Keeper vs The Raisins

The Keepster has been acting odd lately. At almost 8-years-old, she has not only been drinking lots and LOTS of water, she has also started eating strange stuff while we're gone. First it was the leather case off of my cellphone. Gone! Except for a few tell-tale bits around her bed. Then Kleenex (many), followed by an address book (most of the cover and the entire CDE section - so if your name starts with CDE and you don't get a Christmas card from me next year, you know why). We started closing doors and moving things every time we left the house. We usually put Riff in his x-pen, but we've always left Keeper loose, and let her guard the house.
One day she somehow got paper napkins out of their container on the middle of the kitchen table, and ate quite a few. Did she climb onto one of the chairs? We started carefully tucking the chairs in before we left.
Yesterday afternoon I closed all the doors in the hallway, moved everything off of the family room tables, tucked the chairs in, blocked Jeff's office area, and moved everything away from the edge of the kitchen counter to the middle of the counter. Bear in mind that this dog has never "counter-surfed." She has never seemed comfortable standing on her back feet, even for a treat, and I've never seen her put her paws up on the edge of a table or a counter. Ever! Yesterday she managed to get five boxes of raisins off the middle of the counter and eat them all, between the time Riff and I left for our lesson at 3:15, and Jeff's arrival at 4:00.
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I didn't get home until almost six, when Jeff laughingly told me about the raisins. But I thought I'd heard somewhere that raisins might be poisonous to dogs, so we called our vet, just to be sure. We were given the number for the Emergency Vet, who told us to bring Keeper in for "vomit induction." If I'd had Ipecac (?) or something to make her vomit at home, and if I'd known how to do it... ... ....
But I didn't.
As soon as we got to the hospital a vet tech came out and whisked Keeper away (with some protest from Keeper), and left me in one of the examining rooms, examining the walls. I read a statement regarding the hospital's "core values."



I counted the number of card holders, and read each name. A lot of vets work there. It's a 24/7 hospital.


A different vet tech came back with Keeper and a cloth muzzle, and asked if I'd mind putting it on her. They couldn't get it on, and she wouldn't let them give her the "vomit-inducing" medication. The guy said she was really growling! I put it on (sadly), told the guy to check the buckle, and off she went again, tail hanging low. It was after 7:00 when the vet came in, and said it was probably too late to get Keeps to vomit - apparently you have to do it within two hours. She explained that some dogs aren't hurt by raisins, and some are. That the dogs who react badly to it suffer total renal failure within 48 hours. That it can happen after eating a few raisins - much less than five boxes. That they wanted to keep her there for a couple of days, and give her IV fluid treatments and testing during that time. And, by the way, would I mind putting a "basket muzzle" on her, because she got out of the cloth one very quickly.

I felt so conflicted! Do I say "Oh, thanks anyway..." and take my dog home? Or leave her there? Given the possibility - total renal failure - I left her there. A nice young lady came in with Keeper and the basket muzzle, and I put it on her (so easily! Keeper was trying so hard to be good....) and off she went. This time she was wagging her tail while the young lady sweet-talked her.

So I asked the lady at the counter to recommend that Keeper have female vet techs. (I know, I know, some of the male techs are great too...) And suggested the vets be female also. (Is that awful of me?) Then I stumbled home. Trying not to imagine the worst. Trying to THINK POSITIVE! Realizing that in all the time I've had Keeper I've only spent two nights away from her. I drank some wine to try to sleep. I tossed and turned, and dreamt of her all night.
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My regular vet called early this morning to find out what happened, and we talked about Keeper's symptoms of frenetic water drinking, getting really "growly" with people, and eating odd things, and what they might mean. I'd already called the ER hospital to learn that Keeper was fine this morning. The overnight vet (a woman) has BCs, liked Keeper a lot, and took the muzzle off of her right away. (Yay!) The vet techs are now relying on her Elizabethan collar for "protection." Today's vet (a woman) is from northern England, grew up with "border collies all around," and didn't anticipate any problems at all. They put a sign on her cage "Move Slowly. Say HELLO first!"
Keeper's initial bloodwork came back NORMAL, the urine was close to NORMAL, and they will continue to give her fluids and monitor her throughout today and tomorrow morning.
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So I picture her coming home tomorrow - tail wagging, excited! happy! snuggly! and healthy!!
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And I picture setting up her x-pen, so she can stay comfy - and safe, whenever we leave the house....