Zoe pains.

Zoe, our 4 year old hot dog dog, has caused quite the ruckus in our house lately.

First of all, she had a run in with another animal last week.   Every night before we go to bed, I take Zoe out so she can pee before she's in the for the night.  We have a big spot of patchy grass right outside of our apartment, and I never have to put her on her leash.  I will stand inside the doorway while she runs outside, does her business, then runs back in.

This one night was different.   I was in my usual routine and I was letting Zoe out for the last time that night.  I turned my head for a second to pick up Ryan's shoes and when I turned back around to call Zoe in, I saw her face to face.....WITH A SKUNK.

Not just A skunk, but a HUGE skunk!  This sucker was probably 10 pounds heavier than Zoe and had 3 times the fur.  If I wasn't scared out of my mind that either she was going to attack the skunk thinking it was a squirrel, or vice versa, I would of taken a picture.

Zoe and Pepe were eye to eye and I FREAKED OUT.  I started screaming Zoe's name hoping and praying she would listen to me and come inside rather than face off with stinky.  As soon as she started to turn towards me to come back to the house, Pepe lifted up his huge tail and I heard a huge hissing sound.

Naturally I thought Zoe was going to reek of skunk smell and it was going to be a huge pain to get the smell out.  Lucky for us, the skunk sprayed the other direction and she just missed it.  WHEW.

My heart was beating so fast and I'm pretty sure Zoe had no idea that she was just eye to eye with a humungo skunk that could of done some serious damage.   It's so random that there was a skunk around our complex because it's a new apartment complex with no big trees and not a lot of woods around us.  I guess I'm just glad they didn't fight and Zoe still smells like Boysenberry doggie shampoo :)

You would think that would of been enough adventure for Zoe for at least a month.  Not our doggie.

I'm at work on Sunday and we're slammed all day.  I get a call from Ryan and something told me I should answer it.  I did, and Ryan begins to tell me he took Zoe with him to the grocery store, and while he was in the store shopping, Zoe ate an ENTIRE pack of sugar free gum.  We had no idea if it could harm her or not, so Ryan called the emergency vet -- just in case.

Come to find out, sugar free gum with xylitol is extremely toxic to dogs.   Xylitol absorbs in the dog's blood stream immediately and if they don't get treatment as soon as possible, it could cause liver failure and/or death.  We did not want her to die.

Ryan rushed her to the emergency vet and they started to make her throw up immediately.  Poor girl!   The vet told Ryan they could tell she got into a lot of gum, and because she is so small, they needed to keep her overnight in case she had seizures from any Xylitol that didn't get out of her system.

To make a long story short, she's fine now and acting her normal self.  I hope she stays out of trouble now for a while because it's pretty stressful having a sick pup!  She's basically our only child at this point!

I hope everyone is having a great week!  I'm heading out to Colorado with some beautiful and fun Hibbard ladies next weekend and I can't wait!!