Don't you eat that!: remembering the puppies while cooking

In lieu of children, we have dogs. 

Kaylee (just give her the ball, or she'll whine for.ev.er.)

Remy (probably looking for scraps)

Kaylee and Remy.  They're adorable and have a big-sister-annoying-little-brother relationship.

Brief story A:

  While I was away from the house, the picky-eater was prepping to make beef stew (a loong while ago).  Nature called, and the kitchen was unsupervised for a minute or two.  Upon returning, the two containers that the meat was in were on the floor on different sides of the apartment and the absorbing pads that sit under the meat were gone.  Yeaaah, so those absorbing pads are not supposed to be eaten.  Over the phone, the vet-tech explained that they were going to have to "get rid of" the pads.

SO, to make a dog throw up:

• get some hydrogen-peroxide
• get said dog to drink a few teaspoonfuls
• (depending on weight--talk to your vet)
• have fun with that
• you now have approximately 2 to 3 minutes to get your dog to an area you're okay with him/her yakking
• wait a little bit
• no, really

  They were taken outside for a few minutes and were presumably done.  Wrong.  After going back in, Remy went to where he feels most comfortable, the back of the couch.  He threw up, again, and had managed to get underneath the slip cover.  I'm not going to lie, I'm glad that I wasn't home for this incident.

Brief story B:

  So, one day I was finishing a chicken stock, and just after I strained out the large pieces and tossed them, our little dog Remy, desperately needed out.  So, I ran him downstairs to do his thing.  We were outside maybe a minute or two total.  When I came back inside, I hear Crunch, Crunch.  "Kaylee, NO!  Leave it!" 
  Sure enough, she was in the carpeted bedroom crunching down on a chicken bone.  I felt blood drain from my face.  She was good and spat out what was in her mouth, but my panic was setting in.  I put the garbage can up and saw that it was largely veggies on top, a good sign as far as the choking-on-a-chicken-bone-thing.  However, onions are super bad for dogs.  I grabbed the hydrogen-peroxide and poured a little down her throat, most got on my hand holding her mouth open.  I leashed her up, and took her outside.  Inside of about 2 minutes, she went to the end of the leash and hacked up her stomach contents: onions, carrots, and a bit of chicken meat.  She continued till it was just stomach acid coming up.


SO, what have we learned, living with dogs?

By God, they are excellent at recognizing the opportunity to filch something they know they're not supposed to have.  But it's so delicious!

Put up the damn garbage can the second you leave the kitchen!

If your dog eats something he/she should not, either call your vet or call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435. Apparently, you might have to pay a consultation fee ($65) for the latter.

There's a solid list of things that can mess them up:
(Referenced from PetHealth on WebMD; you could look there but slide shows annoy some people)

• chocolate (obviously)
• by the way, even just a little will make them not feel well
• don't be that guy
• OH, and white chocolate totally counts; it's just chocolate without the cocoa solids
• onions and garlic
• personally, I'd avoid anything in the family
• grapes (and raisins)
• kids, kidney failure's bad
• avocado
• alcohol (duh)
• when Kaylee was found as a stray, she was throwing up beer
• apparently someone thought it was funny
• don't be that guy
• caffeine
• in all it's forms
• check any meds they get into
• dairy products
• you don't want to clean up the potential aftermath
• macadamia nuts
• Xylitol (diet food/toothpaste/gum sweetener)
• liver failure's bad
• Fat trimmings and bones
• potential pancreatitis with the fat
• bones can splinter and turn into sharp objects in the tummy
• Persimmons, Peaches, and Plums (aka Things with Pits and Seeds)
• pits contain cyanide...it's bad
• seeds can irritate the small intestine
• Raw Eggs
• potential contamination
• there's an enzyme that makes B vitamin absorption a problem
• Raw Meat and Fish
• potential contamination
• possible parasites...potentially really bad
• Salt
• sodium ion poisoning is bad
• Sugary stuff
• if it makes you fat and brings you closer to diabetes, it'll do the same to your dog, but faster
• Yeast dough
• eww
• can rise in the tummy and hurt
• yeast ferments = alcohol = super bad
• Meds (namely, yours)
• seriously?  don't do it
• keep them way out of the way
• Pantry items
• baking powder = highly toxic
• baking soda = highly toxic
• SPICES
• nutmeg = highly toxic

By and large, it's best to just feed them DOG food, and some unprocessed foods (not listed above) can be okay....

Remy... he loves banannas.