In Bucyrus, OH, Bruno Lee, a 6-month-0ld Shih Tzu/Poodle mix, and Chewy, his Lab mix brother, went out to play. Chewy soon came back in, followed by a very sick little Bruno. Heather Bloomfield, owner of the two dogs, said “He (Bruno) was almost lifeless and hardly breathing, I called Dr. (John) Mauler and he thought at first, since Bruno is little, that his blood sugar was just low. I called him back a little while later when I tried to stand Bruno up and he fell on his face. Dr. Mauler had us bring him right out.”
Bruno was treated with a universal poison antidote and IV fluids, and a little while later Heather took him home.
Back at home, Chewy insisted on going out. He’d already been out and just wouldn’t let up so around 2:00 or 3:00 am, Heather’s boyfriend, Jay Lawrence, took Chewy out. Chewy was on a mission and, determined to get Jay’s attention, kept running toward the bushes on the side of the house and then back to nudge Jay’s hand. Jay followed Chewy and discovered a discarded syringe with puppy teeth-marks on it.
Mystery solved.
Heather called the police, who told her how to dispose of the syringe safely. The syringe had apparently been placed in an empty liquor bottle and tossed into their yard. The bottle broke and Bruno found the syringe. This isn’t the first time a used syringe had been found. In the past, kids in the neighborhood had found paper bags with broken crack pipes, drug paraphernalia, and needles in their yards and at the nearby elementary school playground.
The good news is that Bruno Lee is back to normal. “He is fine now, playing with the kids and Chewy,” Heather said. “We are very lucky he is still with us and I hope this never happens to anyone else’s pet or, worse yet, their child.”