If by hustlin’ you mean cleaning up bodily fluids…

(I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t make sense. It’s the best I can do with the day I’ve had. Thoughtful post meant for today has been moved to Thursday.)

So, sometimes UPS boxes arrive, and from the return label I assess it’s something either for the blog or my writing clients, but I don’t have time in that moment to deal with it, so I stack it on the corner of my desk. As of last night, there were three such boxes on the corner of my desk.

Before bed last night, I took Molly for a walk (she’s back with us… more on that later in the week, too) and came back, putzed around with her for a few, practiced her sits and downs, then put her in her crate. I walked upstairs and found…

Cooper had gotten into one of the boxes. He pulled out the contents. Bottles of canine supplements and joint care. He had shredded and devoured the entire contents of one entire complete health bottle. The closest after-hours vet is over an hour away, so I split-second made the (I know, not always favorable) decision to induce vomiting. But we were out of hydrogen peroxide, so I jumped in the car to go to the drug store and called John – who is, of course, out of town – who found this on the company’s website:

Q: If the pet eats too many/whole bottle will they be ok? Is there a danger of overdose?

A: Your pet will be fine. Our products are natural (containing no synthetic ingredients) and water soluble, so there is no threat of over supplementing. This prevents overdose, since your dog or cat will digest the proper amount of each ingredient that is needed for their body weight (the equivalent of 1-2 wafers) and the rest will simply pass through their system. If they did eat to much, they may experience some diarrhea (especially if they have ingested the majority of a bottle), and it is advisable to provide them with some extra water and put them outside for the day. Please note that they will not experience negative side effects either short or long term from eating the entire bottle of wafers.

So I drove home, took some deep breaths, had a big glass of wine, and we called it a night. Until 4:30 am.

Long story short, between then and this moment, he has peed, pooped, and vomited all over the house and yard (but, sadly, most in the house due to the ice storm situation). I’ve gone through an entire bottle of cleaning solution. He has eaten one piece of whole wheat bread slathered in pumpkin and is now sound asleep.

I still haven’t recovered a normal heart rate yet, and every time he twitches I jump up to determine if I can rush him outside… or if I need to go get the bucket again. Since he’s out of town and missing all the action, for his part John has promised to rent a carpet cleaner this weekend and do the rugs.

Sigh.

How’s your day going?? Please say better than mine!