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Was this the wrong decision?


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Hello All,

When reality interacts with OCD I find it really difficult to make decisions.

Today my dog ran around some trees on her dog walk and kept stopping to sniff and eat something (I was calling her away and telling her to 'leave-it' but she has selective hearing!). Anyway she sniffed a part-eaten poisonous mushroom and I wasn't sure if she had any of it so I took her to the Vet. The Vet from our Vet Practice was on call and not there so we had to travel to an Emergency Vets where I stayed with my little pup whilst she was given a heavy duty emetic injection to make her vomit profusely (20+ times). There was no trace of mushroom BUT the Vet said that it was definitely better to be safe than sorry with the type of mushroom in question. (I hadn't been able to see what she was eating/sniffing when she was under other trees where there were mushrooms).

I am now really unsure whether I made the right decision: my dog has a mild heart condition and vomiting so much was miserable for her, I had to pay £390 (will get £200 back on insurance I think) and the day was ruined. On the other hand the mushroom (had she ingested it) could have caused seizures or much worse and we were able to identify the mushroom as poisonous.

Feeling a bit anxious, particularly about whether it put a strain on my dog's heart and caused her emotional damage too.

What would you have done?

 

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are you looking for some reassurance here that you made the right decision? I say this because the vet agreed to do it and felt it was the right course of action. And yet you are questioning it.

I have many instances where OCD and normal caution / good decision making get intertwined and I don't think you can unravel this one. Because I never have been able to, no matter what reassurance I get.

are you ruminating about this - i.e. Trying to get the answer in your head as to whether you caused 'harm' and whether you are responsible for possible harm? Are you feeling guilty? How are you coping with the horrible feeling of being unsure.

i also want to say that this must have been very distressing all round. Not what you needed at all I'm guessing! So you are in my thoughts.

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Hi BelAnna,

I think what you did was very sensible. Given that you weren't sure whether your dog had ingested anything you did the right thing by taking the right precautions if he/she had done. Sure, vomiting isn't very pleasant, but on the grand scale of things, it's much better than what might have been had the dog ingested anything poisonous. 

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Frankly speaking, there will be people who would say they would have brought the dog to the Vet and there will be some who would say they wouldn't. 

So, it is really a judgement call, you do what you think is right at the point in time, it doesn't matter what anyone (including myself) says about the issue, one way or the other, to bring or not to bring, bearing in mind, that I say this objectively, with no intended disrespect to any forum member replying to this post.

The best thing to do in my opinion is to put the whole matter totally behind you and focus on taking care of your dog especially since she had gone through a traumatic experience at the Vet.

 

 

 

Edited by St Mike
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Thanks Jennie, Skullpops and St Mike!

I am worried that I should have just watched her for symptoms. There are various OCD related issues with this:

1. I have had obsessive fears about my dog eating toxic substances and sharp things since she was a puppy so what if I overreacted where a normal person might assume she had not eaten any of the mushrooms? (Strange pet-related health OCD and responsibility).

2. My actions might have caused damage to my dog's heart (Responsibility OCD)

3. I'm worried that I'm a bad person who did this intentionally to inflict harm on my innocent little dog..

Had I not taken her to the Vet I would be feeling very anxious tonight. My dog has just eaten her dinner and is feeling better. I coped with the vomit despite my Emetophobia (vomit phobia) and even spoke to two vets, when I have social anxiety issues.

I just don't know whether I made the wrong decision but I guess there's no point ruminating over it now!

 

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Hi, I've been ok about not ruminating all evening however I keep thinking that I deliberately hurt my dog by getting her made to vomit because I did not actually see her eat the mushroom so maybe it was over the top?!! 

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I'll tell you what I think. OCD got you again. You fell for a classic OCD lie, you spent money needlessly, you went through anxiety you didn't need to and, above all else, what you did didn't make you feel better. 

This happens consistently with you. Every time OCD sends you an intrusive thought about your dog, you jump to doing compulsions. And the thoughts keep coming and coming. What you are doing is not working.

