Last night Tom was doing some work on my website on the computer while I read in the living room. Suddenly I heard him say, “Whoa, whoa, WHOA!” I looked up as Penny ran toward me through the dining room with Tom in pursuit. She was practically running on two hind legs, because her front legs were madly clawing at her face.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked as he caught up with her and held her still.
I’d doled out fresh marrow bones yesterday, and the dogs played bone-exchange with them all day (because the bone another dog has is infinitely better than the one in front of you). Somehow, Penny ended up with one the exact right (or wrong, as the case may be) size to slip over her lower jaw and get caught behind her bottom canine teeth. It was like the lower part of her mouth was wearing a bone bracelet, and she wanted it OFF.
Tom held her while I tried to remove it, and I held her while Tom tried. We weren’t doing anything but putting pressure on her gums and stressing her out. So I texted Tim, who was with some of his canine clients, and let him know we were taking her to VERGI, the emergency vet. Keep in mind that it was exactly two weeks before that Rex was referred to VERGI by our vet for more conclusive tests, and we know how that ended. So neither Tom nor I really wanted to go back, but it had to be done.
VERGI was super busy, but they took her back immediately when we went in. The woman at the front desk even remembered us and asked how Tim was doing, which I thought was really sweet. Penny had to get a shot to sedate her, and it ended up the bone didn’t need to be sawed off; they were able to turn and slowly maneuver it off. Then they gave her another shot to bring her out of it. The vet let us know immediately how she was doing and said it’d be about forty minutes before she was ready to go. When they brought out the final paperwork, we were told that Penny was getting LOTS of kisses from the staff. There’s nothing like hearing that people know what a gem your dog is.
She was pretty stoned when we brought her home and slept hard through the night. Today, no one would ever know it happened. I bought the marrow bones at our grocery store–not realizing they were shorter than the usual ones I buy–because they were a great price. However, that turned into an expensive little lesson, and in the future, I’ll stick to the bones we get from Whole Foods. And I’m NOT going to do as Tom suggests and nickname Penny “Bonehead.”
Buttons, a west highland white terrier we had in England also suffered the same quirk of fate with a piece of chicken that unknown to all of us at the time had a small bone inside. She did the same dance on two legs and pawed her face in a mad fit trying to get it out. Mom was able to pry Buttons’s mouth with something flat but we couldn’t get the bone out. So off to the vet they went. When they came back with the bone out, we vowed never to give the dogs chicken from the table again.
It makes you feel so hopeless, doesn’t it, and you can’t tell them, “Just be really still, and I’ll take care of it.” Penny was in a complete panic, so I know what Buttons went through.
Thank goodness Mlle. Renee has a big mouth that will hold almost anything without getting stuck. Other than that she’s a canine hypochondriac … always coming to me to put itch cream on her booboos, or bringing me her facecloth to get her face or body wiped.
She cracks me up. What a ton of personality Renee has.
Considering how freaked she was, she would actually be still when I held her, as long as I wasn’t messing with her mouth. She really is a good dog, who knew?
We all knew. That’s why we couldn’t let her be a foster just passing through.
Poor Penny!
She’s a trooper, though. =)
Oh Miss Penny! I’m glad to hear that she is okay.
Thanks!