Uh-Oh

Sooo.... Our day started with me, Dan, & Maggie in the boat with our duck hunting guide (Lynn Buswell, pictured below in the boat/blind with Dan). We got a phone call from Dad (at the hotel) that when he got up to use the bathroom, he discovered that all of Winnie's meds - Rimadyl (NSAID for dogs) & Intraconazole (meds to treat her fungal infection) had been eaten. This put us all in an emergent situation at 5:20am... We had left him no first aid kit (we had it with us), no list of vets to call (it was in the truck at the boat ramp), & no vehicle. We pieced-together enough facts to be pretty sure (but not 100% positive) it was Winnie who ingested the meds & not Jax. Lynn offered to call his girlfriend & have her get Dad & the dog(s) & take them to the vet (we were able to pull up our list of pre-qualified vets in the area on my phone). This is what we did... Spoiler alert - Winnie is ok... Below is a picture of the counter area where the meds were stored - on the shelf that is chest high for me. She must have jumped up onto the counter to stand on it with all 4 paws & then reached her head up onto the shelf to get the meds - but not the Pedigree wet dog food pouches or the granola bars!

While Lynn's girlfriend was en-route to the hotel, Dad was able to get some Hydrogen Peroxide (one of the hotel workers went to a nearby Target to buy it) to induce vomiting. He got this process started & then Lynn's girlfriend arrived to head to the Vet. We decided that Dad should take Jax too, since we weren't totally sure that he didn't partake in the overdose (rave) party that went on in the living room. The four of them got to the nearby Animal Hospital, where vomiting was immediately induced for both dogs. Long story short was the results of that process were enough for me to decide that Jax had not eaten the pills. It was also obvious that Winnie had, so they gave her activated charcoal & started her on IV fluids & other meds to dilute the overdose & counter the effects on her kidneys and liver. They did blood-work on her as a baseline of liver and kidney function & will continue the IV fluids for 48 hours & do another round of blood-work to compare to today's results. We hope to be able to get her out of the hospital on Monday. Maybe she'll be ready to hunt Tuesday??? We'll just have to wait and see...

As for our morning hunt, It was cold today - 16 degrees with 10mph wind & clear skies when we started at 5:30. By the late morning, it had warmed-up to 25 degrees, & Mag enjoyed the warmth of the sun, as evidence by the pic below. We hunted from 6:20-10:15 & shot 4 drake & 1 hen Mallards, recovering 3 of the 5 - there was a fair amount of ice around our hunting spot & it prevented Mag from picking up 3 of the birds until several hours later, when we were finished. She was able to find 2 of the 3, but only recover 1 of those 2 because of additional ice issues... Her blind manners & obedience were excellent & other than the cold, she seemed to enjoy her day. We had a fair number of ducks (all mallards) work our spread through the morning, but most refused to finish close enough for shots. Of the 4 we shot, Bill hit 3 (all wounded, not dead). Dan hit 2 (1 of which was the same bird Bill hit) & wounded both. Lynn killed 1 bird after Dan hit, but didn't drop the bird). Bill was going to the bathroom at the time of this shot, so didn't get to join in the fun. Overall, Bill took 3 shots for the day & Dan took 10 shots (+/- 1)  - partly because he had a move favorable position in the blind.

With all this going on, today was another day of afternoon activity that didn't include hunting. For tomorrow, we're meeting Lynn in the am for ducks & then heading out in the pm on our own for either ducks or phez - not decided yet. We're hoping that tomorrow provides a bit more hunting action (both am & pm) than we got today & just a little less drama!