Anatomy of an herbicide poisoning

Detail of Moose's poisoning by Chemlawn

Tuesday October 3rd, 4th, 5th 2006
It was a beautiful day outside, around 75 degrees. I decided to do something I don't normally do, which is air out my house. Usually, the heat is on or the air conditioning is on. This time, I turned everything off except for the "circulate air" fan on the system. I then systematically opened up all the windows upstairs and downstairs. The front of the house has 15 windows and the back has 10, plus 2 in the basement. It's not a small job, but I really wanted to get a cross breeze going to air every room out. I also opened up all 3 doors and the sliding doors in the den.

When I opened the front door, Moose ran happily outside and stood in alert mode, scanning for rabbits, deer or anything else that might interest him. I left the door wide open. I decided to go into the basement and open the two windows down there that face the back yard and turned a table fan on. I was in the basement for about five minutes, when I heard Moose start to bark furiously. Moose was not a dog who barked a lot. He actually never barked unless he was "defending the property".

Puzzled, I wondered who could be there? It was the middle of a school day for the kids, and I had no appointments scheduled. As I ran up the basement steps, right before I hit the top, I smelled it. CHEMLAWN. That nauseating pesticide smell was in my house and being sucked into my HVAC system. A wave of anger rushed over me. I knew Moose was right out front! I thought "What the hell are they doing here, I didn't schedule anything with them!"
As soon as I looked down my hallway to the opened front door I saw him. The guy on his spray rig about 20 feet from my doorway and Moose was standing in the grass, "in his face", barking his head off. Moose was only inches from the guy.

I ran outside and yelled:

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? WHY DIDN'T I GET A COURTESY CALL? IT'S BEEN ON FILE WITH CHEMLAWN FOR YEARS THAT I MUST HAVE A CALL, BECAUSE I HAVE KIDS AND A DOG! I HAD NO IDEA YOU WERE COMING TODAY! I DIDN'T SCHEDULE ANYTHING!"
He said: "I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd spray. I have no way of knowing who gets courtesy phone calls!"
I yelled:
"Didn't you see all the doors and windows open? Didn't you see my dog outside?"
"Yes".
"And you sprayed anyway? Did you spray where my dog is standing?"
"Yes".
He started making excuses of why he sprayed even though he admitted to acknowledging the situation.
He said:
I assumed you'd close the door when you saw me spraying".
I informed him that I was in the basement and therefore couldn't see him. I was flabbergasted by his stupid answers.
I grabbed Moose's choke collar... and I said:
"Did you spray over there?"
I was pointing to the right side of my yard. I already knew he sprayed the left side, since that was the direction he was coming from, where the driveway is. He said "No" and I yanked Moose to the "safe" area, around 40 feet away, to get him away from the freshly sprayed grass.
The Idiot Sprayer got off his rig, since he saw I had control of Moose and walked over to where I was, standing next to my weeping cherry tree. Moose was still barking in "attack mode" at him because he saw that I was very upset with this man.

I then said: "It's okay, Moose". He stopped barking at the man, but he was not friendly with him. I was still holding his choke collar with my left hand. Moose stood in front of me, being a barrier between the guy and me and he was hyper alert.
I raised my right arm and I pointed my finger at the Sprayers face and yelled:
"I hope my dog doesn't get sick! --MY DOG BETTER NOT GET SICK!!!"
The Sprayer just looked at me, shaking his head, like I was over reacting. He mumbled in a low voice: "You're dog isn't going to get sick".
He never apologized and he and I continued to argue. I told him I was going to call Chemlawn right away about this, that it was unacceptable! He told me "to go ahead". I was furious! I am sure his perspective was "Geez, what a raging bitch!"
I couldn't believe this happened because I'd always been so careful about not letting Moose or the kids out when the yard was freshly sprayed! As much as Chemlawn claimed it was "practically non toxic" both my husband and I had a super healthy respect that if the chemicals were strong enough to kill plant life, we didn't want to be in contact with them and we steered clear of them, as advised, until DRY.
So after about 5-7 minutes of arguing, he says "Let me finish my job and get out of here. Do you have any other areas you want sprayed?"
I calmed down a bit...and said in an exasperated voice:
"Well, yes, the back right quadrant of my yard has a ton of weeds growing, even though Chemlawn supposedly sprayed last month and then charged me for a full spray."

