Arsenic And Old Lace

Reuben fell on the stairs this morning - he immediately started caterwauling and carrying on, racing around on 3 legs with the injured one flopping in a most alarming manner. OF COURSE it's Sunday and it was about 8 am. He's OK - we think he just twisted it and the surprise of pain freaked him out. Once we got him calmed down and a couple of biscuits in him he fell asleep (he's like the cats - if things are not going well, take a nap. If you wake up and it's still not going well, take another nap).  A couple hours later after he was fine and harassing everyone again and trying to what was good to eat.  I recounted this while walking with Charlene at the park this morning and we were discussing the high cost of emergency vets when I touched on the subject that  David and I have, over the years, accidentally poisoned quite a few of our pets. They all survived and I have no idea how we manage to do it with such an alarming frequency, but we do. My first Chesapeake Bay retriever Argus was hanging about while David and a friend were fixing the truck and managed to drink antifreeze. I called the vet and he told me by the time I got the dog there it would be too late - the only thing I could do was give him Ipecac and when he was done vomiting - two shots of vodka (anyone reading this please note this is a LAST resort cure and rarely works and I called the vet first). Argus was as drunk as a lord and then spent the afternoon snoring away, we took him in  to the vet a couple of days later - and blood tests showed no residual effects. Claw got poisoned next which I  posted about of course - Yarns and Tall Tails: Tired Already:  -  we figured out later that she must have eaten one of the vermin we had been steadily poisoning. When we moved in the house there were barn rats and mice all over so we had rat poison all over, it never occurred to us that the dying mice would be easy pickings - so to speak. After $300 and a day at  the emergency vet (never forget the Sunday Only rule!!) her nasty self survived. Pearl was next in line but I'm not sure if that counts because technically she poisoned herself and of course I posted about it  too -   Yarns and Tall Tails: O Is For Overdose.    - I do have to give credit where credit is due, she did not follow the Sunday rule and survived regardless. Vincent is the latest victim - he was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure but the past month has recovered almost completely. He has no blood in his urine, he's gaining weight and although he still drinks a great deal it's nowhere near where it was. David brought up the fact that about the time he got ill, we had been.....well, poisoning mice again. Hmm. So I guess David and I are the old ladies of the Arsenic and Old Lace set. Reuben so far has evade our crafty ways - and on the upside they DO all survive us.