Chocolate Chip Cookie Caper

It finally happened. Over 50 years of pet ownership of retrievers, the do not feed list hit us without warning. A tray of chocolate chip cookie balls, ready to be baked, got the attention of gentle Mr. Wiggles. I was mortified. Was he going to collapse before me?

I had been reformulating a recipe and simply forgot to refrigerate them. But Mr. Wiggles, our 85 pound yellow retriever with a platelet problem, had not. He thought he'd help, too, devouring 9 one-inch balls of raw dough. Panic set in. Had I accidentally killed him? Dark chocolate is a potential killer of dogs, a no-no on the don't feed this to dogs list.

The online recommendation to not induce vomiting at home was easy. I wasn't going to do it. Why would I? How would I do it and what would I use to do it with, anyway. I had never done this before and wasn't going to start practicing now on my precocious pup. Watch him, I was told. So I did till 3:00 am the next morning, treating him like a patient with a concussion. I woke him every 2 hours simply to observe him in all manner of movement. If he stumbled, fell, cried out, vomited etc., a trip to the hospital would be warranted.

It was 8 hours later and he seemed fine. But what do I know? The chocolate chips and raw dough were now inside of him inflicting damage upon him, somehow, I reasoned. A sample of his urine was brought in that morning to the animal clinic for observation. I figured any biological sample might aid in determining any colour abnormalities in the urine, 6 hours old. It all made sense to me. A brief check-up and blood test soon followed. A new urine sample next week would be tested, just to be sure. The U.S. Poison Control Center had been a critical first step in this investigation and they were not concerned. So far everything seemed fine.

The 3 day long weekend made the medical emergency more unsettling. Pet emergencies only seem to happen on those days inaccessible to the family veterinarian. We watched him 24/7 till the clinic opened in two days.

I am now waiting further results of another follow-up sterile sample just to be sure. No surprises are expected. Cookie monster has passed the test with flying colours and made me happy that my carelessness did not hurt him or worse. At least the dough was organic and gluten-free. In this instance, it did not matter.