Near Death of Mango. Part 2.
In a literal and figurative sense, there is a shit storm raining down on my life.
This was my exact thought as I drove just north of Bellingham city limits. Moments earlier, I smelled something wretched. I drew my attention from the two lane road, turned, and saw my dog Mango taking a dump in the way back of my Element. It was composed entirely of blood and pus; which I didn't need a visual to confirm. The odor was enough of an indicator. As it was fall in the Pacific Northwest, it was torrentially raining and a full open window wasn't an option. With the windows cracked, the heat on high, and an attitude of, "well, this is just how my day is going to go," I continued onward. I did, after all, have a job interview. Hopefully I wouldn't stink of steaming hot dog-turd when I got there. More importantly, I hoped my dog wouldn't die on me during my errands...or anytime in the near future. "Alright Mango, just don't shit on the seats. I'll be right back, buddy."
Luckily, Mango didn't poop on the seats. She did, unfortunately, poop on the floor directly behind the driver's seat. A perfect placement, it turns out, for maximum stench flow to the nostrils. I considered turning this stinking ship around and heading back to the emergency vet. The reason I didn't was because we had already been there. When I picked Mango up, I asked if she would be ok. The response was a shuffle back and forth, both docs looking at each other with nervous head motions. The exact movements you don't want to see during any doctor/patient conversation. Is she going to die, was my next question. Their response wasn't a perfect no. What I had been told was that Mango could get better in a week or in several months. If she was one of the unfortunate ones, she wouldn't get better. I muttered a depressed, "Ugh," on my way out the door. In one hand I carried an oversized plastic bag of dog medication. In the other arm was Mango, my one eyed Jack Russell Terrier, now heavily drugged and with (supposedly) pancreatitis.
After I arrived home and cleaned the floor of my car, I started contemplating my options for the evening. I had work, but Mango was sick and couldn't be left alone. Not only that but something didn't seem quite right. Now, I am not one to WebMD my problems and come up with an at-home-diagnosis, but Mango's symptoms and her "illness" weren't really lining up. Yes, some things were congruent, but some things weren't.
Weeks passed and Mango gradually improved. She would have a handful of good days followed by a few days that were really bad. Puddles of blood were left all over Jason's house. Waking up multiple times to the sound of vomiting made me feel more like a new parent, and less like a vital part of a once-was dynamic duo. My dog was slowly dying, and I couldn't do anything but try my best to let her outside before she involuntarily bled all over a brand new house...feeling horrible and clearly, very embarrassed about her condition.
We went in for a check up, and Mango's tests all came back as negative - meaning that she didn't have pancreatitis or any other intestinal, enzymatic, or blood issues. Somehow, though, she still had all the symptoms. Being a fairly analytical person, I started going over everything that had changed for Mango in the past few weeks.
-we went to NJ and FL
-she changed flea treatments
-we were staying in a different house (possible poisons, noxious plants, etc)
-she may have eaten something strange
-we recently started using flea shampoo
The only really new things were flea repellent related. A conversation with my next door neighbor Jackie was pretty eye opening. She said that her kitten's nose bled after flea bathing her, and that she found out how toxic flea shampoo could be... which, as it turns out, is very toxic. In fact, if you read the back of a bottle of flea shampoo, it probably says one of the following: keep away from children, do not use on humans, do not reuse bottle, do not dump excess down the drain (that bad, really?), do not use on puppies, do not.... the list continues.
Naturally, I googled these words: "Flea shampoo sick dog" and "flea shampoo dog death". Both came up with an alarming amount of results, with an overwhelming amount of stories from current pet or previous pet owners. The only stories that differ from Mango's symptoms are stories where the dog's skin actually fell off. That is no exaggeration, and there are photos.
I am researching a variety of ways to naturally repel fleas. There are many, and we will see how they work. In the meantime, people should observe their pet's behaviors and not assume that they are acting odd because they got into something unknown. You might, it turns out, be poisoning your best friend.
