When your rambunctious lab mix foster comes in the house and goes straight into her sister’s kennel, curls up, and refused to move – something is terribly wrong. Of course, Claire had to get dramatically sick on the day that 5 Presidents were in town and cross town traffic was “presidentially” impossible. So when she started foaming at the mouth and I wasn’t sure what was causing it – I was convinced she was going to die in traffic on the way to the vet.
Not to be overcome by Murphy’s law – I decided that no dog that lived through being a bait dog was going to die on the way to the vet. We were going to be fine, the back seat of the car, no so much, but she was going to make it. Ten gallons of foamy slobber later – Dr Sperry was checking her out.
The little Tasmanian devil let him check her out without any fuss or sedation and he yanked a giant piece of plastic out of the back of her mouth without ceremony. Hurray.
A big thank you to Dr Sperry for trusting that big scary looking dog to have a gentle soul and for not knocking her out for the exam and procedure. Claire definitely responded to Dr Sperry like he was her Androcles. She gave him a big o’l tail way and kiss when he was done fixing her up.
Morale of the story: Dogs can foam at the mouth for non life threatening reasons, foamy dog slobber can fly a long, long way, and as the fable tells us: gratitude is the sign of noble souls. And finally, the next morning after a medical emergency, if you try the pathetic “but I’m sick” face to get some illegal couch time, it won’t work. Get off the couch and stop chewing on my sprinklers!