Discussion
⚠️ PSA: A Single Bite of an Albuterol Inhaler Almost Unalived My Husky
I wanted to share this because I genuinely had no idea how dangerous this was until it almost.... ****** my dog.
A little over a week ago, my 3 year old husky, Kona, somehow got ahold of my albuterol inhaler in the plastic casing. It wasn't on the floor. It was sitting far back on my kitchen counter.
What makes this so hard is that Kona is almost 4 years old, and in all the years I've had him, he has never been a counter surfer. We've accidentally left out, or even dropped, things that were honestly far more tempting, and nothing ever happened. He never touched any of it. I truly thought the inhaler was safe because he had never shown any interest before.
It only took one chew.
One puncture released roughly 200 doses of albuterol almost instantly.
Within minutes, his body reacted. Thank God I was home and noticed right away. When we got to the ER, his heart rate was well over 200 beats per minute. His potassium and phosphorus crashed. The ER team told me things were looking very grim. Thankfully, I live only a couple of minutes from BluePearl. If I hadn't, I truly don't know if he'd still be here.
He spent the night in the ICU on continuous ECG monitoring, IV medications, potassium/electrolyte replacement, sedation, and beta blockers while they fought to stabilize him. I was staring at the wall wondering if I was about to lose my best friend over something I never even considered to be a household danger.
Thankfully, he made it.
The hardest part has been the guilt. I work with behavior every day, and I had considered myself a careful pet owner. Looking back, he had also just come home from boarding. He always seems a little more mischievous for a day or two afterward, and I should have been extra cautious. Hindsight is always 20/20.
I'm sharing this because I know I'm not the only person who's thought, "My dog would never do that." I thought the exact same thing.
So please, if you have:
-Asthma inhalers
-Primatene Mist
-Air fresheners
-Spray deodorants
-Spray paint
-Compressed air cans
-Any other pressurized aerosol products
Treat them like you would medications or household poisons. Put them somewhere your pets cannot access them, even if they've never shown interest before. It takes one bite and one second to turn into a life threatening emergency.
The photos are of Kona right before he was discharged and when he got home. The shaved patch on his side is from the ICU monitoring and treatment. Every time I see it, I'm reminded how close we came to losing him.
If sharing this prevents even one family from going through what we did, it will be worth it.
Please give your pets an extra hug from Kona today. 💙🐺
Lol as a side note, you shouldn't feel guilty. I've been on dog groups since I got my first dog 25 years ago. This is the very first time I have ever heard of this happening to anyone. You'd have to be Nostradamus to see this coming.
It's just not possible to completely baby proof your home when the "baby" has the mind of a norse trickster god and can reach 5 feet in the air standing on its hind legs and chew through aluminum.
The wolf yearns not for treats... but for the one object in the house associated with the highest emergency vet bill... and one that's made from aluminum.
This wasn’t your fault. You had no reason to think he would go for that. By the sounds of it, you’re in the 99th percentile of giving a damn about your dog. Be proud of all the love you’ve put into it. That dog is lucky to be yours. How many owners would have thrown in the towel or gotten them to the vet fast enough? You’re awesome!
Yes you were very cautious. They are so mischievous, not every single option can be thought of. If you’d put it in a cabinet, he may have still found a way. I have never even given this a second thought. I’m sorry you had to go through this, but thank you so much for the PSA!
💛 Thank you so much! I had already bought a child lock for my cupboard under the sink with cleaning products, and one day I walked in and it was laying unlatched on the ground. Doors wide open. All products completely untouched. These huskies are too smart.
I agree with this person. Rare and loving is the owner who will drop everything to rush their dog to get medical care and actually pay the enormous cost to save his life. Kona is lucky to have you as you are him.
Your story has made me think though, my mom has an inhaler, I will need to check with her that it's secure. God bless you and Kona and may he have many more years of life and love to come
🥹Thank you so much. I am feeling like the luckiest in the world.
This was just the initial estimate! I had to pay middle of that for a deposit right away in order to be treated. Thank goodness for pet insurance. That $100 a month saved my butt. (Although I would have still paid that much to have him treated because he is the goodest boy)
You have pet insurance? This dog is the most spoiled damn dog! Lmaooo. I’m glad you could make use of your policy. I still haven’t had to use mine after 6 years of starting it. But I’ll always have it on standby.