So then the Chemlawn Sprayer, I and Moose, proceed to walk around the house from the front yard to the very back, where he had not sprayed yet.

Me: "Does this area look like it was sprayed last month?"
Sprayer: "No, it does not. I'll do it now."
Me: "Weren't you the guy who came to spray last month? I think it was you."
Sprayer:"No, it wasn't me. That guy doesn't work for Chemlawn anymore".

Ok, so I let that go. I told him to wait a few minutes while I closed my windows before he sprayed again. Moose and I went inside and I did that.

Then, I thought about the contact Moose had...and I grabbed a wet paper towel and wiped Moose's paws. Then I called Chemlawn and told the front desk girl what happened and said I wanted a manager to call me back, ASAP. I told her I couldn't read the receipt, I needed to know what chemical was sprayed. No one called back that day.

The incident happened at noon. Moose seemed normal for about the next three hours. But between the hours of 3-6pm, I could see he was starting to not feel right. Moose went into the den and laid around, not moving much, very still. He seemed stiff when he got up, but then he'd shake it off.

By dinner which is always at 6:00pm, he wasn't hungry. Usually he stands in front of me in the kitchen blocking my every move until I feed him. He stayed in the den but came when I called him. The family was home now and I told all the kids what happened. (I called my husband at work right after it happened.) I made his dinner, which he normally inhaled in 30 seconds. One and a half cups Royal Canin Labrador dry food, 1 cup water and 1 heaping tablespoon of Pedigree wet dog food to make a gravy. Moose drank the water out of it and went back and laid down. Everyone was concerned, because they all knew Moose never turned down dinner. There's no such thing as not being hungry when you're a Lab. The appetite of the breed is legendary.
So many times in his life, Moose was fed dinner twice, by accident. If I fed him and walked away, the kids or my husband would say "I fed Moose". I'd say "I already fed him! You can't go by what Moose tells you!" The look on his face right after he finished was always "Hey, when are you going to feed me?"
For the rest of that night he laid around, quiet. He went out to pee a few times as usual. We never accompanied Moose. We have a fenced yard in back and invisible fence in the front and his normal place of doggie duty was in the way back yard.
Sometime during those outings, unbeknownst to me, he went and ate a bunch of grass. The grass was dry at least 6 hours by the first time he started going to the way back, out of my site.

Wednesday, October, 4, 2006
The next morning I was about to leave for my morning bowling league and I saw a pile of dog vomit on the carpet, a hunk of grass about half the size of my fist and green juice, all foamy and disgusting. I grabbed a paper towel and threw it away, then left for bowling.
I came back three hours later, around 12:30pm. Moose was sleeping in the den, usually he greeted me, not that day. I went over and pet him and asked him how he felt. I wished he could talk. I could tell he didn't feel great. His eyes looked sad. He did get up and go outside, I watched him. Not a lot of energy. That night, he refused dinner again. He had not eaten his breakfast. We always fed him twice a day. (Some people only feed their dogs once a day.) He did eat a few puppy treats and a Milk bone. Since he refused his normal dinner, I hand fed him some leftover chicken, which he did eat. If Moose had refused real meat, I would have driven him to the Vet ASAP.
I said to my husband:
"If Moose is not drastically better by tomorrow, I am taking him to the Vet. Can you believe Chemlawn never called me back? I am definitely canceling them."

