# Nervous Nellie & Propranolol eating dog



## ChrissyBz (Aug 10, 2007)

Sorry for the long post.

Tuesday night my 27 lb 4 year old dog ate a 40 mg. pill that I dropped on the floor. I gave her food immediately to try and slow down the absorption rate while I tried to contact the vet( I live 30 miles from the nearest vet in Belize, Central America) It was 10:00 pm. @ about 11pm. I got the vet and he told me it was probably too late and that I should have given her hydrogen peroxide to make her vomit right away. 

After an exhaustive search of Our property (2 residences & other storage buildings) i found a bottle at midnight and administered just in case and she threw up about a 1 & 1/2 cups of undigested food. I walked her around for the rest of the night in efforts to keep her heart rate up and at 8 am. we made the hour long journey into the Vet. There she was pronounced ok and not given any meds. the preferred antidote for propranolol isn't available here. I monitored her till about 4 and then we both fell asleep. 

However she still doesn't seem to be her normal self and I can't really put a finger on it. Her heart rate is still low 78 bpm resting (I thought I heard an irregularity but the vet said it was beating fine) and she's lethargic and refusing to eat her normal food although she perks up when the fridge door opens & scarfed down a special meal I made of rice, homemade beef broth and a little bit of medium cooked liver. She is having dreams so I'm assuming that sleep periods are normal. I guess it's just a general offness. 
Am I a Nervous Nellie, like the rest of my family says, or should we make the long stressful trip to the vet yet again tomorrow? Every time we go in her heart rate goes through the roof. She's had a lot of unpleasant vet visits lately. (see below)

She also has ehrlichiosis diagnosed in April but probably contracted a long time ago. (she's a stray we got at about 3 months old from our restaurant parking lot & ticks are very common here) She had a CBC & post treatment Titer last week and her platelets were 14.2 She's on 100 mg of doxycycline daily while we're waiting 6 weeks for the 2nd titer results to come back from the lab in the states. Her original Titer was 1:160

I read that in humans propranolol completely leaves the system in 12 hours is the same true for dogs?

Any help or advice from someone with propranolol experience would be greatly appreciated. 
Thank You.

Ps. We live in a small country with limited resources we're lucky to have a vet with an x-ray machine. 14 years ago I smuggled a cat with a broken leg into a military hospital for an x-ray. I'm not knocking the vets here,(I think the do a great job with what they have) just looking for anything to help a much-loved family member.


----------



## ChrissyBz (Aug 10, 2007)

*Re: Nervous Nellie - Cassie's feeling better this morning*

Still not 100% but she voluntarily brought me a toy this morning & punched me for a chest scratch. Things are looking up. I'd still welcome some info from anyone with experience on animals & propranolol. But I feel much better already too.


----------



## Lorina (Jul 1, 2006)

*Re: Nervous Nellie - Cassie's feeling better this morning*

I'm glad she's acting more herself. 

The only experience I have with propranolol is when my cat was prescribed it for her heart problems. But no experience with overdosing or pets taking it who don't need it. Actually, my cat is the only pet I've known who's been on it. She did get dosage every 12 hours, but I don't know enough about the drug to know if it's only proper dosing that leaves the system in 12 hours, or if it would take longer for an overdose to leave.


----------



## ChrissyBz (Aug 10, 2007)

Thanks, I think she must still have some in her system but she's acting fine most of the day now. She gets a little logy after food and her heart rate is really slow @ night while at rest. She sleeps with me so I can check her easily. She plays and jumps for joy when she sees me touch the leash so most behavior is back to norm. I've been checking urine and stool and both are within normal variance re: volume and color respectively. I'm hoping she'll be fine. 

As a just in case I decided to give her a week off from the doxycycline she's getting for Ehrlichiosis she'd already been on for a week and both that and the Propranolol are processed through the kidneys. I'll put her back on next week. I hope her titer results come back soon. Last time they took almost 8 weeks. 

I decided to have dogs instead of kids so I wouldn't have to pay for college but I never factored in titers and toys


----------

