BUW101-ass04-1 Loss – keeping the wolf from…

Today’s assignment suggests writing about loss in anticipation of producing further posts in a series – I can’t think that far ahead at the moment with my writing.

I don’t want to write about loss, not today at least. I’m quite lost for words on the subject, or rather I’m not, but don’t fancy an outpouring of loss-related reflection.

I could write about things I’ve lost to my dog’s chewing – like my Foo Fighters CD, ‘Nothing Left to Lose’! Quite ironic.

Or I could write about how I nearly lost the dog to her swallowing a whole clipper lighter that was knocked off the worktop in the kitchen. I kept it next to the cooker to light the gas but its dark at that end of the kitchen and not seeing the lighter it got accidentally swiped onto the floor.

The dog was quite young. Usually she’d give something back for the offer of some chicken but this time she snatched the chicken while the lighter was still in her mouth and swallowed both! I’d managed to grab the metal piece of the lighter surround and that had come off in my hand but she had the rest. I didn’t have to worry about zinc poisoning at least, just butane and blocked intestines! That was so scary. So, a phone call to the emergency vets, an appointment the next day and an urgent operation to pay for.

Nowadays, lighters are banned around my house – I bought a large safety cooker lighter and will never buy a small lighter again!

There, I wasn’t going to write about loss, but I have.

Apparently dogs often swallow all kinds of things they shouldn’t, stones and other objects. I now know that if her stools ever appear black and tarry and it doesn’t resolve by the next passing that she will have an intestinal blockage and to seek urgent veterinary advice and assistance. I might have been unaware of that fact had it not have been for this mishap. There, now I’m talking shit I’ll leave it there!