closecall4kingsley

As most of the pom community knows, my sweet boy Kingsley nearly lost his life while at the Pom Nationals in Kentucky. First off, we arrived in KY at 8:30 pm on Saturday the 11th. After waiting 1 1/2 hours and calling the hotel 3 times to be picked up by their shuttle, we finally arrived at the hotel at 11 pm. From there, we picked up our puppies that Donna Machniak was nice enough to bring for me (Thank you so much Donna!)

I went to my room with my dogs, and settled in. I went to bed watching some TV, and was exhausted. I told myself that I should get up and let Kingsley out of the xpen as he never sleeps in a crate or a pen. My laziness that night probably saved his life!

After I went out for lunch Sunday, and didn't know hardly anyone, I went back to my room to watch TV and spend some time with the dogs. While I was watching TV, Kingsley was attacking his daughters. I thought he had taken a bone in that corner, and got up to see what the fighting was about. I was horrified when I realized that he had been chewing on a poison block!!!

I had no clue what to do, I was not prepared for this type of accident, and I've never had a real emergency with a dog before! I ran to the other side of the hotel to find help and I ended up standing almost paralyzed in front of Laurie Otis's hotel room. I couldn't even answer her question at first as I was out of breath and in shock....Once I told her what had happened, they whisked Kingsley out of my arms, and started working on getting him to vomit. It was very surreal for me as I remember it almost as though I was in a bubble looking in. I could see myself hyperventilating on someone's bed, and many people in a bathroom trying to get my dog to throw up. While I was paralyzed and couldn't seem to do anything, these people knew what to do, and were thinking of everything! One was on the phone with a vet, while I had to run to the front desk to get peroxide. They finally got Kingsley to throw up, collected all that he threw up to bring to the clinic and off we went!

I must say that I did not know any of those people, I had to ask while in the car on the way to the vet what their names was. The first trip was with Laurie Otis and Jerrie Freia. They were both very hands on in saving Kingsley, and while Laurie drove, Jerrie kept waking up Kingsley as she did not want him to go to sleep. Unlike me, they knew what questions to ask the vet. Kingsley was given nearly a liter of peroxide in order to throw up all the poison he had ingested.

The vet sent us back to the hotel with Kingsley and some vitamin K. Laurie and Jerrie were surprised that he came back that night as they felt he should be kept overnight. This proved to be right when Kingsley started vomiting blood that night. His gums were also very red. Laurie got back on the phone with the vet, and the vet said she would give him a few things, which Laurie happened to have, so the vet told her to get off the phone and go give it to him. After he got some fluids into him, he seemed to feel better and I started to relax a little bit more, until I woke up the next day.

By the next day, Kingsley was dehydrated, he couldn't really walk anymore, was very weak and was unable to keep any food down and his gums were still red. Back to the vet we went, but to a different clinic this time. Laurie Otis and Carol Leemhuis took me to the Jefferson clinic, which I cannot say enough about. The care there was unbelievable! I also must bring up that Laurie and Carol both missed the breeding seminar that they had signed up for and spent it at the clinic with Kingsley and I.

The Jefferson clinic was more thorough. They said that the peroxide saved his life, but now was causing another set of problems for Kingsley as he showed that he had fluids in his lungs on X-rays. He would be treated for pneumonia. They ran blood panels, and the one good news was that his clotting time was normal, so the poison was brought up quickly enough to not cause other problems. They would keep him overnight, give him vitamin K injections, antibiotics, other things to try to settle his stomach...and I was to pick him up the next day.

When I talked to the clinic the next day, the vet told me that he wished he had better news, Kingsley was not doing well at all, and still could not keep any of his food down. They would have to keep him for another night, but they wanted me to come in and spend some time with him to see if it would bring up his spirits a little. Camilla Knight took me to the clinic to come and see him. I spent the afternoon there with him.....it was quite heartbreaking to see him so weak. He gave me a couple licks, but couldn't wag his tail and was walking very little though he was walking better than when I brought him in.

I left there there and took a cab back to the hotel. The support from friends AND strangers at the hotel while Kingsley was in the hospital was amazing. It really kept my spirits up, even though I've cried in front of just about everyone!!! LOL We went out for dinners at night and that kept my mind off my very sick boy a little bit...which I needed.