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Hi PolarBear, 

I really hope that you're not right with this one! (I am scared that you may be). I feel a bit hurt by your post because I have actually been doing better recently, for example I had been letting my dog off lead more and had not 'googled' whether there were dangerous mushrooms around in December (fail!).

I presented the Vet with the facts: 

- My dog was going around the base of the tree sniffing and quite possibly eating things (she's a dog that does eat inedible things) 

- She hovered over and quite possibly ate part of an amanita muscaria (fly agaric), but we couldn't be sure and there were other possibly toxic mushrooms under the tree but she had been out of site under the tree for some time.

- I was not sure one way or the other- she might have eaten it, or may not have done. 

The risk was that she could become seriously unwell had she eaten mushrooms. The Vet made the call that she should induce vomiting. 

 

Edited by BelAnna
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Personally I think you listened to OCD. You had no reason to suspect your dog had eaten anything poisonous and you didn't even wait for any symptoms to show, you just jumped to the worst possible conclusion (my dog has eaten a particular poisonous mushroom and is going to die) and took her to the vet. The vet has no knowledge of your OCD issues so will treat it at face value, namely that you thought your dog had eaten a poisonous mushroom and not that your OCD is worrying that she had, and decided based on what you were telling her to induce vomiting. Of course it was all for nothing in the end and your poor dog had to go through that ordeal of being made to vomit.

I don't mean to be harsh but I really feel for your poor dog who won't know what is happening. I had a dog for 17 years and he ate all kinds of rubbish. Dog poo, mushrooms, dead animals, yoghurt pots, raw chicken, cotton bags, he even once ate 4 Easter eggs after he broke into the room where they were being stored. Each time he was totally fine and lived to a ripe old age of 17 years. Luckily my OCD didn't worry about this though otherwise the poor thing would have been in the vets every week being made to vomit.

I understand it's not your fault that you have OCD BelAnna but next time if you really think you need to go and make your dog vomit, perhaps talk to us in the forums first who will be able to help you see if it is OCD or not, so that your dog doesn't have to suffer needlessly.

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7 hours ago, BelAnna said:

I keep thinking that I deliberately hurt my dog by getting her made to vomit because I did not actually see her eat the mushroom so maybe it was over the top?!! 

So this sums up what OCD does to us all. We never get to trust our own decision making. And we all get it wrong (and right) sometimes.

There is no point trying to work this out. This thread kind of represents your own head - in that people think you were right to and wrong to - so there is no resolution. And because of this it is making you feel bad and guilty. But bear in mind your dog is fine. Animals are very resilient.

If I was you'd I'd look to the improvements you've made and give yourself a big pat on the back. I'd say to myself, 'maybe this was OCD but I'm working hard on my issues and I've come a long way.' And next time, you know to wait a little bit and see if any symptoms present in your dog.

To be blunt, my worst theme was obsessing that my husband was sexually abusing my kids. This caused a LOT of harm to him even though eventually we knew it was OCD. Should I spend the rest of time thinking what a terrible person I am? Or should I make a resolution to get well so the people I love aren't hurt by my illness? I hope you would say the latter BelAnna and apply it to yourself also. ❤️

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2 hours ago, Lynz said:

Personally I think you listened to OCD. You had no reason to suspect your dog had eaten anything poisonous and you didn't even wait for any symptoms to show, you just jumped to the worst possible conclusion (my dog has eaten a particular poisonous mushroom and is going to die) and took her to the vet.

I understand it's not your fault that you have OCD BelAnna but next time if you really think you need to go and make your dog vomit, perhaps talk to us in the forums first who will be able to help you see if it is OCD or not, so that your dog doesn't have to suffer needlessly.

