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Many Adults, 1 Boy & 1 Dog's Montessori Life in a Singapore flat

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Author: weliveinaflat Page 28 of 31

Donna and the poisonous leaf

Even before the fish and the dog came along, we had the plants. My very blighted wrightia religiosa, my blighted by association dracaena frangrans on one end of the balcony and on the other end, my water sucking hydrangea.

The hydrangea is not a very common or popular houseplant in my country, I don’t think. Except over Chinese New Year, when households will buy for decorative purposes and then throw away. So it is probably not common knowledge over here at least that the hydrangea is poisonous to dogs.

Hydrangeas are one of those interesting plants with cyanogenic glycosides. Basically, this means that under times of stress, the plant can have available CYANIDE, which is extremely toxic…The plant does contain irritants that can cause Gastrointestinal irritation (GI), and most of the time mild self-limiting GI upset can be seen – mild vomiting and diarrhea. In larger ingestion, you can see more severe vomiting and diarrhea, and hyperthermia has been reported. Some cases can develop vomiting or diarrhea with blood. The treatment for hydrangea toxicity is supportive / symptomatic care. – via justanswer.com

I love the large bushels of flowers that the plant produces, so we never really considered getting rid of the plant for the dog’s safety. And Donna had scant curiosity for the plant anyway, she spent most of her time in the living room and I can count on one hand the number of times she ventured onto the balcony by herself.

And so we thought we could trust her to leave the plant alone.

Aigh… our complacency had its downfall.

I suppose it was inevitable Donna eventually decided to sample a leaf.

I was in the kitchen at the time but could hear her bell and tag clanking from the balcony. As usual, I went to check because we don’t really think the balcony is the safest place for the dog considering the posionous plant and the potential for free fall down more than 20 floors to smack on the landscape garden below.

I was too late to witness anything but the circumstantial evidence.

A quarter of a leaf torn off. Half of it spat on the floor. The other half not in her mouth, but one can smell the zesty scent of greenery hurriedly swallowed in that recalcitrant maw of hers.

I was vexed. I didn’t know what to do, or what was going to happen. Perhaps she could detect I was vexed, she gave me gentle licks on my leg as I stood watching the bit of leaf lying limply on the floor.

She was lively still, hardly dying.

Should I make her drink lots of water? Not that I know how to do that. She drank at her own time, her own discretion.

Should I still feed her her dinner that was already on the kitchen counter.

The vet’s reception was always busy. They didn’t pick up my phone call. I sent an email. I googled.

I found an answer here.

Since she seems fine now, she’s probably going to be ok, although is she’s showing any signs of respiratory distress, take her immediately to your veterinarian.

For now, I would not feed her for 12 hours to allow her GI tract to settle. You can offer her small amounts of water beginning 2 hours after her last vomiting episode – if she can hold down the water, you can slowly allow her to have more at 1 time, until you can leave the bowl down for her.

When you do feed her, I would recommend a bland diet for 1-2 days of boiled chicken and rice – fat free, and a little broth, just to be on the safe side. She could have a very irritated or even ulcerated stomach lining. No treats or human food for 3-5 days.

You can also administer 1/2 of a 10 mg pepcid (if you have one) when you begin offering water. This may help with stomach upset, and can be repeated every 12-24 hours.

If she continues to vomit, or develops other symptoms, please see your vet.

Since it didn’t seem advisable to feed her and the rain had stopped, I took her out for a slow leisurely walk, which is something that we usually do at that time of day anyway. Perhaps fifteen minutes later, Donna started to vomit. A small round pile of yellowish muck about the size of a mug. And she would continue to hurl five times more. When she ran out of yellowish muck, she puked white foam.

Apart from the times she sat down and threw up, she was still very active and spent no time wasted inspecting the grass.

But by the sixth time, we decided enough is enough and took her to the vet.

Like the last time we were there as a walk in, we were the last to see the vet. The vet tech recommended no water for Donna while we waited. A patch of hair on her neck was shaved off, a blood test was done.

The results, the levels for her liver was slightly high, about 10points higher than normal. Otherwise, she wasn’t in any pain or discomfort, being still lively and frankly recalcitrant and perhaps unaware of her misadventure.

But oh is she serving her penance now, in the form of regular doses of disgusting gut protecting pills and supplements containing milkthistle among other things. She hates the minty taste and snorts her disgust every time I shoot the liquid down her throat with a syringe. What to do? Doctor’s orders.

Another blood test two days later found her liver levels normal again.

And we are now vigilantly closing balcony doors whenever we are not in the living room with her!

Pictured left: Donna at the vet looking at the cleaner vacuuming the floor on the other end after closing time. We were still waiting to pay vet bills and to get her medication. It wasn’t too bad since we could laugh at “The Noose” which was playing on TV.

Rainy days and red ants

Everyday is a rainy day over here, and suddenly there are insects everywhere.

The random dragonfly that landed one day on the unwashed towels in the yard.

