I have a little break so just wanted to vent a little. The last 24 hours have been a real trial.
Last night my wife's 17 year old cat took a turn for the worse and we made the decision to put him down. So this morning I called the vet and made the appointment.
In the meantime, we've been getting chilly so this morning I wanted to try the solar heater for when the weather turns. The douchy previous owner left a valve open. I'm about at the end of my patience threshold with the half @$$ work he did on the place and this is almost thr straw to break the camels back. After the thing heated up it leaked a bunch of antifreeze out of the closet the pump is housed in. Anrifreeze spilled down in to the return air for the gas furnace, and I haven't even had time to figure out if that will present a health hazard.
Before we could figure out what exactly was happening the dog was licking up antifreeze. I thank heavens that I knew what this system is, how it operates, and that the method of heat exchange is antifreeze so that we were able to take immediate action.
Took dog to the vet straight away. Induced vomiting within 15 mins of consumption and then filled him up with charcoal about 30 mins after consumption. Now he has to have an IV of alcohol administered every 4 to 6 hours to keeo him drunk. It prevents any antifreeze that may have crossed in to his blood from metabolizing in to the crystals that destroy the kidneys.
The vet took care of the day shift and sent us home with an IV machine and supplies to do the night shif. I'm so exhausted. Wrestling a drunk unhappy dog all night is beating the heck out of me. Pretty much a constant wrestling match from about 6:30 till 10:30 to keep him from hurting himself or pulling out his IV catheter. Even tried hog tying him at one point but i was worried about getting the wraps too tight and cutting off circulation so he was able to escape. Finally got him calmed down and sleeping but have to wake him up in an hour and stsrt the wrestling match all over again. Two more IV doses tonight then I can take him back to the vet so they'll do the day shift again. They want to continue through tomorrow night. Poor guy is not enjoying booze nearly as much as I did back in the day.
Edit: had our little funeral service for the cat, burried him next to the big old apricot tree. I grew up on a ranch, I can deal with the loss of animals, but hearing the gut wrenching sorrow from my daughter was a tough burden.
