Last night I was getting ready for dinner with some friends. Had a few things to prepare before I left and was and was flitting between the main living part of the house (where we keep Wrigs sectioned off by a dog gate) and the rest of the house, which includes the stairs to the second floor. I had my hands full at one point and left the gate open on one of my trips upstairs so Wrigs had run of the house and of course took full advantage. He twirls around in the living room a few times and then bolts upstairs and heads straight through our bedroom and into my closet, his usual routine. Within seconds he's flying down the stairs with a mouthful of socks from the laundry basket. I chase him around a while, and finally pull out the soaking socks. Two different socks were in his mouth, one hanging out the front and the other way back towards his throat. I've learned through experience with this beast to always check the back of his throat because he usually hoards stuff back there for safe keeping.
I chuck the socks into the laundry room and head into the study to check on a software update in mid process on our home computer. I'm in there for less than 5 minutes when I realize it's too quiet. I call Wrig's name, but no response. I run upstairs check each room, no Wrigs to be found. So back down I go and as I head into the family room I see him curled up on his dog bed playing quietly with... a toy? Hmm, let me take a closer look. That doesn't look like a toy? As I get closer he chomps the thing all the way into his mouth so I can't see what it is. On the ground next to his dog bed sits a pointed white cap. I pick up the cap covered in teeth marks and now realize Wrigley has a bottle of opened Jewelry glue in his mouth. I scream at him and he sits up at attention and I pry open his jowls and remove the glue. "F**K! F**K! F**K!" I say out loud and begin to panic. Wrigley is fiercely licking his lips still fixated on the bottle in my hand. I immediately head into the kitchen and call the vet. It's 6:45 and the receptionist tells me that the Dr. just left but her experience with glue is to get the animal in and induce vomiting right away. I'm reading the glue bottle and it lists no ingredients or any warnings of toxicity so I explain this to the receptionist and she still thinks I need to get him in. As we're talking I google the glue name and manufacturer and still can't find anything about the ingredients in the glue. I then decide to call Poison Control. This number should be on our speed dial by now. If you've ever called them for anything, they charge a $55 consultation fee for any question or concern. I've had to call them once or twice...ok, THREE times- but once was actually for Chumley. He had swallowed a glob of prescription strength dry skin cream that was loaded with toxins and had poison warnings all over the tube. That was scary. But in no time he was able to throw EVERYTHING up and what didn't make it out the front end came violently pouring out the back end. I'm getting off track, back to Wrigs.
So I'm on the phone with poison control and I give them as much information as I can about the glue and approximately how much Wrigs ingested. Luckily it was a small bottle so I estimated about an ounce. They had me on hold for a while so I just kept googling stuff listed on the glue bottle while I waited. There was an AP symbol on the bottle which thankfully led me to this information below. Those of you with children and/or pets who like to get into everything may find this very useful information.....
"The new AP (Approved Product) Seal, with or without Performance Certification, identifies art materials that are safe and that are certified in a toxicological evaluation by a medical expert to contain no materials in sufficient quantities to be toxic or injurious to humans, including children, or to cause acute or chronic health problems. This seal is currently replacing the previous non-toxic seals: CP (Certified Product), AP (Approved Product), and HL Health Label (Non-Toxic) over a 10-year phase-in period. Such products are certified by ACMI to be labeled in accordance with the chronic hazard labeling standard, ASTM D 4236, and the U. S. Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act (LHAMA). Additionally, products bearing the AP Seal with Performance Certification or the CP Seal are certified to meet specific requirements of material, workmanship, working qualities, and color developed by ACMI and others through recognized standards organizations, such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Some products cannot attain this performance certification because no quality standard currently exists for certain types of products."
For more information here is a link to the Art and Creative Materials Institute website....
As it turned out, Wrigs was fine. He drank lots of water and we fed him about half his dinner per the advice of Poison Control. I ended up staying with him on the couch the whole night and didn't sleep much because he gets so excited when he has an overnight guest. Every hour or so he'd jump up on me (literally ON me, on my chest and stomach) and lick my face and cuddle into my neck. It would be cute if he wasn't pushing 80 lbs. But, I guess I wouldn't want it any other way.
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