The Pine Needle
The Laugh
It’s Monday. It had been a rough weekend as we had to put our 16.5-year-old cat down Saturday morning. She had been quite ill, and there was quite a mess left behind to clean up. It took the better part of four hours on Sunday to get her things put away and the area where she had been the most all cleaned and reset (this involved scrubbing sections of the living room and kitchen on hands and knees). Monday started as a normal Monday. I had a conference call (I didn’t need to take notes on), so I took the dog (she’s just two) outside for a fetch while I was on the call. She had a good running session, and after 40 minutes, the call was done, and we came inside. About 30 minutes later, I hear retching and coughing noises. The dog has started to spit up all over the basement; there are specks of green but nothing definitive. She does this on and off for an hour - moving upstairs and downstairs (no more clean floors). I take her outside, and we come back in. She’s having trouble breathing, and it seems like she might be choking? I check with a friend (who fosters puppies and dogs) by calling her and holding the phone to the dog’s mouth, “oh yeah, that’s bad,” she says, “I’ve not really heard that kind of noise before.” With a heavy heart, I call the vet and get the dog in right away. Remember, I was at the vet less than 48 hours ago saying goodbye to a wonderful cat. Although our vets are wonderful, I am not really ready to return there with what seems to be an emergency. Of course, the second I put her in the car, she’s fine. We get to the vet. Still fine, won’t get on the scale (she’s a 50-pound dog); she needs a treat to coerce her. We wait for the vet. The dog still fine. Get an examination. The dog seems healthy. When unpacking the day up to that point with the vet, I realize that the kids were playing fetch with the dog while waiting for the school bus. But they weren’t throwing her ball; they were throwing the branches of the discarded Christmas Tree (see this post about the 2020 Christmas Tree, and you will understand why we should not be surprised it caused us more grief). It turns out (quite logically) that the needles of pine/fir trees will irritate a dog’s esophagus, causing them to cough, gag and vomit as they clear their throat. Their breathing can be labored as they “work out” this irritant. This is likely what is going on with my dog - she has a pine needle or needles caught in her throat - this is akin to how a popcorn kernel would irritate a human throat. We could do blood work and an x-ray but decide to monitor her for 24 hours and keep her diet bland (rice and water). Relieved, but out $80, I bring the dog home and make a note to both fully discard the Christmas Tree boughs in the yard (the tree itself is gone, we left the boughs because the kids wanted to use them for in their snow forts) and remind the kids of the safe fetching toys to use when playing with the dog. My workday is pretty much shot.
When they get home from school, we tell the kids about the dog's vet adventure and remind them about what they can and can’t throw for her to fetch. My eldest child then says, “oh yeah, I don’t think I fed her this morning.” So the upset tummy was due to it being empty and the ill-chosen fetch toy employed in the morning, both avoidable, but then I wouldn’t have new content to write about.
The Lesson
Be grateful when an emergency turns out not to be one, even if it inconveniently eats up a large chunk of your day
The Iteration (i.e., how to make it better next time)
Make sure anything that is accessible by your dog or that you give your dog to chew or fetch is safe for them and won’t break into small pieces they can choke on or that could irritate their throat
Know the number of your vet or the emergency vet clinic in your area. Program it into your phone when there is nothing wrong, so there is less to think about when something does go awry (this applies to human emergency numbers as well, especially if you are in an area where 911 is not accessible)