Todd and the Toad

There's a saying 'life is merrier with a Scottish Terrier.'  I have to say that I'm actually finding that 'life is hairier with a Scottish Terrier.'  I don't even know how to start in telling you what happened this morning...The day started out okay. But Todd, right away, was really interested in something by the corner of the back porch.  I just shooed him away from it, thinking he'd just leave whatever had captured his attention, alone.  I went back inside and forgot about it.  Todd however, didn't forget.  When I went out to check on him 5 or 10 minutes later, all I saw was 'foam' all over the backyard and all over Todd.

I grabbed Todd and ran my fingers through his mouth to get rid of whatever was causing the reaction, but there was nothing.  I thought that his tongue looked gray and he was also coughing just a little bit.  I took him into the kitchen and shoved his face under the faucet and washed his face off and opened up his mouth to rinse that out as well.  I grabbed a towel and continued to wipe is mouth out and clean off his tongue and gums.    

When I put  Todd down on the floor to get a better assessment of how he was, he ran away from me and messed all over the rug.  I had NO idea what he'd gotten into and I was really starting to panic.  I was also feeling the urgency to get him to an animal emergency clinic.  I was relieved that Todd was no longer foaming from his mouth so I gave him some ice and water and put him in his crate while I got dressed.

No more than 20 minutes had passed since all this started, but Todd was looking better.  He seemed comfortable and he even ate a piece of ice.  With that, I decided to sit and wait and see what happened.  With the calm it occurred to me that he must've bitten one of the toads that we have around our porch.  I'd seen them last evening and had told Carl that we needed to watch for them because they are poisonous and Todd was taking an interest in them when they hopped.

As I sat there with Todd, I looked it up 'dogs and toads' on the internet.  Sure enough, what happened to Todd was the exact thing that had happened to other dogs who had come in contact with these particular toads.  While eating them can be fatal, I really thought that Todd had only ingested their poison when he either licked one, or tried to pick one up in his mouth. Because dogs get sick immediately after direct contact, the articles said that rinsing their mouths out was the prescribed treatment.  It also mentioned that the 'episodes' pass in about  half an hour.  I was feeling much better and confident that he'd be okay, but to be sure, I called the animal emergency and spoke to a vet (that I happen to know).  Of course she told me to bring him in for a check and observation.  But because he'd eaten his entire breakfast and seemed okay I opted to take him to work with me instead.

Todd was really good at work with me today.  This evening he played with his ball and harassed the cat.  He seems to have totally forgotten the events of the morning.  I wish I could...