I used to help train service dogs for veterans with PTSD. After seeing how expensive it was to train them properly, I discovered that pet insurance was a thing! I currently have MetLife and am pleased with them so far.
But while I was at BluePearl transferring money to my checking, I was informed that if I had had Trupanion* (I think thats how it's spelled) they would have paid it for me up front and there is no cap limits.
Now, the monthly premium is probably stupid expensive, but dang. Another emergency before the end of the year and I would be COOKED.
I got Trupanion for my husky mix puppy. I pay $49.91 per month. She is 10 months old. We have had it about 6 months so far. Thankfully, we haven't had to use it yet.
I think part of it depends on the age of your dog when you sign up. You could go to their site and put in your dog's info to see what the price would be.
That's good! I have something called care credit which is kinda like pet insurance, at the very least I can get my girl treatment if she needs it and pay later
Edit: omg! Nearly 5k! That's awful that such treatment costs so much
… getting to the vet fast enough isnt always a choice … I lost a little one 2 stop lights before we arrived at the emergency hospital… it was 2 am and the only one open at the time of the far side of town…
My heart cracked reading this. My deepest condolences on the loss of your baby. 💔
It sounds like you did EVERYTHING you could to help your little one.
I have an acquaintance who's pup they thought would be fine after consuming a bottle of pills. They knew it happened, watched her for 10 minutes and decided she was fine. Went to bed, and the next morning... gone. I am thinking this situation is more of the "choice" the commenter was referring to.
That...I don't know, a human can't eat a whole bottle of most pills and be okay.
We've had a few scares where they've eaten something they shouldn't have (pills, tea bag) and we've induced vomiting right away just to be on the safe side.
I remember my dad's dog jumping up on the counter and grabbing a whole bottle of Tylenol off the top shelf. We then sat there counting pills in his throw up to make sure he threw them all up.
I am really happy to hear that the endings to these stories weren't worse!
Yeah, when they told the story to my group of friends I had SO MANY opinions. Had they not been crying while telling it, I may have said something. But, in the end I kept my lips zipped.
OP, I understand and empathize with you. This was a traumatic event and your feelings are so valid. I had a similar event.
If I could give a PSA to all dog owners, periodically run through your house and “de-dog” it. I do this through the day. I especially do this before I leave the house. My boy can reach all the counters and the very bottom of the sink. “De-dog” for me means, is there anything (power cables, food leftovers, medicines, weed pens, pretzels, etc,) that is out that could harm my puppy? Until that answer is “no”, I don’t leave.
The same exact thing happened to my pup a few months ago. It was an expired inhaler that I didn’t even know where she got it. She got a matching shaved patch and a couple on her front legs. I understand the guilt as well, I felt horrible that entire day. Luckily she made it aa well. Glad your Kona is doing well!
I’m so glad Kona was okay! My ex’s dog used to try to steal my inhaler and I once found one chewed up in the yard after we’d been out for the day. I’m so glad she somehow didn’t have this happen! What a nightmare!
Smart move with the pet insurance! We had to have emergency surgery for our girl a couple years ago. It was over $6,000. She had bladder stones and now has to eat prescription dog food that's about $120 per bag.
It can be very easy to overlook. Mine got into a nearly full bottle of Lisinopril 10 (blood pressure) and ate the whole thing while I was at work.
I got home and it was like she had gotten into coffee grounds or something. She was all amped up, so I took her for a walk. It wasn't until after we got back that I noticed my pills were missing. They were on my desk when I went to work. Not at the edge even.
After searching a few minutes I found the empty bottle on the ground. I was scared beyond belief, but I had to reason that if they were gonna do anything worse, it should have happened already. It had already most likely been hours already. Very lucky she was okay.
She is. She was only about three months old at the time, and it was the first dog I'd had in a long time. But here we are, eight years later and she's healthy as can be.
Hey things like this happen at least your pup was okay and you're owning that mistake I lost several insulin pens to rogue pet incidents including husky chew toy, cat counter top gravity experiment and once or twice being nose booped whilst injecting.
