I LOVE THE INTERNET!

I learned something new today. I've heard it's good to learn something new everyday and that's probably true. I can see how that would make you a pretty smart person over your lifetime. However, I think I could have gone my entire lifetime without having to learn how to make my dog vomit. Yes, that's what I learned today--how to make m y dog vomit. And no, I did not learn it for giggles and snorts (it's okay--I know you weren't really thinking that) I was actually trying to save her life. Well, she is still alive - so I'm pretty sure I did.

Did you know that Xylitol, Aspartame, Sorbitol, Splenda and all those artificial sweeteners are poisonous to dogs and cats? I mean poisonous as in toxic, lethal, deadly--not just make them sickly. I had no idea until I was reading an article about them a couple of years ago. Now that I have toddlers who love gum and mints that often have these ingredients in them and often raid mommy's purse to get them when I'm not looking I have to constantly be on guard that the dogs aren't getting something they shouldn't be from the kids.

However, some days it happens the other way around and it's the dogs stealing food from the kids. Carly had a cupcake on the table this morning someone made for her. It was really cute. They iced it and then covered it with 3 strips of gum and two M & M's. She came to ask me something, so I answered her and then told her to go back and finish her cupcake. It wasn't long until she screamed that Tashie had eaten her cupcake. She was not a happy camper! But neither was I because I knew Tashie was in bigger trouble than me being or Carly being upset with her.

I weighed in my mind whether or not to rush her to the vet. Instead I rushed to my computer and did an Internet search to see if there was anything I could do instead of taking her to the vet (though I was prepared to if I needed to.) The first thing that came up was a video of a Veterinarian giving instructions on how to get your dog to vomit and in what circumstances it was safe to do so. What a find! I am very grateful for the Internet today and the information that saved our pet! In case you ever need to know how to do this, here is the link:  http://www.ehow.com/video_2298918_induce-vomiting-dog.html