I'm exhausted today after last nights ordeal, and just need to vent for a minute if that's alright, so please bare with me.

I was working on the final phase (the gate) of building a fence around our front yard for Bonnie and Chloe to be able to play in last night. and when I finally went inside around 9 pm I found Bonnie chewing on something.  Grrr!  I pull it out of her mouth and see it's a peice of potpourri from my sons room!  I'm livid!  Why?  Because-  A) before bringing Bonnie into our home I warned my 16 yr old son that she was a puppy and would want to chew on everything and so he'd need to keep his room clear of small/dangerous things every day!   B) That never happened so I told him he was not to let the girls in his room and to keep his door shut at all times!  

Well, of course after fishing this out of Bonnie's mouth I notice that my son's door is ajar!!  He's upstairs - totally oblivious!!  I'm mad and go to him and say " I don not know how can I make it any more clear to you.... DO NOT leave your bedroom door open!!  Bonnie just got ahold of some potpourri and it was a seed of some sort!  If I have to take her to the vet because of this- you're going to owe me!"  He doesn't say a word.

I went to bed a while later (around 10:40) and at the time Bonie seemed fine, but when we laid down she starts swallowing - a lot.  Like every 10 -30 seconds!  So, I'm thinking crap! The potpourri has fragrance and it must be causing some sort of allergic reaction.  I didn't have any  benedryl in the house and even if I did- I wasn't sure how to give or if I should give it.  So, over the course of the next hour and a half,  she drank some water and gagged/coughed from it but didn't produce anything, continued the frequent swallowing.  At some point I got up and checked her mouth and throat thinking maybe something was stuck there but didn't see anyting. 

So now it's midnight and I haven't slept yet (oh and I get up at 4:45 am for work) and I think- what if she got a hold of something other than this pitt thing?  So I go into my son's room, and feel around on the floor and find chewed up wood like peices of potpourri on his floor!! Then I'm convinced she must have a peice stuck in her throat or something!  I'm pretty freaked out, and call the ER vet and they advise me to bring her in. 

$360.00 and 2 hours later - after 2 xrays, one w/ barium, charcoal stuff to bind whatever foreign matter/toxins she might have in her tummy, some medicine to coat her throat and the ER visit, we're  back home and we're both exhausted!  Good news, they didn't find anything in her mouth, throat or tummy ! She's swallowing less because of the meds they gave her to coat her throat and she and I slept until 8:30.  No vomitting - which was a good sign, but when she woke up she stood and coughed and gaged again.   Good news -  the swallowing had greatly decreased!  I called the vet to see if she could be fed- they said yes, in small quantities and if she's hodling it down in 2 hours I can give her some more and reapeat that throughout the day. 

So, from talking to the vet before we left it was felt that most likely she was simply responded to an irritant in the potpourri, but I needed to keep an eye on her the rest of the night and today and if she worsens I need to take her back in.

I'm at work today, and mostly because I couldn't stand to be around my son this morning.  I really wanted to stay home and be with Bonnie even though she has improved, but I am so angry with him right now I could ring his neck!  Not once did he apologize or say anything to me about all this.  I woke him up this morning to let him know what happened and that I had to go to work so I can pay the bills!, and asked if I could trust him to keep an eye on her today- and not let either of them in his room! and call me if anything changes.  I mentioned how much the bill was- and later he asks about coffee and I tell him I only have a little for me for this weekend and can't afford to buy anymore right now- and he says to me- in a very saarcastic tone-  "oh I guess that's my fault" .  I said "well yes, it is!" 

Sorry to ramble on so. Like I said, exhausted and angry.  I know he's just 16 but he takes no responsibility for his actions and expects me to just deal with it and not be angry when he does stupid things like leaving his bedroom door open- AGAIN!  And even though I've told him a hundred times NOT to leave his door open- he still does it- and it is his fault that this happened to Bonnie and it is his fault that I had to take her to the ER last night- adn that I lost sleep etc!  

Update- Bonnie is still doing pretty well.  The swalloing is minimal, she's keeping down her food, and has only coughed/gagged twice since I left her this morning.  I can't wait to get home to her.  I just want to lay down and take a nap with her next to me.  Thanks for letting me vent!

Geez, that means it doesn't get any better...my son is 11 and I have the same battle with him, I'm constantly on him to keep his door shut mainly for his sake, I keep telling him if he doesn't want Dink to ruin anything of his then he needs to close the door.  Dink's already chewed up his PS2 controller thingy. 

