I believe the angels were watching over myself and my pets. I had wakened in the night with a crushing headache plus feeling nauseated. Jasper and Teddy were sleeping peacefully. The cat was heaving her dinner up. Cleaning that up, I took something for the headache then went back to bed.

Later I woke up to hear both dogs vomiting. When I stood my head reeled with dizziness. I found it really hard to concentrate. It felt like someone was banging on my head with a huge hammer. The cat walked into the room, acting as if she was drunk. She was drooling and with my fuzzy thinking, I knew that wasn’t right. All I wanted to do was get back into bed, sure that I had just picked up some sort of bug. Fighting an almost over whelming sleepiness, I remembered the dogs needed attention.

When I picked up Jasper, it hit me how sick he was. He was awake but limp. It dawned on me that something was very wrong. Even now, that the fright is over I am stunned by how difficult it was to think clearly. The idea came to me so slowly that the gas heater was the reason we were feeling so horrible. The heater is just a small one, all winter it has been warming the house without any problems.

Once I managed to get a clear thought running through my mind, I realized I had to get my pets out of the house then call for help. Jasper was first, I put him into the van parked close to the house. I carried Teddy out next, he was limp but breathing. I had to hunt for the cat, finally dug her out of a closet. Once the pets were out, I threw open the door and windows, and called for help. I had just put a new carbon monoxide detector in the house, it didn’t go off.

Thinking back, Jasper has been off his food for a few weeks. My new dog Teddy has been slow to react to his surroundings, I thought he was depressed. All of us were taking naps, every chance I had I was nodding off. The doctor was treating me with prescription eye drops for dry eyes. Burning eyes are a symptom of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Within minutes help arrived. Tears rolled down my face while I watched the dogs and cat receiving gentle care, having oxygen masks held so they could breathe pure, sweet, clean air. Miss kitty stopped breathing, but a few chest compressions helped. She sat up looking blearily around.

We were lucky, very lucky. The gas heater had a tiny leak. Over time the animals and I were all showing the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. Today I put two more in the house, after asking the fire department to check them for me first. The pets were taken to the animal clinic where they spent the night. Blood tests were taken from all three. They were released this morning, looking more like their old selves. Today we’ll just rest. And I’ll count our blessings!

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