Phew, Cabana's Okay

Yesterday, we went to my husband's company picnic. Cabana came with us, along with her tie-down stake. For the eating part of the picnic, I found a nice, shady, somewhat debris-free patch of grass, a short distance from the picnic tables where we were sitting, and secured Cabana there.

In the car ride on the way home, we noticed that Cabana was drooling. Not just a little, but big gobs of thick saliva. The whole underside of her face and neck was soaking wet. At first, I thought it was that she had just had a big drink of water--but even at home that evening, she was like a leaky faucet. I could see the drips of drool falling off her jowls as she sat.

I called my puppy group leader, and she told me to check Cabana's gums, teeth, throat, for anything that might be lodged there. I couldn't find anything. I didn't think she had swallowed much, other than a bit of grass, because I had been watching her fairly closely at the picnic.

When I looked it up online, there were tons of reasons why a dog might have excessive drooling--a cracked tooth, something lodged in the throat, poisoning, eating a frog (!). We decided to check back in with my puppy group leader in a hour. If things were worse, then we'd take Cabana to the emergency vet.

Thankfully, after Cabana ate dinner, she seemed much better. The drooling lessened, and Cabana acted perfectly normal. This morning, Cabana did have some very dark poops, so I guess she did eat something that upset her stomach. But other than that, she is fine.

I have always been so grateful that we haven't had any reason to take Cabana to the vet (and now that Guide Dogs has a bunch of new rules and regulations about vet visits, I've been doubly glad). I feared that our luck had run out last night--but phew, medical disaster was averted.


On another topic, here's a photo of my daughters, coming back from walking Cabana. Dogs are MUCH more willing subjects than daughters, as you can see how they did everything possible to NOT allow me to get a good photo of them. But I get the last word, since I posted the photo anyway!!