September 22nd 1998
We came home from work to feed the dogs before Happy Hour. Murphy came bounding out to see us, but Bear didn’t. I was standing behind Greg and I said, “Where’s Bear?” She was lying down on the other side of the door and he almost couldn’t open it, he had to push it open. He peeked into the room and said, “She’s drunk!!”
I ran over there and there were about 6 bottles of booze EMPTY on the floor.
She had broken into the liquor cabinet.
She came stumbling out and ran over to me (she could barely walk) and I leaned down to get close to her. I reached out to grab her face and she tried to jump up to meet me. She was on her hind legs and leaned backwards a little and fell right over. Plop! It was really scary! Greg ran and called the vet while I sat with her on the lawn and tried to get her to drink water. She was crying and her head was lolling all over. Her eyes were like, spinning her head. It might sound funny, but I really thought we were going to lose her.
The Uptown Vet couldn’t do anything…they don’t take emergencies. They told us to call the University vet clinic, but they were no help, they told us to call poison control who was also no help (“make sure she doesn’t pass out” Thanks, alot!). So I called the vet back and begged that they tell us what to do. We rushed her in to the University Vet Clinic. We were supposed to get her to throw up but she wouldn’t. I sat in the back of the car with her and she cried and cried…
We got her there and put her on a stretcher. She attendant said, “Well, at least she’s a happy drunk. Not a mean drunk!” Once she was there I relaxed a little, knowing she was in good hands. They checked her out then the vet came out to talk to us. She said, “Well, we gave her the charcoal and she threw up…all over me! ” Then she said, “She will pass out and I think she will wake up tomorrow, but I can’t be sure.” This is when I panicked. I didn’t even think that she might NOT wake up. She had to spend the night in Intensive Care.
So we left. I stayed home from work the next day to wait for her. When I called the vet to check up on her, the receptionist went to check on her, came back and said, “She’s resting peacefully”.
I said, “Do you now why she was brought in?” she said, “No I’m sorry, I don’t”. I said, “Well, we brought her in because she drank a ton of alcohol.” and she said, “Oh SHE’s our Tequila Dog!”
Since they were making jokes, I assumed she was OK. She was. I later got a hold of the student that was taking care of her. He said we could come get her around 3pm.
We went to get her. The student brought her out on a leash. She was walking very slow and her head was dragging, tail between the legs. I leaned down and said, “HI Honey!” he looked up at me and put her head down again. Then she smelled us and immediately turned into a different dog. She jumped up and wagged her tail and make whiny noises. It was really cute. It took her a minute, but as soon as she knew who we were she was fine.
Bear is fine now. She had a bit of a hangover for a day.
Maybe she learned her lesson…then again…do we?
Posted under pets
This post was written by Amy on September 22, 1998