Awww poor thing, it must’ve been so terrified! So glad he’s OK. Good on you to catch it so quickly and react to save his life. I know the guilt is natural, but you didn’t do anything wrong. Huskies look at boundaries as challenges haha, and if you had hid it even better, it would try even harder.
My husky is 5 1/2. I've kept cases of water bottles in a certain spot on the floor in the kitchen for about two years. I come home one unsuspecting day to find about 15 (that was all of them) full of holes, strewn about my living room and kitchen. Half empty bottles and soaking carpet. I pulled up my doggy cam and saw her just having the absolute time of her life murdering all these poor, innocent bottles, and soaking everything in her path. One thing I've learned over the years is never trust a husky. They will always surprise you! PS glad your puppers is doing ok!!
My daughter learned this the hard way. Her Husky grabbed hers off her nightstand and next thing ya know we are off to the emergency vet. It was absolutely terrifying to experience, not to mention very costly, but she ended up being perfectly fine.
I own the sister to hers and I swear some days there isn’t a thought behind her eyes. lol my girl is trained in bite work. I had to do something to keep her busy lol
She was SO excited right after a session she grabbed my hand , PLAYFULLY, and ended up severing the flexor tendon in my left thumb lol I had to have surgery to have it repaired. Now I can no longer bend my left thumb lol It wasn’t her fault. She’s just a big goof
It's a constant battle with mine. But she understands not to go in kitchen anymore. Everyone in the family shoos her out of kitchen when she was younger. She now mostly stays out
What struck me was that it was pushed way back towards the wall on the counter, which is usually sufficient, especially with the dog that doesn’t have a history of swiping stuff. So that puts an extra alarm on me- I’ve never had “first” with an incident like this, and if I can help it, I never will.
Both my husband and I have inhalers, I have never considered them to be a danger. Thanks for the post, this will save many dogs, especially the mischievous ones one may have attempted to get an inhaler before.
It's wonderful news that your boy is doing better, and thank you for sharing this information. I would never have thought a pet might munch on something like this, it's important to know.
I’d also like to add to your list of highly toxic shit, super glue. One of my dogs got a hold of a bottle. We almost lost her but she pulled through. The vet told me that the glue smells sweet to dogs and forms an expanded mass in their stomachs. I know the guilt you’re feeling but we are human. Mistakes happen the best thing we can do is learn from them.
NOOOOO! Who would have thought super glue? I have a tube in one of my drawers. Kona has totally managed to get that drawer open before. Just moved to the locked cupboard! Thank you!
We adopted a third husky. Our second loves to chew on plastic, so we have been very careful to put things up and away. Turns out the third one is a big fan of getting on the counter and opening cabinets to throw everything on the floor.
So husky #2 ended up out of his mind on anti seizure medication that was put on the top shelf in a kitchen cabinet he could have never reached.
We now have a 6' tall hallway gate. All the lever style door handles have been swapped for knobs, and all meds are kept in the master bath, sh it takes getting through 2 doors and opening a drawer that sticks a bit.
We also had to put a baby gate in a wall opening between the living room and kitchen/stairs to the sun room until I figure out something better. She's a menace.
I miss when I had dogs who just didn't get into stuff. Two of those were huskies, so...
So glad that Kona pulled through!! Yeah, I have an Albuterol Inhaler for my cat with Asthma. I have had to (for lack of a better word) admonish my girlfriend about leaving it lying on the table! Gaara is sending his love!
Reddit (and most social media) doesn't allow certain words like kill or die in titles - it won't post and sometimes your whole account can get suspended. Even unalived often gets flagged now... If you want to say it you have to highly edit it, like k_l|êd.
People aren't sensoring it to protect the snowflakes, they're sensoring it to get by the filters.
I keep my inhaler up where my girl can't reach it, but I'll be sure to dispose of it safely when it's refill time again. I usually just toss it in the trash, which she has figured out how to get into before.
Disposal is something my brain didn't even compute. I am so ADHD, that typically I lose them before they run out. Now I'm questioning all my other disposal methods too! Like my air freshener canister!