Thursday, October 5, 2006
Around 9:30am. I looked at the receipt again so I could try to figure out the product... as I desperately wanted to look up the chemicals he had contact with, but I still couldn't figure it out. So I called Chemlawn again, restated that I asked for a manager to call me back two days before and that no one did and then asked Nicole, the receptionist, to look in my file and tell me what exactly had been sprayed in my yard.
Nicole, informed that they do not keep that customer information on their computers, that she'd have to look at an actual paper receipt. I asked her to do that and get back to me. She didn't call me back. In hindsight, I should have driven to their office and caused a scene until someone helped me. But, I wasn't in panic mode, yet.

At 11:00am, exactly 47 hours after the incident, Moose broke down. That's how long it took for the "perfect storm". I was hoping he'd get better on his own, as I had no idea what the cycle of poisoning is. I still didn't even know what poison he had contact with.
He scratched at the back kitchen door to go outside. I let him out and he slowly walked to the grass area right off the cement patio. He normally peed in the way back but this time, he was right there by the house. I had gone back to dish washing and was at the sink, but watching him from the window.
Then it happened. Right after he peed, he became "frozen". I stood and stared intently. "What is he doing?", I thought. I grabbed a towel, wiped my hands and ran outside. "Moose!" I called. No response, he didn't turn his head to look at me. My heart dropped and adrenalin ran through me.
"Moose! Moose! What's the matter? ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?" I dropped to my knees in front of him. His eyes were open, but there was no recognition in them. He was completely dazed.

Then it started. He started shivering and shaking and his muscles were dancing and jerking on their own. He couldn't breathe right, so he was hyper-ventilating, breathing very quickly, short breathes.

I was completely freaked out. "Oh my God, Oh my God, what am I supposed to do?!"

He'd been standing, then he collapsed on to his left side and continued this attack. I thought he was going to die, right there in front of me. This lasted around five minutes. If he was going to die, I didn't want him to be alone, so I stayed there and talked softly to him. Then he stopped quaking, but he was still breathing quickly. Then he looked at me and recognized me with sad puppy eyes that said "What the hell is happening to me?" I could tell he was in pain. It was horrifying!
Since he was conscious again, I ran inside, called the Vet and they wanted to schedule me at 4pm. I said "No, this is an EMERGENCY and I need to bring him right away." They said OK.
I grabbed my purse, car keys and Moose's seat belt harness and leash. I ran back out to him and tried to get him to stand so I could put his harness on. He would not stand. He fought to stay laying down, just dead weight, so I did the best I could to put his harness on that way. It was impossible, I needed him to stand.
I stood over him and yanked and finally lifted him up to standing position. He had to help which he finally did. Good, he was standing. I had to lift his front legs, to place the harness, they were so stiff! They wouldn't bend normal. It was weird. That took about five more minutes.
Then I grabbed the handle and tried to get him to walk. He made sad, whining noises, like he was in pain. Nope, not walking. So I half dragged, half carried him to the car which was about 100 ft from where this happened. I had to do it slowly so as not to scratch his feet on concrete patio. I did this part in baby steps. It took about ten minutes. I said: "C'mon Moosie, you can walk! That's a good dog!"
On any normal day, we'd say:
"Moose... Do you want to go for a ride?" And boom, he'd leap like gazelle into the minivan, over the drivers seat to the passengers side. (Moose always rode shot gun.)
Not that day. I had to prop his front legs onto the drivers seat, then hoist his hind legs to get him up. It should have prompted a jump. After I did that, he collapsed and smashed face down on the console between the seats. He had no control of his legs! I ran around and opened the passenger door and pulled him into the passenger seat and locked the seat belt through the harness. I lowered the back portion of seat to recline as far as it would go, so he could lay. I closed his door, hopped in the car and sped off.
He was still breathing quickly, taking a lot of short breathes. Even though my window was cracked, he steamed up the car windows as he usually does. His breathe had a weird smell I had never smelled before. It was repelling, sickeningly sweet and had a chemically after tone. He seemed oblivious to the ride, usually he was very attentive, sitting up high, with his snout out the window taking in all the exciting smells. At that point I thought he was dying.
I pulled up to the Vet's office and went and opened his door. He was picked his head up and saw where he was. I could read the look in his eyes. "Oh No, NOT HERE!" He never liked going to the Vet. He always hyper-ventilated going there even when he was normal. His hair used to visibly jump out of his back and my car was always covered in dog hair and dander. He got a burst of adrenaline when he realized where we were which helped motivate him and wake him up to get out of the car. He actually helped get himself out of the car. He still looked very stiff and I held his harness up high to take the weight pressure off his walking.
An hour had passed from the time I first ran outside to him. The attack seems to be going away with every minute that passed. Thank God! The waiting room was crowded but they put in a room within two minutes.
I explained the situation to the vet assistant. He took notes.
When the doctor came in I explained to her what happened.
I said:
"Chemlawn poisoned my dog! I want Toxicology tests done!"

