What owners experience..

[thedogisgreen]

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Got a call from my roommate yesterday just as we were closing the clinic that my chihuahua had gotten into a brownie she accidentally left out. Panicked, called the vet who had just left on her cell and rushed home with hydrogen peroxide and toxiban. Spent all evening monitoring my little girl, but after a few hours, her heartrate was back to normal and it seemed like she was through the worst. Now up in the middle of the night, 12 hours post-ingestion, because she's vomiting up charcoal all over my bed. Now she's stopped and is resting and seems fine, but no way I can go back to sleep.
So, point of my story... I've definitely realized during this how numbed out to the experience of having a sick pet I get during work. Daily, we see owners with their acutely ill dogs and cats, some of them just taking it in stride, others worried to death. We do what we can to calm them down, reassure them as we care for their animals, but I think I forget how intense it can actually be to experience it, to be in the moment of worrying and freaking out, feeling such uncertainty, and wanting your poor baby to feel better. I sometimes find myself in awe at the ridiculousness of some owners who are overly worried about their dog who has an easily treatable hotspot or has vomited once or twice, but this experience definitely reminds me how scary it can be when your loved little one gets sick in any form. It's a big smack in the face and reminder of what the owners we see are often experiencing, something we far too often don't appreciate the intensity of. Any thoughts?

 

[katryn]

I'm with you on that one. I still remember both times the dummy dog decided to eat electrical cords. Having your husband call you saying "the dog at a cord" is not fun....especially when he fails to mention that the cord wasn't plugged in and you're expecting fried dog not obstructed dog. Although neither one is fun.

 

[168135]

My family had to have our cat put to sleep two weeks ago. She was the first and only animal, besides fish, that we've ever owned so dealing with her death is new to me. I've been lucky and haven't had to deal with the death of a family member or friend until now. It was kind of a wake up call... so this is how most people feel when they lose an animal...

It's been weird trying to adjust. I wasn't home when she was put to sleep... I just got home last night. I woke up expecting to hear her nails clicking on the laminate floor, expecting her to barge right in and hop up on my bed. Then I went into the laundry room to hang something up and where her litter box and food dish was, there is the clothes rack... it's weird... right now it feels like I'm never going to get used to this weirdness.

 

[thearsonist]

I wholeheartedly agree with you, thedogisgreen.

it's unfortunate that we quickly become desensitized over time, and it takes an event such as ones given, to where we remember what it's like to have those worries again.