, very bad.

I was ready for work, happily humming a tune to entertain Kate. Kate was happy and like a good dog was telling me that it was time to go. I petted her and said, "Let's grind your nails before we go, we're a little behind on that. I'll get you a treat to make up for making you wait to go walking. Hang on, Lover Girl." Meaning to reach for the peanut butter, I instead took out the almond butter and I didn't even realize it. I scooped about a teaspoon full and slathered it into the Kong so she'd have to really work for it. "Here you go, Darling, get up here and we'll get those nails done." I patted the couch and up she came. Kate jumped up and starting licking the Kong. I used the grinder on her nails and by the time I was done, she was too. She had eaten all of it. All of the almond butter. She shoved the Kong at me asking for more. I laughed and tossed it into the toy box. "Come on, Girlfriend! Off to work!"

Work is 3.52 miles from home. Kate loves the walk and I do, too. We walked briskly. On the way to work, we make a quick trip of it. On the way home, we meander, saying "Hi" to people we meet, stopping to listen to dogs bark, do a little training here and there, enjoying the evening.

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About mid-morning, Kate touched me lightly with her nose, that's her asking to go outside. "Okay, Girl, let's go." It was early for her to ask to go outside. When we got there, Kate started vomiting. It's not unusual for a dog to vomit if they've eaten or had too much water too quickly and I didn't think much of it the first time, except that it was different than a normal vomit when things come up quickly. This was more of a heaving. I held her and let her get rid of it. Poor Girl, I'm so sorry, Kate, I didn't hurt you on purpose.

About 10 minutes later, Kate was back, asking to go outside again. She didn't make it to the door. I cleaned it up. She asked to go outside again. Diarrhea. I don't tend to panic when a dog gets sick. It happens sometimes. I didn't start to really get scared until the end of the day. At about 9:30 in the evening both ends had turned to water. I knew that she was potentially in big trouble. She wasn't dehydrated yet, her gums were slick and her skin moved easily as normal but I knew that's where we were headed if I waited any longer. "What's the matter, Girl? What's the matter?" Kate put her head on my leg and closed her eyes while I called the emergency vet.

"Any toys missing? Any standing water that she could have gotten into? Possums carry disease, maybe that's what's going on. Did she swallow anything, this acts like an obstruction. Let's get the vomiting and diarrhea stopped, give her some relief, then we'll look to see what we can find." The staff and vet were very nice to us. Kate wagged her tail and went for X-rays. They brought her back to me and we waited together, Kate with her head in my lap and me racking my brain to try to remember if she picked anything up and swallowed it. No. She doesn't eat non-food things. Does she? Did I miss something? At this point I still didn't have a clue what I'd done.

The vet returned. "Nothing. I can't find anything. No giardia, no bacteria, nothing is showing up. Let's get her started on some antibiotics just to be sure that we're catching something early. She doesn't have a fever." I don't like giving antibiotics to man nor beast and I'm so glad that I didn't give them to Kate. Antibiotics can and do cause more harm than good if there's no reason for them and in Kate's condition, they could have made it much worse by killing off her good bacteria.

We got home late and Kate slept like the dead. I had my hand on her the whole night, waking often to see if she was okay. I kept checking for her breath. She was so still. It wasn't until the next morning that I found out what I had done. I reached for the almond butter for my blueberries and there, where the almond butter goes, was the jar of peanut butter. I knew instantly what I had done. I'd fed her almond butter. That's not just a few almonds in nut form, it's way too many almonds ground into a paste. Very dangerous stuff to a dog.

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Kate was fine the next day, eating and playing, taking full advantage of me, asking to go out more often, just to play and goof around. She never did refuse water. The butters have a new home apart from each other in the fridge. I will never do that again. I hate failing those I love. Nothing hurts me more. I could have killed my darling Kate. My heart is still a little heavy knowing what could have happened. I have forgiven myself, it's what I would tell anyone else to do. It's done, I can't change it. Kate is okay and back to her own happy self. I try very hard not to make mistakes. Kate forgave me instantly just like my grandson and my Mom did. You know, I think it was last week I told my sister, "You know, I don't think I've done anything really bad for about 20 years." I won't be saying that again either. - Darcie, Founder of SitStay.com

Remember Tuesday is Good Dog Discount Day!