The next day (Wednesday), the clinic told me that he seemed to be keeping his food down, and that I could come and pick him up. Jennifer and Junior Munn were kind enough to bring me to the hospital to pick up Kingsley. That night, Elizabeth Heckert called up the room to tell me we were off for supper and meet them in the lobby. I went to grab Kingsley to crate him, and when I put my hand under his tummy to grab him, he flopped limp to his side. I thought he was dead and quickly picked him up, with his head hanging down and his body limp as could be, mouth opened and eyes flipped. I started to cry and flipped him over to see if he had a heart beat, and he then lifted his head up. I cried even more! It really didn't take me much to cry by that point...but that was SCARY! So I called the clinic and they told me that between being so weak, and on several medications, he was likely just very drowsy and to keep a close eye on him. So I went to the lobby and skipped dinner as my baby needed his momma with him and frankly, by that point, all his momma wanted to do was to be with him!

By Thursday morning, Kingsley was looking a lot better. He was wanting to bark some, and looked to be in better spirits. I took him outside to potty, and he was making me happy while barking at other dogs as I could see that he was doing better. That was until his rear end went soft, and he just fell over to his side. He appeared to be seizuring, but looking back, I think he was trying to bark on his side. I ran back inside and called the clinic yet again to tell them what had happened, and they said that because of the pneumonia, he doesn't have the same lung capacity, and he is too weak to be barking, to keep him quiet. So I didn't go to the fairgrounds for the other show, I instead stayed in my room with my boy. It worked out fine as I also had to stay near the phone as the hotel insurance were supposed to call me that day. They did, but I found out nothing, they are supposed to contact me and let me know what they decide at the end of the week. On Thursday morning, the hotel sent me a fruit basket with a card, and a little gift bag from the dog barkery for Kingsley. It felt really good even though...I would have rathered they brought me the 1100 USD that this has cost me so far while in the US.....but it was a baby step. It was the first time that the hotel acknowledged that anything had even happened. That felt good and I felt some relief from it. All week they told me that they do not use rat poison, that maybe a squirrel brought it in my room, yet, when the vet told me he was not doing well and they needed to know exactly what Kingsley had ingested (some rat poison makes them bleed to death, some affect them neurologically, and both have different course of action). I went to the manager, and told them my vet needed the info ASAP, and right in front of me, he called his exterminator and had a fax out to my vet as to what Kingsley had eaten. I have to wonder if he called the exterminator....or the squirrel who brought it in my room.....funny how they suddenly knew exactly what it was.

The whole week until Thursday, I did not get so much as a free coffee from the hotel, they never told me that my room would be on them or anything. Although while they figured out what my portion of the room was (we were 4 people sharing a room), I commented that I should not have to pay for my room, and they did agree to wave my 210 dollars of it. I feel I should not have had to ask, but it was at least that I guess....

By Friday, Kingsley was looking brighter, although very tired still, but now it seems that the most important thing is to stop him from barking so that he doesn't knock himself out. Upon arriving home, I took him to my own vet, who told me its fairly normal for dogs with pneumonia to faint when barking as they don't have the strength or lung capacity. He is refusing any food other than chicken or table goods, and for the moment being, he needs to eat to get stronger, so under doctor's advice, give the spoiled little brat whatever he wants, and if he fusses because there is something he doesn't like, take it out as he needs to eat to regain his strength.

As I write this, Kingsley is doing much better. He is still very sleepy and not quite his normal self, he is coughing some, his eyes aren't as bright as usual, and he desperately needs a bath....but that will have to wait as the vet doesn't want him stressing in any way. His appetite is better, and he will have to be on vitamin K for one month, is at "bed rest" for a month, and has to go in for a recheck this week, and more blood work and X-rays down the road. We're just glad to have him here with us! This dog is my heart and I cannot imagine not having him around with us.

I hope that others will learn from this, now that I am back home, and that Kingsley is improving daily, I keep thinking more and more of how many people bring pets to a hotel, or their young children? And how many of those people check their room everytime for things like this? This time it was my dear boy Kingsley, but it could have been someone's young child. I assumed that because the hotel accepted animals, and because there was a dog show held there, that it was safe for my dogs, I will never make that assumption again, and I hope you don't either!

So many thanks are in order, I can never thank Laurie Otis, Jerrie Freia, Carol Leemhuis, Barbara Messmer and Camilla Knight enough for what you have all sacrificed of your specialty for me and my dog. Also Jennifer and Junior Munn for also taking time out of their nationals to go get Kingsley from the clinic. Thanks to Kathy Norem, Jen Hryniuk, Janet and Larry Wodrich for their donation of chicken to feed my little man, and also Laura Meineke for your several food offers for Kingsley, and of course, for donating your chips and yogurt to ME when everything else was closed for me to eat anything.

Thank you to the Jefferson Clinic for their outstanding care for Kingsley!

The support of the pom people means more to me than you all will ever know! I also want to thank whoever it is that has anonymously started a fund to help with Kingsley's vet bills...Its hard for me to talk about without bringing tears to my eyes, but it means the world to me! Seems like thank you is not enough....THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!