Ripley

 (Almost missed April entirely - promise to try to do better.)

Living with our dog Ripley is a continuing - and often expensive - adventure. This last week, Honey dropped a pill on the floor, and Ripley had it before she could pick it up.  She pried his jaws open, but the pill had already gone down his gullet.

The pill was a prescription for restless leg syndrome and a check online offered no suggestions about what it might do to a 10-pound puppy.  I called the Vet and they had me call Animal Poison Control.  

SPCA animal poison control will have you on hold for half an hour or more - my phone has an elapsed time clock and it was over 22 minutes before I talked to a human, then got put back on hold.  Eventually, I was able to talk to someone who talked to someone else and told me to take Ripley to the vet and have the vet contact them at a special number.  

That wouldn't have been so bad except they charge $75 -payable by credit card - to talk to you.

One we got to the vet and she made the call, we learned that as long as his heart wasn't racing and he wasn't having muscle spasms, he was probably just fine.

Poison Control for humans is free.  75 bucks for poison control for animals strikes me as highway robbery.  Still, if it is your pet, you're probably going to pay it.