Haley is sick, but should be o.k.! A blog about her & info on pesticide poisoning

Too sleepy to feel guilty about being on the couch

My puppy, who happens to be 10 yrs. old, has been the best of friends to me. I don't mean that I elevate her above my human friends, but she is part of our family & the most loyal & loving she could possibly be. She's even polite! She answers with a shake of her head everytime we ask her if she wants to go away or for a walk. That means she does want to go, she just has shaking confused with nodding. :)   She shakes hands with everyone she meets & gives high fives when asked. I never have to do anything alone, because she is right there beside me. Always. Even when I beg her to stay put, she pretends she doesn't hear me & goes where I go. The only time I go to the bathroom alone is when I can get in without her knowing it. :/  

She can be a little naughty too, though, sometimes. When Mark leaves for work or is gone at night, she automatically thinks his spot on the bed is open for her. Even if I make her get down, she finds her way back up when I am asleep & most often does not stay on the open side.  She also will plant her feet on the ground when we walk past Bentley's house (her boyfriend, she thinks) in hopes to see him, whether we want to stop or not. Almost every night he will come out  to see us so that we will pet him (he just loves US),  & he will tolerate Haley's enthusiasm for a minute, but then that's enough & he goes back to laying down in his driveway. Poor Haley. The feelings aren't mutual between them.  That doesn't stop her though, & when she waits outside his house for him & he doesn't show up, she literally hangs her head low & plods the rest of the way home!

Some day I will have to say good-bye to her, but I am not looking forward to it & I'm glad it's not today.  She is sick, but should return to normal health in a few days or so. I am very grateful for God's gift of animals to us.  I think it's awesome how God uses them as another means of companionship, beauty, joy & even example to us. (Ok, so, I may never find a snake beautiful, or want the companionship of an alligator, but I am sure there is something that could be learned from them, at least!)  Haley has been all those things for our family. She's been a source for learning responsibility for the kids, given unconditional love to us & makes going to the river fun. Not to mention, she's a protector from any tree limb that may blow against the window or any cat in the yard!  We are on our own for thunderstorms, though, so she can hide under the table. :)

Note:   The vet determined Haley was being poisoned from flea products. I had given her a bath with Hartz flea shampoo, and then put a flea collar on her afterward. She was so miserable from fleas, & I didn't want fleas in the house, so I was trying to ensure I got rid of them not realizing it could make her so sick. We noticed that she had become very lethargic, was panting heavily, had quit eating & was holding her tail tightly between her legs. She was moving slow & shaky when she would get up or walk, also. Since the only thing that was different was the addition of the flea collar, I looked up possible reactions to flea & tick products & found a surprisingly large amount of information on animals who had been poisoned from them. Some were left with brain damage, blindness or died. Maybe this isn't new information to anyone else, but I didn't realize these over the counter products were that lethal, especially when neither of them were ingested. Of course, the chemicals were in her skin & even though I bathed her well with liquid detergent before going to the vet, the veterinarian could still smell the poisons on her. I just want anyone else who is unaware of how easily this can happen to know about it. We have used flea collars before & that same shampoo a lot without any trouble, so beware of this possibility. If anyone wants information on the names of the poisons, how they can harm people as well as their pets, etc., let me know & I will pass on the links I've found (which coincided with what the vet told us today.)  Again, I knew to be careful with these things, but I am surprised how dangerous they can be. From what I've read, many others don't expect this level of toxicity, either.

The vet said to expect Haley to be sick for a few days up to 2 weeks and to make sure she drinks a lot of water.  If she won't drink, I have to bring her in for IV's, but so far she is staying hydrated (barely) - she just won't go to her water on her own. The vet said to let Haley sleep & stay quiet & in the dark as much as she wanted. Haley should not have any long term issues. Haley was not as bad as others the veterinarian has seen, so she was confident in her recovery.  Thank you, to all who prayed - we were pretty scared this morning.