More Emergency room drama

Boy, I have had my fill of veterinary emergency room visits. Once again we have had a terrifying evening wondering if one of our fosters would make it - thankfully this visit has a happy ending.

During our hot weather here in Western Washington, one of our foster pups, Kewpie, stopped eating and drinking. We treated her for dehydration, tried to keep her hydrated, but by Friday morning we had a weak and trembling puppy who was fully hydrated but still not getting better. She was taken to the vet who kept her overnight on an IV. By this morning there were no changes so we brought her home and regrouped. It was determined that she likely had the same problem of neurotoxicity that Callista, who had to be put to sleep, had dealt with.

Terrified, we scoured the yard again, and spent lots of time researching neurotoxicity in dogs. Combined with our previous experience with Callista we finally found the culprit: water. Yep, in a hidden away corner of the back yard next to our composting area is a bucket full of dead leaves and mucky water. The leaves were added as the brown, carbon matter for our compost bin. Well, it ends up that rotting leaves can develop a mold that produces mycotoxins. Typically a dog wouldn't try to eat leaves, however these leaves had standing water over the top of them and it was hot. Being dogs, the fact that the water was dark brown and smelled like poo wasn't an issue. It all started to make sense: short dogs didn't get sick, Frodo who eats all manner of putrid things hates to drink anything but clear water in his water bowl - no puddles or even from streams when we hike.

For awhile today we thought we would have to stop fostering as we couldn't determine where the poison was coming from. It was horrible. Watching sweet Kewpie twitch with tremors and not being able to stand was horrible.

After calls to the ASPCA Animal Poison Control and a visit to the Emergency Vet Clinic the mystery is over and it has been determined that little Kewpie will make a full recovery. She will need to have charcoal treatment and an enema to flush her out and will also have to spend the night and receive Valium injections to manage her tremors. Her vet bills will not be pretty, but she will be alive and back playing with her sister soon. And best of all, no more dogs will have to deal with this nightmare at our house.

Thanks to everyone who has sent their prayers and good wishes. Kewpie will be fine and our family will be able to continue fostering rescue dogs.