I Yam What I Yam!

As a relief veterinarian, I work a lot of shifts at the ER and often these are on holidays.  When I work the holiday emergency shifts I have come to expect several things.  On July fourth weekend, I know I will see issues resultant from anxiety of fireworks.  At Thanksgiving and Christmas, I know I will see gastrointestinal upsets from the sharing of foods.  And at New Year, I know that I will see intoxications.

New Year intoxications are inevitable.  It may be that someone at the party thinks it is fun to get the dog or cat drunk.  It may be that everyone at the party is partaking and dropping recreational drugs on the floor for the pets to ingest (pot brownies and pills are always popular).  It may be that someone at the party drank too much, vomited, and the dog ate the vomit.  Regardless, they are inevitable.

No one notices the dog until the party is over and everyone has sobered up a little.  They are never really quite sober....still messed up just enough to freak out over how the dog or cat is acting.  Then they rush to the veterinarian reeking of booze, hyped up on drugs, and attempt to deny that there was any exposure possible.

Within my first 3 hours at the ER on New Year day I saw two such cases.   It is the second case, however that makes this blog interesting.  I hope you will enjoy it.


The clients ran through the door screaming, "You've got to help my dog!  Somebody quick, help my dog!"

There were three ladies attached to this poor dog.  One very quiet and subdued.  The other two were bouncing off the walls with overgenerous body gestures and wide eyed over-drawn facial expressions.  My wise technician took the pet from them and asked them to wait in the room and calm themselves while the doctor evaluated their pet.  From behind the closed door, the screaming and crying could be heard throughout the hospital.

The young dog appeared to be fine other than an elevated heart rate, slow pupillary light reflexes, and an inability to walk a straight line or stay vertical for any length of time.  My technician held and calmed the pet away from the owners and the heart rate returned to normal.  We were left with one very intoxicated pet.

When speaking to the owners and asking the normal questions for such a case, the answers did not surprise us.  The owners swore no possible drug exposure, no visitors, no getting in the trash, no history of seizures, and only the smallest risk of the pet having gotten alcohol (less that a teaspoon full of egg nog).  The pet had been crated or in their sight the whole time.  I was not willing to completely believe their story any more than I would have been able to peel them from the ceiling.  Perhaps it was the way they kept climbing in front of each other to talk to me and guarding the other as in basketball with their arms held out against the person behind them.

I sent in my secret weapon, a receptionist who is exceptional at communicating.  She explained that if there was anything known to confess, there would be no reporting to the cops.  We only wanted to help the pet in the best way possible.  If we know the toxin and amount, we are best able to treat with a positive outcome.  It also saves money by not running unnecessary tests.  Sadly, this discussion only resulted in the confession of lack of funds.  We were very limited on what could be done due to cost.

It was agreed that the owners could afford us to make the pet vomit, give a drug to settle the stomach, then treat with activated charcoal to bind remaining toxins.    A small amount of apomorphine was all it took and within a minute there was copious amount of vomit in the sink.  With all toxin cases, an examination of the vomit is key as may lead to the discovery of the toxin.  While examining the vomit, we were communicating with the owner. 

"Did you feed her bacon?"

"Yeah."

"Did you feed her pineapples?"

"No...that's probably chicken nuggets."

"No, I'm seeing the chicken nuggets.  These are yellow chunks that are stringy.  Are you sure you watched her the whole time and she didn't get into the trash or anything in the yard?"

"There is no way she had any pineapple!  Here, Let me see it."

I picked out multiple pieces of the yellow chunks and placed them on a paper towel  for my technician to present to the owner for identification.  I continued to look through the vomit for anything else suspicious. 

To the shock of all, the owner picked up a yellow chunk, smelled it,...and then....TASTED it!

"Oh, that's yams," replied the woman. 

Needless to say, we all freaked out....more than a little, but away from the owner. 

"She didn't really taste it, right?" I asked in private.

"Oh yes she did," replied the technician, "I watched her put that on her tongue!"

Now, I have seen some pretty shocking things in my 8 years of practice and 16 years of veterinary medicine, but I believe this is likely the most disgusting thing I have seen to date.  I can honestly say, also, that I hope I never see it again. 

Let this be a lesson for you folks, too much of anything is a bad thing.  This is especially true of drugs and alcohol.  If you are not careful...you could end up in a vet clinic someday tasting your own dog's vomit.