Christmas in August - sorta

Well, it involves mistletoe at least, but not in the usual way.

While I was doing other chores in the back yard last night, Miss Ophelia found a few hefty twigs of storm blown mistletoe, of all things, and decided that it looked like a fun chew toy. I eventually glanced over to see what she was doing, shrieked, and promptly took her treasure away.

I had a sneaking suspicion that this isn't the kind of plant a pet ought to be nibbling. A quick trip to the internet revealed that mistletoe is indeed considered toxic to pets. The berries are the worst part of the plant, but pretty much the whole thing can cause a variety of horrible traumas, or death, if consumed in enough quantity. HERE is some info. And more HERE.

Interestingly, there is also some data HERE from tests done to study the anti-cancer properties European Mistletoe.

Fortunately, Ophelia is a 110 lb. Great Dane, so the after the folks at Poison Control and the county Emergency Vet got over the fact that some fool was calling with a mistletoe question in freakin' August, they all agreed that her actual risk probably wasn't too terrible given her body weight. The toxic affects are horrible, though, so They also agreed that there was no point in taking chances, and that a purge was needed ASAP. Bring on the hydrogen peroxide!

Lucky for me, my friend and neighbor, Louis, was game to help wrangle a very squirmy, very big dog while I dumped the appropriate, vet-recommended amount of hydrogen peroxide down her gullet. The peroxide did the trick, spectacularly. Fortunately, all traces of mistletoe were expelled, and Oph seems to be in fine shape.

In case you're wondering where in the hell the mistletoe came from....Our neighbor has a very large oak tree that has lots of this parasitic plant growing in the canopy. I think that the combo of drought, followed by some very windy summer storms knocked the plant right out of the tree - and into my yard.

So, how was your Sunday night?!