tip: don't step in round-up

We had a bit of excitement today. See, when we got up this morning, we discovered a mysterious water puddle on the front porch floor. We both had busy days so we figured we'd clean up the porch this evening and figure out where the water came from.

Well, this evening we discovered the puddle isn't water but Round-up. The source: a previously half-full, now empty gallon jug of Round-up which had sprung a small leak. Aie! Some of it ran off into the hydrangea bed, and much worse, the dogs might have stepped in it on their way outside.

I allowed myself about five seconds of panic, then looked up the phone number of animal poison control. They charge $50 per call, so I called human poison control instead. I told them that my dogs and I had both stepped in it because I was afraid if I said just my dogs, they'd just refer me to animal poison control.

The woman I talked to at poison control was great. She had me look up the exact product, then told me that it could cause contact dermatitis. I said my feet weren't irritated, and she told me to irrigate my feet (not soak, rinse with clean water) for about 15 minutes, and do the same for the dogs.

I asked what symptoms I should look for if the dogs have licked their feet. The woman said Round-up was an irritant, and could cause vomiting and excess drooling. But she didn't have complete information on dogs, so she suggested animal poison control if the dogs show any symptoms. She mentioned the fee but said it's worth it because they have all the information.

I put each of the dogs (one at a time of course) in the bathtub and ran the water until it covered their feet, then let it drain off. Repeated that a few times while giving them baths, which they needed anyway. I'm not sure they even stepped in the Round-up at all, but you can't be too careful.

While I was bathing the dogs, Georg mopped up the Round-up. Now we're both feeling a combination of wiped out and freaked out, as Georg put it. The dogs seem fine, but I'm really glad we don't have plans tonight. If we did, I'd cancel them to stay home and watch the dogs for signs of poisoning.

I haven't even thought about the hydrangea bed. First of all because the dogs were the priority of course. And secondly because there's nothing much we can do about the hydrangeas, except hope that since they're still so small and the Round-up leak was also small, it didn't reach too many of their roots.