Tuesday evening, as usual I fed the dogs their supper. As I often can’t tell by touch which food dish is whose once I scoop in each dogs ration, especially boarding dogs, I have a system where we keep the dog food. Which dog’s food is kept where in the closet, when I fill the dishes I stack them in a set order, carry them to the kitchen, unstack them in a specific way to place them in a line on the counter to then add water, supplements, medications, etc as each dog in my care needs for that meal. I then have an order the dogs get fed in and where so to ensure each dog gets the correct meal.
Tuesday evening I must have screwed up.
As 2 hours later, and then every 2 hours like clockwork through the night, Tom got me up sick with raging diarrhea. Poor guy. He usually has a rather solid digestion, so only thing I can figure is I accidentally swapped his and the boarding dog’s food. Which based on smell and feel, is definitely not like Tom’s usual diet. The boarding dog had no such constitutional issues with the mix up.
In the morning when it was light enough out to tell, I realized it wasn’t just raging diarrhea but bloody diarrhea. Poor Tommy dog. Gastroenteritis to a T.
I did a close over of him, looking to assess was this something I needed to ring the vet about or could I do at home supportive care to further assess before deciding if vet intervention was necessary. He was clearly not feeling too hot, but wasn’t vomiting, was social, was up and walking around, was nosing around for food and was upset when I refused to give him any, and was willing to drink the half bowl of water I gave him with 3 pieces of kibble and some slippery elm floating in it to entice. As additional back up I did call my vet tech friend, she agreed probably ok to take a wait and see supportive care approach.
So that’s what we did. A couple bowls of water throughout the day to keep him hydrated. Some slippery elm to help his poor tummy. A trip to the chiropractor for an already scheduled appointment helped as well.
By afternoon he was feeling right as rain. Confused why dinner was more water with scant countable number of kibble. He thought that was a cheap trick!
This morning began his next few meals of bland diet. Which Tom approves of. He would like you all to know, he is better and feels I should put him back on full rations. I’m glad he’s feeling better. Really glad. But small meals are on the menu until I’m sure his GI system is back to normal. Fingers crossed.
Hope all is well
So far so good today 🙂
Aww, so glad he is feeling much better. 🙂 xxx
Me too! So sad when he’s not feeling good. Though he’s the only dog I’ve ever had who asks to go out so politely even when it’s urgent. Each time he gently snuffled his head against my sleeping arm until I woke up realizing I was petting him. He’s such a sweet boy.
That’s so cute of him. Brock sits by the table where his lead is until one of us notices. Xxx
Awe good boy!
I always feel so bad when a dog is sick. Like, just give it to me, I’ll be sick for you so you don’t have to.
When Brèagha was around 12 weeks old, she got giardia. I was soooooo terrified it was parvo, and I think it was one of the scariest moments of my life waiting for the parvo test. But there it was, negative, and soon she was all back to normal. They are resilient creatures.
I hear you. And parvo, the idea of parvo even, is so so so scary. Glad if it had to be something it was giardia and not parvo (though giardia is no picnic either!) Yes they are resilient, thank goodness!