the sixty dollar phone call

Maybe it's because it has two deodorants.

Or, because it's manly, yes, but she likes it, too.

Whatever the reason, my dog ate half a bar of Irish Spring soap yesterday. She was outside with Todd, who was finishing tying up the grape vines on the trellises. Todd cuts the soap in half, drills a hole through the bar and then hangs the soap on strings scattered on the wires that hold the grapes. (He uses this as a deer deterrent.) He looked at Sophie and realized that she had pulled a bar of soap off the string and was just about done eating it.

We were away most of the day because of Easter, so she spent that time in her kennel. We got home, let her out and filled her bowl with her supper. She didn't touch it. If you don't know this about Labs, they eat anything (!!!!!) and when they don't touch their food something is amiss. She ended up vomiting on the kitchen floor because I couldn't get the door open fast enough when she started the ol' heaving action. Yuck. There was the soap and her breakfast. Poor doggy. She went out, did her business, and then came in and ate supper.

Okay.

Well, today she was having some potty troubles outside and I got worried because maybe the soap was still giving her problems. So, I called the vet, the girl put me on hold, and then she came back on and said that the doctor wanted me to call the ASPCA Poison Control. Oh, and just so I'm aware, there's a $60 charge.

Right.

I call the number, give my info, pay the $60 with a credit card, get put on hold, and then talk with a doctor from poison control. She tells me that Sophie will probably have some GI distress for a day or so, but the soap isn't really that toxic. We talked a bit and I explained how Sophie ended up eating the soap.

Vet: "You say you have a grape vineyard? Do you know that grapes are toxic to dogs."

Me: "Yeah. But she doesn't eat the grapes. Just the soap."

:-)

Comments

[Tonya Doughty]

awwww, poor sophie. I have a dog that will eat anything. Like on easter morning when he realized there were EGGS, real live eggs just laying around in places he could get to. And eat, shells and all, in big, tasteless gulps, trying like mad to inhale as many as possible before being found out.
I had heard a rumor that dogs weren't supposed to have grapes and raisins and now you've verified it. Should I send you the $60?
t

[Petrina]

8-O Sixty dollars!!!!! You are kidding???!!!!! And my parents' dog used to eat grapes all the time...what's with that???

[Sarah Lambert]

I know this feeling all too well from when Molly ate a handful of Flinstones vitamins and I had to call the number. I was completely outraged at the charge....what if someone didn't have the money..then what would they do? Glad I did and like Sophie, Molly came through the vitamin overdose just fine.