Anna's Big Day...

In case you have not met her before, this is Anna.

We recently discovered that Anna likes to eat things. And, by recently I mean over the course of her 5 years here on Earth. It is not uncommon for her to ingest socks, underwear, paper and the like. By ingest I mean, whole, not shredded but swallowed. For most dogs this would be a death sentence, and we have tried to curb her appetite for these things. Keeping doors shut, and clothes off the floor has helped, but she is persistent. Well, yesterday she bumped it up to a whole new level.

Let me give you a little more history. I started shaving with a double-edge safety razor about a year ago. I really like it and am trying to get my friends interested in it as well. I purchased a "sampler pack" of blades a few months ago, tried several of them, and had several left. I asked, and my friends wanted to try them as well, so I figured I would share. One of said friends lives out of state, so I need to mail them to him. I am extremely forgetful, so I thought it would be a good idea to place the zip top bag with the new, unused, still in their wrapper blades on the table so I would see them on the way out. Well, they stayed there for the better part of the day yesterday.

Notice I said better part, not the entire day. At some point they made their way down to the floor, I assume with a little help from the canine pictured above. At this point, I'm not really sure what occurred, but I have a good idea. When I got home around 3:30, this is what I found (see picture on right.) Actually, this is a recreation on the table, but you can imagine what it would look like on the floor. Apparently, our dog has a death wish and this was a cry for help. She had chewed on and presumably swallowed razor blades at some point during the day. A sense of panic went over me when I realized this. Anna, on the other hand, was just as happy as she could be. In fact, she ran out to meet the mail man when I came home, an act he was not too excited about by the way. So, what to do?

I called the vet, they asked how long ago she had gotten into them, "at some point during the day" I replied. "Well, you should bring her in, just to be safe" they replied. Ok, here we go. This is going to be expensive. We arrived at the vet, Anna smelling around at everything. If I had just chewed on and swallowed razor blades, I wouldn't be quite this inquisitive. But, as I mentioned before, she has a history. We got in to see a vet much faster than ever before, something about razor sharp (literally) metal passing through a digestive system that conveys a sense of urgency. The vet laid down two options. Option one, the cheap way, observe her for the next several days and if she stops eating, or vomiting bring her in. Option two, the expensive way, take an x-ray. Of course, being the paranoid hypochondriac that I am, I opted for option two. Ten minutes later, and with much yelping (from Anna of course, she has separation anxiety) x-rays are done and the vet returns with the news.

No blades or metal of any sort. Woohoo!! He even examines her mouth. No cuts on her gums or tongue. Crazy, our dog has chewed on razor blades and lived to tell the tale. Just for good measure, he takes two x-rays (one of her throat and one of her stomach), both are clear. While he's poking around he checks to make sure there is no joint damage (due to old age) and there is no tartar on her teeth. Anna comes out with a clean bill of health.

So what has this taught us? Well, for starters, don't trust Anna and don't leave things out. I'm pretty sure if we left something she wanted on top of the fridge she would figure out how to get up there. So in case you ever wondered if they embellished a little with the making of Marley and Me, please refer back to Anna's Big Day.