Chocolate Cake

Well this week was certainly interesting. After vacation you always have a couple of days of dragging and trying to get back into the rhythm. This return from vacation was no different. As Darin and I headed back to work on Monday we both felt that need to go back on vacation. However Darin had something to look forward to. Before the holiday he got the word that he got promoted to CSSR at Wells Fargo! FINALLY!!!!!! We were so excited and had much to celebrate, but training had to start this week on December 1st. So he said his goodbyes to his current branch and they sent him off with a card and a chocolate cake. Tuesday we had eaten a couple of pieces out of it and toasted his success.

On Wednesday however things took a drastic change. Darin had to start training and went to Woodland Hills all day so our puppy didn't get her usual lunch break from the crate. We had made plans to go over to Don and Linda's (Darin's parents) for dinner that evening so when Darin and I got ready we left and little miss had to go back into her crate. At some point during the 4 hours our Houdini decided that it was escape time and got out of her crate. We came home to a full trash can overturned around our entire apartment and the plastic cake container....EMPTY! Yup, our baby girl ate an entire chocolate cake. If you have pets than you know how dangerous this is, but usually it takes an extreme amount of chocolate to really do damage. I watched her to make sure that she was ok and she seemed fine. She had eaten chocolate before so I figured I could just watch her. The next morning, after sleeping fine through the night and exhibiting no symptoms, I thought we were in the clear. Boy was I wrong! I had to schedule a Furlough Day at work (day off without pay, because our office has been slow so we need to cut back costs. At least I still have a job, but it does suck to miss a day of work.) My mom planned to come down for my cousin's baby shower so we were going to get our nails done and get ready for the shower. I had taken the pup down for her potty time and noticed that she had very dark (chocolate looking) diarrhea. So I thought uh oh. Went upstairs to research chocolate poisoning symptoms: Vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, rapid breathing, hyperactivity, and seizures. Well up until that point she only had the diarrhea. My mom knocked on our door and Shelby went NUTS! I mean bouncing off the walls (Hyperactivity). Then she vomited all over the carpet, and turned around, lie down with her back to me and became very listless. So at that moment I decided off to the vet we go!

Once we got into the car to make the trek to Studio City Animal Hospital, Shelby decided that she was feeling better (after another bowel movement of chocolate poo). We get to the hospital and they start to do tests. The vet had told me that we should have brought her in withing 2 hours of eating the cake (but we were gone for four and had no idea when she ate the thing). They decided that she needed to stay overnight to receive IV fluids and monitoring for her rapid heart rate (to see for an arrhythmia) and watch for seizures. So an overnight stay, and a large vet bill later our puppy came home yesterday. She was very tired, but is doing better. We are glad to have her home!