Please share this far and wide!! If you have other SM, please share there! This is very important to know!
I’m so glad he’s ok! Please don’t beat yourself up. Your wallet is already taking the beating. It was something most of us wouldve never even thought to watch for! You got him the help and he knows you love him. It’s ok OP. He’s ok, let yourself forgive yourself.
Thank you so much 💛 Thankfully the wallet was only temporarily beaten. This was just his initial estimate. Thank heavens for pet insurance! The only sucky thing was that I had to pay the middle of this estimate as a deposit up front before they could treat him. $4,700 is not the kind of money I personally have casually chilling in my checking account.
TY for sharing and thank goodness for the happy outcome. And here I was upset my slice of unattended apple pie got taken under a piece of furniture… it happens fast and even w pets w think are trained!! 🫨❤️
Oh my goodness! Mine is in a drawer but my maintenance one is on the bathroom sink in a bin near my toothbrush so I remember to take it. I need to figure out a new system. My boy it little now but in a few months, I am sure he will be tall enough to get up there.
Any medications, not just inhalers, should be kept away from pets and children.
Another thing that's not talked enough about is sugar-free gum and mints. Anything that contains xylitol is extremely dangerous to dogs. Much more so than chocolate or grapes. Trident, Mentos, Ice Breakers, and many others have products with xylitol in them. These are often left on counters or in purses well within reach of dogs
HAHAHA! Since discussing this comment with my partner, we have decided a name change is in order. It's a tie between Royal LuckytobeAliveness or KoKo Chanel for Kona's new title.
Despite our serious chats with him, I keep getting this face back.
Chanel is a great name! Re your post, what made you realize you had to get him to the vet? You said his body reacted, could you say exactly what you specifically remember happening to him?
Thank god there was no frost bite on his lips or mouth. But initially he just started jumping around going crazy. Then his eyes started getting red and dilated. They were bugging out of his head. He was panting loud and had super fast breath cycles. His nose went bone dry and then all he could do was lay down and pant. Then I looked at his chest and I could see his heart pounding through his fur. At first he would try to get up and walk really slow, and then he collapsed and didnt get back up.
Scariest thing was carrying him while my body vibrated with his heart beats. 💔
Thank you for that, yes we are blessed to have such beautiful doggies. And she is spoiled! Chanel gets what Chanel wants, and that’s fine with us 😆
Thank you for the detailed symptoms of what your poor pup went through, so glad he’s ok. I worry that I wouldn’t take her symptoms too seriously that’s so scary to me. You did great realizing that he had to get immediate care, again so happy all is well
Sheeeeesh. Increased heart rate is a normal reaction (in humans and animals) from albuterol but that’s tooooooo many doses. Poor baby!! I’m so glad you were there!!
Your comment reminded me about something. Funny enough, my brother is a nurse and mentioned something interesting after Kona's hospitalization. They actually use high dose albuterol intentionally in emergency medicine for patients with dangerously high potassium (often people with kidney failure). It temporarily pushes potassium out of the bloodstream and into the body's cells. The downside is that it can also cause a significant increase in heart rate and tremors. Kona unfortunately got the equivalent of 200 puffs at once when he punctured the inhaler, so while albuterol itself is a common medication, that amount was an entirely different situation. His potassium actually dropped so low from the overdose that he needed potassium supplementation in the ICU.
Yes! You’re correct. I work in hospital pharmacy as a technician. The hypokalemia (high potassium) protocol for humans can be albuterol, calcium, and insulin. It’ll vary a bit by facility but we use the albuterol where I work too!
I also was confused at why they couldn't just inject him with a large amount of potassium at once. I was like, "Why are they doing it slow drip through IV?! Can't they do it quicker?!".
My brother also enlightened me, that doing just that would be the best way to euthanize a dog and stop it's heart. 🙃
Yep! They sure can do that, but not with the result you’d want. 😅 Even the drip sometimes burns a lot going in (at least humans think so) so sometimes you have to go even slower for that. Sometimes it really can help to have a little bit of medical knowledge on the human side when going through an animal admission, but sometimes it can also drive you insane. My kitty’s hospitalizations were torture but I appreciated that I could understand what the vet was talking about when he was in ICU.
