The Dog With The Cast Iron Stomach

Most dogs go through the puppy chewing phase, where they will chew on anything and everything. Our dog Mittsy was no different in that respect. Up until she was just over a year old we would often find clothing, shoes or parts of furniture that had been chewed on.

After that we could be certain that our furniture was safe, but there was never a month that would go by without Mittsy testing something new to see if it was edible. Thank goodness for pet gates, or we probably wouldn’t have much left of our house and home.

There are many things that are considered dangerous to a dog if ingested. At some point or another, Mittsy has pretty much eaten everything on that list, with only minor indigestion.

We were terrified for her the first time this happened, and it has happened several times since then. On her first Easter weekend with us, she managed to find our children’s cache of left over chocolate Easter eggs. Mittsy devoured as many as she could, wrapper and all.

The stomach pains she would experience would last about a day and then she would be back on the hunt to see if there was anymore of this glorious food to be found.

Mittsy’s next favorite food was lipstick, the redder the better. Mittsy had mostly black fur, except for around her paws and face. Needless to say, it was real easy to spot when she had found a lipstick tube to chew on. Our daughters never seemed to learn, as they would always leave their lipstick somewhere that was easy access for Mittsy.

I don’t know how many times we had to try to remove red lipstick from our beige carpets. It would often take more than a few passes of the carpet cleaner to get it all out. The question for my wife and I was whether we should be trying to train Mittsy or our kids about the issues with lipstick and chocolate. Of course there is always the handy pet gate.

Our biggest surprise however, was yet to come.

One long August week-end our whole family (including Mittsy) was invited to a friend’s cottage. It was a great cottage on a beautiful lake. There were several country acres for the dogs (Mittsy and two others) to roam about in. The dogs were having a great time together.

On this particular outing we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Everyone including Mittsy had a fabulous time. Unfortunately as with all good things, they come to an end. The long trek home is nothing anyone looks forward to, but for some reason this year Mittsy decided to feed up as much as she could before we headed home.

The first course was a rare find for Mittsy, a full French loaf. The tradition for the weekend was always to have the departing meal to be an Italian feast. One of the families had brought the french loaf and had left it sitting on their bedroom night table. Unfortunately Mittsy was now ready for the entree.

Believe it or not, I had gone into the cottage looking for a frisbee when something caught my eye out of the cottage’s back window. There was Mittsy chewing on anything she could find in our friend’s compost heap …yuck.

Not long after pulling Mittsy away from her feast, she became very ill. Go figure!!! Soon she was unable to lift her head off of the ground where she lay. Each breath she took came out as steam even though it was 90 degrees outside that day.

This cottage was in the middle of nowhere, so we would need to travel for four hours to get to the nearest vet. We decided to make a run for it and so said our goodbyes and jumped in the car. My wife drove and I sat with a blanket on my lap and Mittsy laying on the blanket.

She was sick at least a half dozen times before we got home. It was the most unpleasant trip our family has ever experienced.

When we arrived home everyone was feeling ill, except for Mittsy. Somehow the events of the trip home had been enough for her to gain the upper hand. When the car door opened, Mittsy jumped out and wanted everyone to chase her around the yard.

We kept an eye on her that night and throughout the next day, but other than a slight loss of appetite she seemed quite normal. She wanted lots of fresh water, and we made sure that her bowl was full. If she could speak, I’m sure that she would brag about having a cast iron stomach. It took the rest of us much longer to recuperate.

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