Beware What You Wish For

I was using my computer and feeling a little bored. “What to do, what to do,” I thought.

I glanced over at the dogs. All three had been curled up on beds around me, but now Paco was lying on the floor under the ottoman, looking adorable.

This would have been a great picture, but the new digital camera was downstairs. I knew that if I got up to get it, Paco would jump up and follow me.

Almost as if he could hear me, Paco glanced up. He stood and walked to me, looking plaintively at me. I usually try not to give in to him because if I put him on my lap, his incessant licking makes it hard to type. But he had looked so cute under the ottoman that I gave in.

I picked up Paco and put him on my lap. To my surprise, instead of trying to lick my hands, he lay quietly. I typed a few sentences on the computer, and suddenly Paco leapt off my lap.

Normally I wouldn’t have been overly concerned about this, but then I heard him scraping at the crate. I got up and peered into the crate.

Paco was lying across the back of the crate, facing one of the corners. As I watched, he suddenly started making gulping noises, and threw up a few times.

“Oh, no!” I yelled.

As is my habit, I ran to get the phone. Bad news had to be shared with Chris, and the sooner the better.

As I dialed Chris’s work number, Paco walked out of the crate. He wagged his tail politely at me, and then turned to the side and threw up again, this time on the floor outside the crate.

“Paco threw up,” I announced to Chris when he answered.

“Oh, poor guy! What happened?”

“He just went into the crate and puked all over. And now he puked again on the floor.”

I leaned down and examined the vomit. Alerted to the fact that something was happening, the other dogs got up and tried to examine the vomit with me. I shooed them away, ever mindful that to a dog, vomit is merely something so good that it needs to be eaten twice.

“It looks like grains of rice,” I reported. “Did he have rice in his breakfast? It looks like he didn’t digest it at all.”

“Brown rice,” Chris said. “That’s probably what made them sick last time too.”

So much for Newman’s Own Dog Food. The dogs may have liked it, but what good was an organic dog food that just wanted to be fertilizing the ground and not the insides of a dog’s tummy?

“Well, I guess I know what I’m doing this afternoon,” I said.

I hung up the phone and surveyed the area. I inspected every blanket–not an easy task, since we have 12 beds for 3 dogs in their room–and luckily found no other remnants of breakfast.

I lugged the laundry downstairs and started the washing machine. So much for being bored.

Posted by: ssjane | August 29, 2005 | 3:49 pm
Posted in: Dogs