The cigarette is a kind of thing that is harmful to everyone.
Even after it has been used.
I learnt it the hard way.
Last week, I took my dog (Zora – A French Bulldog) to the walk. Everything was fine. I was waving hands to my walk buddies, passing smiles, and that kind of stuff.
Suddenly, My boss called(who was in China for a business trip) and asked me to send some pdf urgently.
I said okay, pulled out my phone, and started searching for that file on my phone. I was just passively walking, staring at my phone screen, being pulled by force my dog generated walking ahead of me.
I was so busy staring at the phone screen that I completely zoned out of my whereabouts.
And then my dog suddenly stoped around, started a lamp pole and started encircling around it.
I was still busy with my phone.
After about a minute or so, it started walking again. As soon as I was done with sending the file. I looked up, and everything is as usual.
We reached home, and then I brewed myself a coffee and joined my hubby on the couch, and we both started watching tv.
Suddenly my husband said, did you heard that?
Our dog was shaking.
To best, my of my knowledge, it never had any episodes of tremors before.
We tried to console and calm it down, but then he started vomiting.
That was alarming for us.
He puked out two cigarette butts. Both of us were in shock.
Ever after vomiting, our dog was not showing any signs of improvement.
We were petrified.
We rushed to the vet center nearby. After examining for 15 mins, the doctor told us that our dog is exposed to something called nicotine poisoning.
And told that just like humans, dogs are also receptive to nicotine. And these receptors, if overstimulated, causes problems.
We discovered that cigarette filters hold about 30% (in a very concentrated form) of total nicotine present in one cigarette.
Since Zora ate more than one, symptoms are inevitable.
How we got our dog treated.
The vet administered some activated charcoal to prevent the nicotine from absorbing any further into Zora’s system.
Then he gave some hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting.
It took Zora almost a week before tremors would completely stop.
I really feel guilty for not being a responsible parent. I promised myself I will never let it happen again because of my negligence.