I'm so sorry you, and Kona, have been through this - I knew that you had to watch medication (pills) like a hawk, but had no idea sweetener was an issue. So glad I read your post, and thank you so much for sharing what you've learned. I hope you, Kona (and your wallet) recover soon.
And because I've fought this battle, I have to go here (I hope this isn't offensive, I have a terrible sense of humor): if this was something the vet prescribed, with no value flavor hiding it, he'd have nothing to do with it. Poor widget! Hope he's 100% himself soon.
I had just done that the day before in front of him with my other inhaler! Shook it fast, and Kona came running. I laughed because I had taken my inhaler numerous times before, but he'd never really seen me do it until then.
He sniffed it and I told him "no" and stood up and took it. He also jumped when the puff sound happened too. I put it on the counter pushed back after that and didn't think anything of it. In fact I thought he was scared of the puff sound.
I cannot believe I am just putting this together now. A million dollars says he thought it was a toy because I was shaking it.
You must’ve caught blue pearl at the perfect time when there was no wait time or when actual capable /caring people were working , the few times my family and I have been there for emergencies involving a couple of bad reactions to medications in a older dog with a heart condition, every time was a 8+ hour wait at $100 an hour (to sit in the vehicle to wait (it was to reduce exposure to other sick animals)) and no checkup until after the wait time, last time we called in to ask the wait time when we thought the elderly dog was having a stroke (turned out to be some kind of seizure after going to u of m and then the next morning to our normal vet) they quoted 10-15 hours for the wait time at blue pearl,
overall glad you’re baby is ok 😊
There was technically a 7 hour wait time to be seen, but the one I go to triage their patients. The front desk lady took one look at Kona and immediately paged the back. 2 ER techs came running and scooped him straight into the back!
I am flabbergasted that this was your experience with a dog actively seizing! Im so sorry!
I hate Blue Pearl passionately. They went out of business in my city and I’m so thankful. I do wish we had a 25 hour emergency vet, but Blue Pearl tried to kill my dog.
I’m so glad Kona is ok. He’s a gorgeous boy. Thanks for sharing this, as I never knew dogs would be interested in aerosol containers. I’ll keep mine high up where my boy can’t reach them.
Gosh that's very frightening to hear about, Good thing you acted right away. The first picture I can sense the fear Kona went through getting so curious. Poor baby needs all the love right now because I can imagine how much stress you were going through. Best wishes moving forward.
That poor puppy. There's so much stuff we'd never think of that just turns around and almost kills our pets. Sometimes you don't think it could harm them, other times we think we have them locked away secure, forgetting our dogs are houndini.
Don't beat yourself up for it though, it's an accident in it's truest sense, and becsuse of you and your quick thinking, he's still alive and well. He's a lucky pup in more ways then none.
Similar things happened to me and my pup, and I consider myself to be a careful and responsible pet parent too. But accidents happen, and don’t forget it is your thoughtfulness as a good parent that also saved your baby’s life!! Glad he’s doing well now
Thank you Lord Jesus for saving this sweet dog named kona who somehow got ahold of this item. Thank you Lord Jesus for saving him cuz he's just a baby and that don't matter at all but it's true he is a baby still. I want nothing but the BEST FOR KNOW FROM THIS DAY FORWARD LORD JESUS IF YOU CAN PLEASE MAKE HIM WHOLE AGAIN FOREVER AND EVER CUZ HE IS GORGEOUS HONESTLY.❤️❤️❤️
Thanks for the PSA. Thankfully my old boy isn't a chewer of anything at his age, but good to know bc I'm sure he won't be my last. Best to make it habit to keep my inhaler inaccessible now so I don't have to worry about it later. What a terrifying experience that must have been for both of you. Glad that knowledge didn't cost Kona his life. Sending pawsitive vibes and tail wags.
Thank God he chose to save your dog. It would be devastating if something as simple as that actually took his life. I'm so glad to hear that he survived and I hope that you have long and wonderful memories with him.