She said: "Sorry, we have no tests to prove pesticide poisoning."
She then completely turned her back on everything I was telling her and ran tests for everything else that was NOT pesticide related.
She tested for Leptospirosis and Lyme Disease. She gave no answers for as to why Moose collapsed into acute liver/kidney failure. All dog disease tests came back negative.

The Vet never even asked what the herbicide product was that he came into contact with!
UNACCEPTABLE!
She took Moose in the back to get blood work. After ten minutes she came back in. She informed me that Moose had grown a football sized hematoma on his hind leg where they had drawn blood. She said she wanted to keep Moose for observation, that he couldn't go home. I believe she also said the situation denoted "liver failure".
I went home, depressed and upset. I called at 5pm and they said to come get Moose at 6pm. I received a bunch of pills, antibiotics, Metronidazole, "just in case" it was Leptospirosis, Zentonil for enhancing liver function, Pepcid AC. I also received a bill of over $1,400.00.
I was fuming that the Vet never responded to my claims of pesticide poisoning. That she wouldn't even go there... I confidently told her that I KNEW the dog illness tests would come back negative.
She called me the next day about some of the tests that were back from the lab.. NO DOG ILLNESSES were found. I was right, so far... But... she said the Leptospirosis test couldn't be repeated until a few weeks later. She said she "had a hunch" it was Lepto...and insisted that I administer a months worth of antibiotics. So like a good girl, I did. Moose did seem to bounce back and was so much better during the next few weeks. Not quite normal, but almost, like 70% of himself, which seemed 100% better than laying on the ground convulsing.

October 27th, 2006
I took Moose back for a re-check to re-do the Lepto test. That appointment cost $200.00.
Guess what?
It WASN'T LEPTOSPIROSIS.
OK, Doc.. so then what caused Moose to collapse into convulsions and go into liver failure??? HMMMM???
The doctor wouldn't give an answer and just said she didn't know what caused Moose to be so sick. She DID acknowledge he was very sick. In her notes from day one she wrote: ADR which means "Ain't Doin' Right in Vet lingo.
Again I stated it was Chemlawn. In Moose's medical notes, which I received a copy of after his death, the Doctor states that I said:
"Chemlawn did this" --6 times between October 3rd and February 24.
But...
She never even agreed that it was a possibility that Chemlawn had anything to do with Moose becoming so ill!

The Vet conjectured in her medical notes that it was Moose's previous cancer that came back and killed him. As I said "conjectured", which is the same as "guessed" or "wondered".

Just like she didn't test to prove chemical poisoning, she also had no proof as to whether cancer was the reason or not, either.
I have Vet notes dated Feb. 14, 2006, which was one year after Moose started chemo, his blood tests (buffy coat tests) came back clean --no cancer. That was nine months before the Chemlawn incident. But because Moose had a history of cancer she just wanted to blame that on why Moose was sick all of a sudden. Another problem with her theory is that Moose presented with cancer as lumps on his stomach. He did this twice, even halfway through his various chemos. But then after all chemo was over, no more lumps.
Lastly, I believe Moose's blood tests prove he did not die from cancer.