So I was drinking a cup of decaf and left it on the table next to the couch when I got up to go to the bathroom. When I came back, Pippin was drinking it and it was pretty much all gone! Now you need to know that I love Pippin more than I can say and worry any time he does anything unusual. I have anxiety problems and he is my precious boy. So I freaked out a little then told myself it was ok cuz it was decaf. Then I went on the Internet where I read that decaf is EVEN MORE toxic than caffeine! I quickly called animal poison control, regardless of the $60 charge and the fact that I already have a balance on my credit card that I can't pay. The person who answered listened to my story then put me on hold for what seemed like FOREVER while they consulted with the vet. He said that I may see some nausea and vomitting but that there should be no serious effects. I was relieved for about a minute after I hung up and then I started doubting that it was in fact decaf. I make instant and the jars look the same. Could I be remembering wrong? Could I have made caffeinated by mistake? I called them back (but didn't have to pay again) and tried not to sound crazy. The vet said that half a cup was probably not enough to get his heart rate into the danger zone even if it was caffeinated but to watch for agitation for the next four hours. Well 2.5 hrs has passed and Pippin is fine. I know I must sound like a basket case but he is my best Buddy. And I AM a basket case when it comes to him. I love my other dog, Hope, too and when she ate a plastic plant on New Year's Day (that's a whole other story) I was almost as crazy worried, but on a day to day basis, Pippin is my comfort and joy. He is just extra special to my heart.

If I could tell every story about what my dog has eaten that she damn well shouldnt have, this would be an absolute novel.

Short story:
Bought stress vitamins for my boyfriend as he broke his back last january and was slipping into a depression. Wasn't working, down, sore etc. Left the UNOPENED bottle in a paper bag at the BACK of the counter for literally 2 hours while I was gone. She ate it. The bottle itself and 7 of these vitamins. SEVEN. and a 150 lbs person is supposed to consume a max of 3 in a day. She's 65 pounds.

Needless to say she started acting funny, brought her to the vet. She had serotonin poisoning and had to stay there, get a morphine shot and be on prescriptions.. 6 pills every 8 hours. Imagine feeding that to a puppy thats drugged on morphine and can barely keep water down. Was a terrible 48 hours of non stop whining and crying and no sleep.

Love her to death, but they all get into stuff. I've learned to just relax, take a deep breath and make a rational decision.

Other things off the top of my head that shes eaten:
Silica gel packs from chicken packaging
Countless bars of soap
SOS pads
Tub or 2 or margarine
Baby oil - that was horrible
Rotten container of yogurt (including the container)

Gotta love the little buggers !

This is no biggie, but our dog grabbed something off the chair table the other day, and jumped down and started chewing. I went to get a "treat" to make the trade, which usually works, but he swallowed the darn thing before I could make the switch. Thankfully, my husband finally realized it was the cupcake paper from a muffin he had eaten, and had left on the table.

Having pets are like having children. A worry a minute sometimes, but so worth it!

I had a dog growing up who would eat ANYTHING- I think that is why I stick to cats and ferrets now. Ferrets are just as stupid as some dogs I've met but at least they're small and I can easily grab them (plus their mouths are small so they can't eat big things like dogs).

My dear kitty cat...this was some years ago. I came in from outside to find the cat playing with a string...then looked more carefully and found it to be thread and he was eating it. I grabbed him before I started to very gently pull and he was gagging but it just kept coming and coming and coming, I was starting to freak because if it gets caught somewhere down there I could hurt him..but it was coming out fairly easily so I continued and when I got to the end..out popped a christmas hook, I almost passed out, I watched the cat box for a few days to make sure I hadn't cut him open somewhere? everything turned out fine in the end. Lucky kitty, wow they sure can freak us out sometimes.

Glad he's ok.
I had a dog that ate anything and everything, he made the bet a very rich man lol

My dachshund also drinks coffee. In fact, he will eat/drink just about anything lol

I can so relate to this. I have TWO $60 ASPCA Poison Control charges on my card this month. I adopted a new rescue dog and initially she was really good in the house when we'd leave for work. But two days in a row she got into stuff. The first day, she got into the cats insulin (which I had carelessly left on the counter) and chewed up the plastic bottle, which had 180mL of insulin in it. That was one $60 charge, only to find dogs don't absorb insulin through the GI tract. I made sure to put everything up high or in a cabinet. The next day, the dog (who is 22" tall at the shoulder) somehow got on top of the fridge. She ate half a can of my vitamin powder, some of the dog vitamins, and about 70 Dasequin that is for the other dog we have. She had vomited all over the house, and drank every available water source (including the toilet water). I freaked, called ASPCA again, another $60 charge only to find that none of this stuff was toxic and that all I had to worry about was vomiting and thirst. She is now crated during the day when we leave, no more problems. Oh the things our canine children can do to worry us!

Thanks for the laughs Ladies

Glad I was raised out on a farm and grew up seeing the things dogs eat

Such as following a horse and eating the horse apples as they dropped.

They loved to bury their kills and dig them up a week later for a snack. Dogs have their ways.

However one of our dogs, a beautiful Labrador retriever, loved going up and down the irrigation ditches killing toad frogs. Those lumps on toads contain a poison which is released when they are bitten. They finally killed the lab, hated to see him go. We had quite a few dogs and cats. All lived outside, no fences and hundreds of square miles to roam. The cats fed themselves, some 60 of them, keeping rodents under control.

B F R

My cat ate dental floss!

One day, my hubby saw a small piece of floss on her butt and tried to remove it.

He then discovered that it wasn't ON her butt - it was IN her butt! He kept pulling and found that she had swallowed a piece that was about a foot long!

I kept my eye on her and she was fine.

My Portuguese Water Dog ate ten pair of eyeglasses! The first time I was very, very worried but finally got used to it. Of course they were prescription glasses at $220 a shot to replace. My optometrist had a picture of Lucy in his waiting room with a WARNING on it. She's gone now but they still mention her every time I go for my annual check-up.

Ha! This so reminds me of something that happened to me when I was a kid.

Now first, you have to understand this is sort of regional. As a kid, I lived in rural Alaska, and a LOT of people when I was a kid saw nothing wrong with discarding fish guts, etc. out in the woods behind their homes. And everyone had their dogs running loose, because neighbors were often quite a ways away and no one got annoyed by it. Well, anyway, I'm out hiking with my dog one time and I notice something she's dragging behind her that appears to be stuck to her butt. It was black, and about 18" long. I don't want to touch it, so I'm stomping my foot behind her trying to get my foot on it to pull it off her butt. Well, it wasn't stuck to her butt, it was coming from her butt. And when I finally got my foot on it, it turned out to be an ENTIRE Hefty bag, the big black kind. My guess is that someone discarded their fish guts either on or in the bag and my dog ate the entire thing. How it didn't kill her, I have no idea.

These stories are great!

I never understood how pets can eat such weird stuff and not get sick, injured or killed from some of it!

I was getting ready to leave for work one day and I noticed a green stem from a plant sticking out of my cat's mouth. I pulled on it and it turned out to be a huge leaf that she had chewed into a tightly rolled long stem. It was completely down her throat and I pulled it out. If I had left for work without seeing it, I don't know what would have happened to her!

Our chocolate lab, Cinnamon, eats anything and everything!! We have lost countless pounds of butter off the counter and if the kids leave any dishes in the sink she will pre-wash them with her tounge. Lol