Thursday, May 5, 2016

Elbow Deep in Dog Vomit

Airlie had a bout of tummy troubles this week. I noticed she seemed to be feeling "off" after Kansas killed a squirrel. I thought maybe she had had more of an active role in that event, but she spent the rest of that day, and the next, snapping at Kal whenever he would want to play with her. At 4:30pm on Tuesday, she threw up, which is unusual for her, unless she's in the car, or it's the middle of the night and she's spent the day chewing on sticks.

Looking for the culprit, I fished out a two-inch piece of banana.Apparently DH had given it to her while I was out running for a mere 15 minutes. We do share our bananas with the dogs, but I only ever give them a 1/4-inch slice. DH gives away entire thirds of his banana. I thought it was just too large of a piece, sitting in her stomach on top of her 2pm meal, after running around in with the other dogs. It wasn't hot out, but it was warm enough maybe she'd just been too active and the banana was the last straw.

I also noted the 1/3 of an orange segment I'd shared with her at 1:00. She seems to enjoy fruits and vegetables and always wants to try whatever you're having, even if it's something like oranges, when dogs aren't supposed to like citrus.

Yesterday's piece of orange was partially digested in the mess, too.

As were a few tiny (as in smaller than my pinky finger) strips of soggy rawhide, on which they'd had their daily chaw at 1pm. Nothing unusual. I supervise the chewing, take them away after 10 minutes, and only buy the really hard, durable ones that take a long time to even get soft enough to remove pieces from. We've never had an issue.

A handful of mulberries that had fallen from the neighbor's tree and been scavenged.

She's funny. Ever since the car-anxiety travel sickness days of her puppyhood, she comes and "tells" me when she's going to be sick.

I'd been lying on the patio, after my run, doing some stretches, and she came over to lay beside me, then got up to puke.

She did the same thing five hours later, at 9:30pm. Leaving her crate to come get in bed with me, and then make a mad dash down the hall for the back door.

This time, something suspicious in the puddle. Honestly, to me, it looked like a somewhat rubbery half of a used-to-be-rolled-up corn tortilla. The thickness, texture and color, anyway.

DH insists it's rawhide, but it just doesn't resemble what we give her, including the bits she threw up earlier.

I argue that it isn't, because I started her on a brand-new roll on Monday, and it's not chewed down enough to equal the amount in the vomit, and that she hasn't had any other rawhide except for the end of the last piece on Friday night.

DH is still insisting it's rawhide and is now on the "don't give them that, anymore" bandwagon.

If it is, it still doesn't resemble what we buy, but there's really nowhere else she would have gotten any. It's possible it's been in there since Friday, and that's why she's been feeling bad.

She puked again at 2:30am, another 5 hours later, and that seemed to be the last of the pieces.

I do know that, Tuesday morning, she ate her fold slowly, actually chewing it, which she never does. I noted that she, usually the first to clean her bowl, was still eating long after she'd normally have finished.

She seemed fine Wednesday morning, back to her usual self, ears perking up at the  mention of breakfast. She ate, albeit VERY slowly, chewing each bite. But then she drank water twice, and used the bathroom ok.

After that, however, she seemed to take a turn at feeling puny again, and had me worried. But the food stayed down and, and hour-and-one-half later she was acting interested in the empty milk jug I'd given Kal to play with,and perked up when I got out his leash to take him on a walk (I'd already decided she would be taking the day off from her usual activities). She did fine the rest of the day, getting more interested in playing with Kal and running around doing her usual things. She seems fine today.

I'm glad, because I've had my fill of dealing with sick animals nonstop for the past 6 months.

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