Snails.
Small black ones.
Small neutral coloured ones.
And big cone-shell snails that could take up the entire space of my palm.
And of course the unfortunate ones that got smashed underfoot.

Ants.
Small black ones.
Small red ones.
And big red ones with long clingy limbs.
And of course the unfortunate dog that gets them all over her paws and muzzle.

Ah yes, my silly dog will persist in inspecting all the grass patches and tree trunks swarming with big red ants. Heedless, she continues on. Until you make her sit. Then she seems to finally feel their stinging bites (probably), and still she sits there as if expecting them to depart from her paws on their own. Is it just my dog that is silly?

Out comes the wet tissue. Wipe them off, wipe them off!

If you see a crazy woman jumping up and down on a pile of wet tissues trying to kill those red ants while her silly dog sits there and pants, you know who it is!

A dog and her bones

The first thing I ever bought for Donna was a nylon bone which frayed within seconds of Donna laying her paws on it. I went, “Oh shoot! There’s goes this expensive bone! I should have bought the Nylabone instead!” I had already read good reviews of the Nylabone online but when I went to the pet store, I somehow picked another bone instead. Yikes!

It wasn’t long that I ended up buying the Nylabone for Donna, but you know what. After a while, it seemed Donna settled in her new environment and she didn’t chew on her toys as much, and spent more time sleeping instead.

As for the first bone I bought for her? It’s still around, its ends frayed more than the hardy Nylabone. I later bought a rawhide milkbone for Donna so that we have a few bones that we can rotate and keep her boredom at bay.

But before we started rationing them, when Donna still had all her bones at her disposal, it almost seemed like Donna prefer the first bone more than her Nylabone. Or maybe its just me convincing myself that she was having more satisfaction ripping bigger bits out of the yellow bone than small slivers out of her Nylabone.

I’m writing about bones today because Mr P’s cousin’s dog Doudou is certainly having fun with her new Nylabone that we got for her. The talented Doudou has to date ripped all her toys, often within minutes, and our cousin out of desperation keeps making trips to the pet store to replenish. Doudou finished her milkbone in minutes, while Donna took weeks to work on her milkbone. So we immediately thought that we needed to get a Nylabone for Doudou.

And Doudou loved the bone. Chewed it for a long time and was so fixated that she went right back to the bone after her dinner and ignored her family the whole time!

Make no bones about it, this is one toy that should last that dog for some time at least.

Note: I did read that rawhide bones are not only harder to digest, they can also be choking risks. The packaging on the nylon bones did advised supervised play. But the whole point of getting these bones are to ensure Donna has things to occupy her time with when we are out of the house. We usually supervise her use of any new toy for a couple of rounds so we can observe and only let her continue when we see that the way she plays with the toy is safe. Then we leave her alone with it once we find it safe for her. In Donna’s case, we observe that she will usually flick her tongue repeatedly to get the chewed bits out and onto the floor before going back to work on the bone. She doesn’t swallow them. We also ensure all bones are larger than her head, and in the case of edible rawhide bones, we remove them from her once they become soft or have been chewed down to a small size that can become a chocking hazard.

Scratching and allergies

Well, food could be one factor. We heard Doudou’s scratching got noticeably less after my cousin’s boyfriend changed the kibble she was having to a better quality fish-based kibble.

The Animal Recovery Centre does have this interesting section in their article on Nutritional Influences on Illnesses in Small Animals.

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Donna’s celebrity look-a-like!

I had always thought of Donna’s themesong as “Jokerface” (re: Lady Gaga). But some time ago, my friend’s husband thought Donna looked like Batman too. But oops, Donna no Doberman ears. Bummer.

Don’t cry Donna. When I was a teenager, it was trendy to define anything cute as “ugly but adorable”.

Reference celebrity images from digitalspy.co.uk and sideshowcollectors.com. Pictures copyrighted to photographer unless otherwise stated on these websites I guess.  

Do you know your dog park etiquette?

Another place where Donna gets fearful in is the dog park. The first time we brought her there, she had a little bit of fun inspecting the the grass, sniffing the golden retrievers who were older and not too interested in playing with her. Her terror started when a school-age boy brought in his small dog and the first thing that dog did was  to rush towards one of the Golden Retrievers, which in turn ran away from the rushing dog and unfortunately, both headed in the direction of Donna. = =!

Poor Donna tried hiding under the park bench and then jumped onto the bench as the Golden Retriever ran headlong to the park bench and plonked itself by the bench while the small dog played merrily around the two harried dogs. Donna could not be persuaded to leave the bench for a long time afterwards.

At first I felt bad for not having been able to protect Donna from the rushing dogs, but at the same time, I didn’t want to pet and comfort Donna and make her feel she was right for being scared and to reinforce that behaviour. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I sat with Donna on the park bench and watched the other dogs having fun, hoping that by not being tense myself, Donna will stop being nervous and frightened after a while.