I'm glad to hear that Bonnie is okay and doing better.  ((HUGS))

Oh Terri I am so sorry for your awful night. Glad she's okay though. Since all my kids are little I had to train Yaz to not even go down the hall to their rooms. I remember all to well what a rotten teen I was. Try not to be to hard on him. I don't think he MEANT to hurt her. He's just a forgetful, irresponsible teen boy.

I'd go into his room and toss anything and everything that is a danger to the dogs. Since he couldn't follow the rules and keep his door shut.

MB- I've been thinking the same thing all day at work today.  Before I'd taken bonnie tot he ER I told him that the potpourri better be gone before I got back. But there still needs to be a consequence here!  This was so easily preventible if he'd only listen!  I think I am going to go through his room and confiscate dangerous items until he can learn to be more responsible.  Hmm, he's 18 in Dec 2009- he can have them back then when he moves out!

Don;t get me wrong- I love my son more than anything - including Bonnie - but this isn't the only thing going on with him right now, so this just added fuel to the fire so to speak.  I'm really at my wits end with him these days.  I keep waiting for him to make good choices and behave responsibly, but am beginning to wonder if it is ever going to happen with him!

oh no!  i'm so sorry to hear that with bon bon.... i'm glad that she is okay now.....  

that scares me.. my son is 9 years old and he's pretty forgetful... and he's crazy about bionociles (sp) and i told him, if indy gets a hold of it, it's your fault.... and you can't blame him because he's a dog and that's what dogs do.... chew.  and he still forgets here and there....   but he knows i have no intentions to replace his toys....  

my daughter is 5.....  she's been making sure her stuff is up....   but then there's clutter everywhere!  lol stuff for her dolls, stuff animals, books...etc. 

but Indy has come a long way, knows what he can and can't chew on.  but then again, they curious...  

and how weird is that..   both of us had a rough night concering our babies!  I am tired too. i took three power naps so far today.

We have baby gates up to the rooms we do not want Sydney and Sonic to get into.

I guess this is a guy question but... potpourri? Sorry. Anyway, our fix is to just toss anything out of Hendryx's reach. He's grown out of chewing everything in sight, but before that stage he got one of my hearing aids ($1500, thank goodness for insurance), a pair of Reeva's glasses, and other things we never would have thought of. One kid had already moved out of the house, the other was living in our basement apartment when we got Hendryx, so it wasn't a kid training thing, but when we got Clyde 11 years ago, the kids just shoved everything out of his reach. Our policy has always been: sloppy is ok as long as it's for safety.

Don't apologize!  My daughter keeps asking me the same thing!    Nathan has potpourri in his room??  Really?  Why?    You'd really have to see it to understand it's a "manly" kind of potpourri.  Not the kind of stuff in a bag, this is big brown seed pods and wood and pinecones, and big manly stuff.  I think he put it in his room because it's woodsy and organic looking.   At one time it was up out of their reach- now it's history!

Anyway, no, I can't put a baby gate on his room.  He already hates the gates we have in the rest of our house to keep them out of the living room or to keep them on one floor or the other - depending on where we are.  So, I don't know what the solution is for keeping them safe from his room.  And he's already paying me back for so many other things, I'll never get back the $360 I paid out that night.   He still hasn't apologized to me- which ticks me off.  I only hope that I make it through this next year without losing it completely or losing one of my dogs because of his carelessness.

Bonnie update:  she's is doing just fine!! She had a couple more spells of coughing and gagging Friday and Saturday, but nothing serious and nothing since Saturday.  She's back to her normal self now thank goodness!!

WOW, Oh what a night huh!! Knock on wook we have not had to make any ER vet trips as they are very expensive but at least Bonnie is okay!! When Guy's daughter Hayley comes over I tell her the same thing, just whatever you bring or are eating make sure you keep it out of reach. Well one night her and her friend slept over and they had a teenage eating frenzy.  When I went up to check on them the girls were sleeping and Fred and Alice were cleaning up any food they may have missed!! I am happy I bought them only dog friendly food pretty much expecting that to happen. Now I only have to deal with it maybe once a week but you all with teenagers everyday, well you are amazing to me. I don't know how  you do it. You should make your son eat the potpurri too, then he would know how bad it is.  Well get some rest tonight and hopefully tonight will be bettter!

LOL, I think you need a ladder, sling shot and some luck!!