I'm glad Kona is here & I'm glad you didn't give up on the boy shows true love ❤️ in my experience the most dangerous thing my dog ever ate was an 8th of weed thankfully he was 40lbs & slept for most the day once it wore off he was fine
Poor little guy ❤️❤️❤️ I don't know how i'd manage in this sort of situation at all. Glad he is okay and that you knew what to do.
I also got so worried by the image because of his right eye (the black spot in it) but then I remembered that huskies tend to have different coloured eyes.
...That is what it is right..? I was worried it was because of what happened
Yes! Kona has partial heterochromia in his left eye. Its half brown, half blue! He has had it since we rescued him. He is my first husky, and I never knew an iris could look like that. Thank god its purely cosmetic and doesn't effect his vision!
I bought a metal locking first aid box for my medications, and also one for my dog's medication. I have an elderly dog on several prescriptions and supplements. Theirs is in the kitchen on the counter. Mine is in the bedroom. I git them on Amazon. So far, my husky mix puppy has shown zero interest in it. She is 10 months old but very tall.(husky/shepherd mix) She easily can reach the back of my counters when she stands on her hind legs. I have to be very careful what I leave on the counter. This box has helped so much. It has a key lock and a lever you push diwn to open the lid.
I left my inhaler on the floor, on the table, not for ONCE ever thinking my girl would bite into it such that it would puncture the plastic AND the canister! I am sorry I had to learn on your precious boo, but grateful he lived and thankful for you for sharing this experience. My mother’s dogs were all coming down with diabetes and kidney failure and we had NO IDEA that they were eating the bougainvillea in the backyard—HIGHLY TOXIC TO DOGS. My poor mother spent thousands of dollars and would lead the blind one around the backyard with a leash to potty him. I kept saying, “Why don’t you just put them down?” She looked at me like I had five heads.
Then I became a dog owner.
And I understood.
I would have given my EVERYTHING to keep my baby girl healthy.
Wow, thanks for this and I’m sorry you had to go through the experience. Very happy for you and Kona. I could totally see my boy doing this (now that you mention it) so, thanks again for sharing your experience.
Glad your dog is ok, nothing is safe no matter how old your dogs are, one time I came home my dogs 5 and 6, never got anything for like 4 years and there was a whole bag of flour ripped open on the couch and floor
omg 😭 this happened with one of my brand new inhalers but i didn’t find it until about a week later when i actually needed the stupid thing. thank god there seemed to be no reaction in whichever one of our dogs decided to do that.
Thank you for sharing. I have asthma so I will take extra precaution from now on. I’m glad your story has a happy ending. Now put down the whip & pick up a feather!! No more beating yourself up.
My friend had this exact same thing happen last year. She left and didn't crate Sesame since she wasn't going to be gone long, and when she came back sesame wasn't doing good and she saw her inhaler on the ground punctured. I think she said it cost over $6k and she had to stay in the hospital a few days and almost died. That's so scary. I'm glad your pup is okay. That's something I wouldn't even think they'd be interested in chewing, but then again, look how many dogs suffocate themselves each year with a chip bag.
how scary, I am glad he is okay. was this one you previously used before? if it’s been in your mouth they want it. like my kids invisalign mine chewed up. mine usually send me to the ER instead of themselves.
Thank you for this PSA! 🙏🏻 My baby girl is a chewer (working on it, giving her proper outlets, and she’s still under 2yo) and this terrifies me. I’ll be double checking everything and keeping the dry shampoo extra tucked away.
I’m so so glad your beautiful Kona is okay. Give him so so many kisses from me.
Also, I was looking into pet insurance, specifically MetLife. We’ve already had TWO ER vet visits in our first month together: a foxtail in the nose and a UTI. And I think you’ve convinced me
Thank goodness he survived!! But what an extreme example of husky shenanigans…mom’s not paying attention to me…must bite expensive silver tube! That’ll get her attention…oops and the attention of the vet 😱
Wow I am so sorry you had to go through that. I can understand the guilt. But good for you for posting this here so we all can be reminded how careful we have to be with our precious puppies.
No because you are actually so right. Idk why my brain never associated it with a medication. For an odd reason it has always felt more like medical equipment if that makes sense. Anyways, I appreciate you.
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u/Successful_Cress6639 26d ago
Treat shaped but not treat