Many people may pooh pooh the problem and blame other, insecure dogs for being scared. However,  when you turn the situation around and imagine we were talking about kids at the playground, it would all seem very different

image from – http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/dog-park-etiquette-rules

The next time we visited the dog park, it was empty, but it seemed Donna’s memories have already ingrained a fear of the place for her and the minute she entered the dog park, her tail tucked between her legs and she made a beeline for the park bench.

Thankfully, a lady with a beagle came along and after a suitable period of assuring herself that the beagle was not an alien, that the beagle was harmless, Donna finally got down the bench to inspect the beagle warily. They even had a game of chase-chase. But that fun was short-lived.

A dog walker came along with big dogs – french bulldog, labradoodle, golden retriver, some hound-type of dog – and they all rushed in = = ! So yes, the same flight to the park bench played out.

Inwardly, I wish dog walkers are dog trainers who are good at making sure dogs don’t rush into dog parks, and that parents have good guidance for kids that help the kid to ensure his dog doesn’t rush into dog parks. But then that will be a perfect world, and we know that’s just not going to happen.

So, the help Donna to get rid of her fears at the dog park training continues. And predictable the opening scene has been and will be

Flight to the Park Bench,

followed by These Dogs are Not Aliens,

followed by Perhaps We can Play Chase-Chase,

followed by I am Inspector Grass,

and then the humans will be tired and the grand finale of our soap opera will come along Let Us Go Home.

After the first bad experience at the dog park, I was interested in what we were doing wrong to have resulted in the bad experience for the dog, so I did some research. To be honest, it made me feel better that maybe the problem was not only me, that I was not able to protect the dog, but that it could also a problem with the other owners.

If you are interested to know more about helping dogs play well and safely in the dog park,

Dr Sophia Yin has a great poster on Dog Park Etiquette that can be downloaded for free as well as tips how to train a dog to prevent him from being part of any unhappy situation that may escalate in a dog park in the dog park.

Southslope.org has a nice Dog Park Etiquette Poster with lots of useful tips for adults and for parents with children on how we can help make the dog park an enjoyable place for all humans and dogs and also what to do, if a fight breaks out. Although, I don’t think I can break up a fight, Donna and I at least can stay along the sidelines and er… inspect the grass. :P

Human and dog walking pack

We’ve been blowing the budget every month, what with late night visits to the vet, better food for Donna, toys to keep Donna busy and new cushion covers for Donna’s bed. That’s why wants are not needs and can be fulfilled later, not now.

Nothing to stop me from window shopping though.

What do I want? A dog back pack will be nice. Donna doesn’t really need a dog backpack since she is not very high energy, she doesn’t really need a job to centre her on walks. But there will be days when I am sick or Donna gets over-excited and that backpack could come in handy. In any case, the dog can always do her part for the earth and carry her own empty food cans to the recycling bin. :P

I have my eye on these two from the local blogshops.

The one on the left looks more sturdy but costs 4 times more than the other. The one with the nice tropical leaf design may be cheaper but may not fit was well as the sturdy one. But it doesn’t matter since I’m sitting on the purchase anyway. :D

Meanwhile, I’ll just have to carry our dog walking essentials in my shoulder bag. I carry the minimal unless we are going out for hours – treats, poop bag, zoomgroom brush, keys, wallet and phone. I had been doing well on all these until the other morning, we were walking innocently on the path that winds around the hilltop park near our block when plop! Some bird decided it needs to target its waste on my arm!!

That is when the insight that tissue paper would be handy in the bag, but as it is, good insights always come to late. That’s why the term hindsight.

Luckily, there was a middle aged couple just up ahead whom I can approach to beg for tissue :P

“Auntie, do you have tissue?”

Auntie took a look at Donna, “Your dog pooped?”

I laughed, “No la, not the dog. The bird, plop, shit on me. Look! On my arm!” I pointed as she passed me a tissue paper.

The nice lady turned and asked her husband if he had wet tissue instead. Having cleaned my arm up, I said there was no need for the wet tissue, thanked them again and left.

And now, there is a packet of wet tissue in my dog walking shoulder bag. ; ) Hooray for kind strangers!

Nothing in life is free

… so why is this line of treats here?

Am I suppose to “leave it”?

She is looking at me, shit, what do I do? Maybe I should pretend I am not interested.

That’s it! I’m not interested.


NOT Interested.

Yah right, by the time I return after leaving the room, the treats are gone!

Donna has a natural suspicion of new things that I want her to use or eat. Probably as a side effect of us trying so hard to get her off the sofa. But it was only fair that if we take the sofa from her, we give her something comfy back in return. This set of photos was from probably a month or more back. I was only trying to get her to like the pillow, honest! : D

Happy April Fool’s!

What do you put on your dog’s pet tag?

A dog’s pet tag is small and has limited space, especially when you don’t utilise both sides of it.

That is the way with Donna’s tag. One side has a paw print design, the other side is where we engraved our contact details.

Donna’s first pet tag was like this but purple: 

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