I can tell you many things about the last few days but I’ll start with this one. If you happen to see my blog on Friday, I had a little blip about Minx not feeling well. I even posted a picture

I thought he was sick from eating pizza the night before. A ridiculous thought in retrospect. It clicked a little while after. I woke up to Minx chewing on my Afrin nose spray bottle. I just took the flattened bottle away and closed my eyes again. I was still feeling pretty sick from the Covid vaccine. I thought he had chewed the empty bottle, I was wrong. I

took a pet safety class and knew a little about dog interactions with drugs and I wondered if the Afrin was like peroxide to induce a dog to throw up. I went on google but what I found made me call me vet immediately.

the ingredients in Afrin can cause problems with dogs. It is what is called a sympathomimetic. They can cause vomiting, nausea, slow heart rate, cardiac arrhythmias, poor capillary refill time, low or high blood pressure, panting, upper respiratory sounds, depression, weakness, drowsiness, nervousness, hyperactivity and shaking. These signs usually start to occur within 30 minutes. Even if vomiting has stopped, you can still start to see these other signs. There is a chance that no more issues will occur from these if there was only small amount of ingestion. There isn’t anything you can give at home to combat the side effects, though. Usually, it requires intravenous fluid therapy to maintain proper heart function and correct any electrolyte abnormalities, EKG to monitor for any cardiac arrhythmias, 

My vet actually had me call the ASPCA poisoning hotline https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control. It was to determine if they could treat Minx or if I needed him to be brought to one of the emergency vets. The ASPCA has a $65 fee to offer any help but I wasn’t at the point of caring I’m just letting you know. Thankfully my vet had the required medication to treat Minx but if he didn’t respond he’d still have to be transferred to an emergency vet. It was my choice to make. I chose my vet.

Minx had thrown up about 5 times. He was lethargic and breathing shallow when he was brought to the vet. He responded immediately to the medication. My vet told me we were very lucky. This was a very dangerous situation. Once his heat rate and blood pressure stabilized and were normal for a few hours we were able to bring him home. His bloodwork showed his liver enzymes elevated and those are being rechecked Wednesday. His appointment to be neutered was canceled because my vet wouldn’t want him under anesthesia for a few months now. So far the only one he humps is me so that’s no big deal. I’m just so grateful that he came back home. By the next morning he was completely back to himself. A horrible tale with a very happy ending.