Dr Liza’s Vet Tales Excerpt – The Chihuahua who Cut Corners
Dr Liza’s Vet Tales Excerpt – The Chihuahua who Cut Corners
Sometimes effective communication can be tricky, especially in an emergency situation. I was just about to doze off at twelve a.m. one night after I had a few after-hour emergencies to handle when the phone rang. I picked up and a chap who couldn’t speak very much English said “dog eat tablets, now cutting corner, must bring to vet”. I proceeded to explain where the clinic was, to which he replied that he didn’t know where we or the motorway were but he’d get a taxi. Soon enough I had a call from the taxi driver, an Indian chap who couldn’t speak much English either, to get our address.
Some forty minutes later I was presented with the four-month-old Chihuahua who had been “cutting corner”. I examined him to find that he had an increased temperature, dilated pupils but was very bright although as soon as I put him on the floor he would run around unstoppably in circles!
I was a bit baffled as to what might cause this at which time the owner pulled out a packet of a decongestant containing pseudoephedrine (which has a similar effect as adrenalin on the body, hyping it up), and he said that he thought that the dog had eaten three tablets – enough to get an adult human a bit hyperactive and this was a four kilogram Chihuahua!!!
I had the answer but no matter what I used to calm him down like valium, other sedatives and rescue remedy, nothing worked and I needed to monitor him closely being careful not to put additional strain on his already stressed heart. I eventually decided to put him in a well-padded cat carry cage and let it work its way out of his system while I got some sleep since there was nothing more that I could do for the little guy!
The next morning he was still at it, circling around but at least his pace had slowed down considerably. That afternoon he was a lot better and we sent him home hopefully never to return with a drug overdose!
To read more about my adventures, read Vet Tales available as a book or e-book from https://www.drliza.co.nz/shop/