This was my exact thought as I drove just north of Bellingham city limits. Moments earlier, I smelled something wretched. I drew my attention from the two lane road, turned, and saw my dog Mango taking a dump in the way back of my Element. It was composed entirely of blood and pus; which I didn't need a visual to confirm. The odor was enough of an indicator. As it was fall in the Pacific Northwest, it was torrentially raining and a full open window wasn't an option. With the windows cracked, the heat on high, and an attitude of, "well, this is just how my day is going to go," I continued onward. I did, after all, have a job interview. Hopefully I wouldn't stink of steaming hot dog-turd when I got there. More importantly, I hoped my dog wouldn't die on me during my errands...or anytime in the near future. "Alright Mango, just don't shit on the seats. I'll be right back, buddy."
Luckily, Mango didn't poop on the seats. She did, unfortunately, poop on the floor directly behind the driver's seat. A perfect placement, it turns out, for maximum stench flow to the nostrils. I considered turning this stinking ship around and heading back to the emergency vet. The reason I didn't was because we had already been there. When I picked Mango up, I asked if she would be ok. The response was a shuffle back and forth, both docs looking at each other with nervous head motions. The exact movements you don't want to see during any doctor/patient conversation. Is she going to die, was my next question. Their response wasn't a perfect no. What I had been told was that Mango could get better in a week or in several months. If she was one of the unfortunate ones, she wouldn't get better. I muttered a depressed, "Ugh," on my way out the door. In one hand I carried an oversized plastic bag of dog medication. In the other arm was Mango, my one eyed Jack Russell Terrier, now heavily drugged and with (supposedly) pancreatitis.
After I arrived home and cleaned the floor of my car, I started contemplating my options for the evening. I had work, but Mango was sick and couldn't be left alone. Not only that but something didn't seem quite right. Now, I am not one to WebMD my problems and come up with an at-home-diagnosis, but Mango's symptoms and her "illness" weren't really lining up. Yes, some things were congruent, but some things weren't.
Weeks passed and Mango gradually improved. She would have a handful of good days followed by a few days that were really bad. Puddles of blood were left all over Jason's house. Waking up multiple times to the sound of vomiting made me feel more like a new parent, and less like a vital part of a once-was dynamic duo. My dog was slowly dying, and I couldn't do anything but try my best to let her outside before she involuntarily bled all over a brand new house...feeling horrible and clearly, very embarrassed about her condition.
We went in for a check up, and Mango's tests all came back as negative - meaning that she didn't have pancreatitis or any other intestinal, enzymatic, or blood issues. Somehow, though, she still had all the symptoms. Being a fairly analytical person, I started going over everything that had changed for Mango in the past few weeks.
-we went to NJ and FL
-she changed flea treatments
-we were staying in a different house (possible poisons, noxious plants, etc)
-she may have eaten something strange
-we recently started using flea shampoo
The only really new things were flea repellent related. A conversation with my next door neighbor Jackie was pretty eye opening. She said that her kitten's nose bled after flea bathing her, and that she found out how toxic flea shampoo could be... which, as it turns out, is very toxic. In fact, if you read the back of a bottle of flea shampoo, it probably says one of the following: keep away from children, do not use on humans, do not reuse bottle, do not dump excess down the drain (that bad, really?), do not use on puppies, do not.... the list continues.
Naturally, I googled these words: "Flea shampoo sick dog" and "flea shampoo dog death". Both came up with an alarming amount of results, with an overwhelming amount of stories from current pet or previous pet owners. The only stories that differ from Mango's symptoms are stories where the dog's skin actually fell off. That is no exaggeration, and there are photos.
I am researching a variety of ways to naturally repel fleas. There are many, and we will see how they work. In the meantime, people should observe their pet's behaviors and not assume that they are acting odd because they got into something unknown. You might, it turns out, be poisoning your best friend.
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