With highly poisonous mushrooms you are very much not supposed to wait to see if they develop symptoms because by then there can be irreversible damage (in this case possible ongoing neurological issues- epileptic seizures or fatal consequences, with other mushrooms this might involve kidney or liver failure) if you wait to see so there is a 2 hour window in which they can be made to throw-up otherwise if they do show symptoms they have to be hospitalized, given IV fluids and supportive medication (unfortunately this would have run into the thousands before my insurance kicked-in and I wouldn't have been able to pay for that) and you have to hope that they pull through. By the time I had got back from the dog walk it was 1 hour in so I really didn't have time to get on the forum and ask, also I imagine there would have been mixed replies anyway so I would have ended up more confused.

The mushroom in question is definitely one of the few known poisonous mushrooms that we have in the UK and she was sniffing immediately above it so that it was impossible to see whether she had eaten some but there was a mouthful shape hole in it. Had this been an identified mushroom or had I been able to see what she had been eating under the tree before that then I would not have taken her to the Vets.

Having had my dog get serious complications from Lungworm, which will affect her throughout her life including scarring to her lung tissue (this was despite the vet recommended preventative treatment) I didn't want to take a chance on this BUT I may well have made the wrong decision. I am in debt both emotionally (worried that I could have caused lasting damage to her heart) and financially because of it!

Hm I just don't know but thank you JennieWren for at least trying to make me feel better. I am a bit hurt by other posts but everyone is entitled to their opinion and if I didn't want to hear 'yes, it's your OCD' then I shouldn't have posted on this forum.

Edited by BelAnna
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Thank you for explaining BelAnna how instant a decision you had to make. This must have been difficult for you. You had to act quickly.

And to put things further in perspective- I am too afraid to get a dog at all! I would love one but I'm too afraid to walk a dog on my own without a man around. We all have our challenges. We are all doing the best we can. This is not about making you feel better this is simply the truth.

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3 hours ago, JennieWren said:

Thank you for explaining BelAnna how instant a decision you had to make. This must have been difficult for you. You had to act quickly.

And to put things further in perspective- I am too afraid to get a dog at all! I would love one but I'm too afraid to walk a dog on my own without a man around. We all have our challenges. We are all doing the best we can. This is not about making you feel better this is simply the truth.

Thanks so much Jennie! you've really helped with this, particularly as the decision is already over and done with now so I can't go back!

I'm sorry to hear that you would struggle with a dog too- it sounds like you do have enough on your plate at the moment with tackling the OCD!

My dog is less than two years old and has had so many (real not perceived) medical issues that although my worries are often irrational, there's also an element to which if I had not been vigilant then she would not be here!

I hope you are coping ok today :) 

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It's good you've been doing better. You do have a track record when it comes to intrusive thoughts about your dog. Reassurance seeking, Googling, overreacting.

What's done is done now. You shouldn't be concerned that you some how tortured your dog. You didn't do it to get your jollies. And anyway, the vet made that decision. 

 

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19 hours ago, BelAnna said:

I guess there's no point ruminating over it now!

Exactly, you said in one sentence that took me 3 paragraphs to state. :a1_cheesygrin:

Edited by St Mike
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2 hours ago, Skullpops said:

Hi BelAnna,

How you doing now? 

Okay thank you! thanks for your help yesterday! My little dog is very sleepy today but I've stopped blaming myself for it! It was a judgement call and I might have regretted it either way! :thankyousign:

2 hours ago, St Mike said:

Exactly, you said in one sentence that took me 3 paragraphs to state. :a1_cheesygrin:

Thanks St Mike! Hope you're doing ok just now! :HappyXmas:

2 hours ago, PolarBear said:

It's good you've been doing better. You do have a track record when it comes to intrusive thoughts about your dog. Reassurance seeking, Googling, overreacting.

What's done is done now. You shouldn't be concerned that you some how tortured your dog. You didn't do it to get your jollies. And anyway, the vet made that decision. 

Thanks PolarBear, yes you're definitely right on that one- this last year my OCD has been awful. I would say though that I've got much better at not googling, been doing a lot less reassurance seeking and even calmed down a bit so that's good :) 

JennieWren, just in case you're here, I replied above! :smileys-gardening-291500:

 

Edited by BelAnna
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