Maeve and the Grapes

Maeve developed a thing for grapes and - unbeknown to us - was pigging out on the grapes that provide shade for our deck. In late August of 2001 her kidneys went into complete renal shutdown from tannin toxicity.

Without the timely intervention of the veterinarians at Washington State University who determined quickly that dialysis was needed and arranged for us to go to University of California at Davis to the vet school and Dr. Cowgill’s animal nephrology center. We chartered a small plane and pilot (the pilot’s son rode second seat) and flew directly to the little airport at UC Davis catheters in place and all.

There a really nice nut farmer drove us in his really new leather upholstered Ford SUV to the vet school and helped me get her inside as she could hardly walk. There the Small Animal ICU went into action and it was a treat to watch - they were so sweet to Maeve who was so sick.