Keep Out Of Reach Of Children

Last night I went to bed knowing that I didn't have to wake up to an alarm and all I had to worry about was getting to a massage by 8:30am.

Tough life - I know. But I've gotten my kids through school and I work from home so if I haven't got a run scheduled I'm allowed to sleep in. I've done my fair share of early morning mayhem and chasing kids out the door to get them to school/buses/City Cats on time so I think I've earned a couple of more relaxed, non-frantic starts.

It was awesome to roll out of bed after 7:30. Feeling refreshed and invigorated. Looking forward to a relaxing painful massage that was going to get all the kinks out.

And then I walked into the kitchen. And I found this on the floor.

This is a packet of antibiotics. That I'd left on the bench last night to remind myself to give them to Toby. 

Toby has been incredibly itchy lately and had managed to divest himself of the cone-of-shame while I was out yesterday morning. He went to town on himself. Tore holes in his rump and ended up visiting the vet yesterday afternoon. We came home with a pharmacy's worth of drugs and a list of instructions on how and when to administer them. And being prone to forget stuff lately, I'd thought that leaving them in plain sight would be the best reminder.

But I'd forgotten about this.  

Stealing those antibiotics wasn't tricky at all for little Ricky. And those blister packs weren't that hard to break into for sharp little teeth. He'd managed to eat a whole sheet of them.

All of a sudden my lovely relaxed morning vanished. I took Ricky outside and tried to get him to vomit by sticking my fingers down his throat. No vomit but I do have some teeth marks on my knuckles. 

I know that some drugs can be highly toxic to livers and kidneys but there didn't seem to be much information on-line about this particular antibiotic so my next option was to call the vet. They suggested that I bring him up for observation. 

I looked at my watch and realised that I could still make the massage if I took him straight up so we jumped into the car and headed off. 

Ricky hasn't always had the best track record with cars and I remembered that while I was sitting at a red light. I keep a towel in the car and it seemed like a good idea to spread it out where Ricky was sitting just in case he threw up. 

Call me psychic (some would call me psycho - I accept both.) but not long after we got the green light I heard him heaving behind me. Of course he'd missed the towel, but you've never seen a happier person whose car has just been vomited in. I was fist pumping and smiling and praising Ricky for being such a good dog. Yeah, I'm pretty sure most of the drivers around me would have opted for the psycho label looking at the crazy dog lady.

So I arrived at the vet with both the puppy and a tissue full of vomit. I bet they love their job some days. And I got to my massage on time. And my masseuse (my sister) cleaned out my back seat with her wet and dry vacuum. Talk about a full service massage!

Ricky's at home now and you'd never know anything has happened. And we've all learned an important lesson - to keep medicines out of the reach of children. Even the furry children.