Just another day!

My daughter became a mother a little more than a year and a half ago. Along with a baby boy who knows how to work the remote controls to everything better than any adult I know, there is also an old black lab named Onyx. He gets manhandled by my grandson and is a good sport about it.

Wyatt had a terrible cold and an upset stomach last year. My daughter was holding him and he puked all down her back and on the floor. As she turned to grab some paper towels, she knocked over the dog’s arthritis pills. Naturally the cap wasn’t on tight and they went all over the floor.

By the time she put my grandson down and tried to grab the pills from the dog, most of them had been swallowed and Onyx just sat there looking at her, as if to say “Now what?”

Aside from having to put out another hundred dollars for more arthritis medication for the dog, she knew it could be fatal. She called the Vet and was told to make the dog drink peroxide and he would vomit.

She gave Onyx all he would allow her to give and nothing happened. She called the Vet again and the Vet told her she had to keep giving him the peroxide until he vomited. My daughter got my grandson cleaned up and took him and the dog outside in the spring sunshine.

She repeated giving Onyx another dose of Peroxide and was holding the hose ready to wash him down as he spewed regurgitated peroxide and water all over. But nothing happened.

At this point my daughter didn’t know what to do, so she called the Vet again. This time the vet said she had better bring Onyx in the office so he could get treated. Gina put my grandson in his car seat and Onyx in the back of the jeep and off she went.

She pulled up to the front of the Vet’s office, got Wyatt out of his car seat and put Onyx on a leash and inside they all went. The Vet met her in the lobby and gave Onyx some other liquid and then it happened.

The dog’s eyes glazed over and there was noise coming from his stomach that sounded like Mt. St. Helens before eruption. He took a few steps and dropped to the floor. The rumblings were so loud that everyone in the waiting room stood up and looked toward the entry door.

Onyx stood up and fell back down to the floor and I swear the floor shook. People began to run and I swooped up my grandson and headed outside. I heard my daughter say, “OH MY GAWD” and then it happened. Onyx began to sway and he pooped and vomited and peed all at the same time. The dog lost 20 pounds in those few minutes and I didn’t have to look at my daughter to know she was also vomiting. My grandson was laughing a belly-laugh as if all this had been staged for his amusement.

We both knew that the dog had to be hosed off and rid of the putrid smell before attempting the 25 minute ride home. The Vet’s groomer had an opening so we left Onyx to be bathed and went and had a cup of coffee.

As we were getting ready to leave, the Vet looked at my daughter and said, “That will be $195.00.” I jokingly said, “Just leave the dog for payment and let’s go.” As we pulled away in the jeep, my daughter said, “Never a dull minute at the Benson household.”