The Tale of the $1000 Sock or Is My House a Mess?
Ollie Eats Socks
My family went to our son’s college graduation and were away from our home and animals for about five days. A family friend stayed with and cared for our two easy-going dogs and one cat. Two days before we returned, the two-year old dog Ollie, began to vomit and stopped eating so I took him to the vet right away; something was very wrong.
After spending $1000 for surgery and tests and care, etc., we discovered he had eaten one of the men’s tube socks. This caused an intestinal blockage that could have killed him. We were all scared and happy and then I became angry: hadn’t I recently said that he would swallow a sock if it wasn’t put away? Honest, I really did. And then, this became the thousand dollar sock. We could have used that money many other places.
What did we learn? That if the sock fits in Ollie’s mouth, he won’t let it go. He’ll just keep chewing until he swallows it. The easy solution was to put socks away.
Several years later, there are no more men in this house to leave socks around. That might seem like a severe management system, but it’s just the way life has worked out. There are no more white tube socks for him, just my underwear which he doesn’t swallow. Yet. But we still had a sock incident a few months ago with one of my finer socks. As he walked away from me down the hallway I saw something besides his tail, hanging out his er, rectum. I wiped my eyes to clear them up, and shaking my head headed toward him. Yup, it was a sock that had moved through the digestive system and thankfully was leaving the body, kind of like a worm, you know? Only really long.
My home is up for sale now, and neat enough to keep Ollie safe. All my socks, thin and thick are in their drawer. He still finds my lingerie when I don’t hang it up, but it’s too big to swallow. I think. What do you do around your home that is dangerous to your animals health and your pocket book? What is worth doing a little more work around the house than a $1000 sock?
