April 16, 2003
Bah Humbug.
Note the expression on her face - this pretty much sums up her entire week.
9:30 a.m.
Well, she seems a bit better this morning.
Last night at bedtime, she continued to have diarrhea until there was nothing left in her system, then she would just squat with nothing coming out.
I woke up at 2:00 a.m. to take Dusty out and she peed, then made it clear that she was ready to go in (an interesting note: there were still people out in the park at that hour and the temperature was around 10C).
This morning, she peed at 7:00 a.m. and again when we went to the dog park.
She seemed like she was feeling much better! She ran around and played with the other dogs and even though she took some breaks to rest, she was obviously in better spirits.
Something odd happened in the park - another dog owner questioned me sharply about why I had brought Dusty to the park if she was sick. She wasn't concerned for Dusty's welfare, either - she just thought that I should have Dusty under quarantine (?!).
The other dog people just shook their heads - with the exception of Kennel Cough, sick dogs generally aren't contagious. Dusty's problem is either something she ate or an internal parasite. I think people are internalising the SARS thing WAY too much.
And maybe something about the full moon brings the crazies out in people!
2:30 p.m.
Howdy, folks. Thanks for tuning in to the canine world's answer to reality TV: "What's travelling through the puppy's intestines?"
Good news! We have a Big Winner! But first, let's review the contestants.
- 1) First, there's 'Puppy ate something she shouldn't have'. Always a favourite!
2) Another popular option is 'Intestinal parasites' and it's a good choice, considering the time of year and the recent warm weather.
3) And finally, we have a new contender: 'Bad Dogfood.' That's not 'food for bad dogs' but 'dog food that's gone bad.' (I don't keep the bag of Wellness puppy food in the freezer and apparently I should be. Good to know.)
But enough of that. Let's announce the winner.
The winner is (drumroll please...):
PUPPY ATE SOMETHING SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE!
She ate (brace yourself for this)...a pillow.
Yup, the culprit was indeed 'pillow fluff.' Okay, before you all think that my apartment is just one giant mass of pillows waiting to be eaten by my puppy, let me emphasize that this is the same pillow she ate last week. Apparently it takes this long for pillow fluff to travel through puppy intestines.
How do I know that pillow fluff was the cause of my puppies diarrhea? I know because after 24 hours of fasting and 1/3 cup of dog food, my puppy happily squatted in the middle of the dog park and started pooing. And pooing. And pooing. And she wasn't pooing poo - she was pooing pillow fluff.
WARNING: Those of you who are squeamish can just bail now, because this post is about to get really gross.
In fact, it got to the point where she couldn't really push it out anymore. That's where it really got fun. This is the part where I had to catch the pillowfluff-turd with a plastic bag and then start pulling. Yes, pulling.
Really, I had thought it was humilating enough when I had to crawl across ice on my hands and knees in the freezing rain to collect dog poo, but this trumps it. This morning, I had to squat on the ground with my dog, hold her bum down with one hand while pulling pillow fluff from her anus with the other.
Folks, if this isn't love, I don't know what is.
But it gets better. Because this wasn't a small job. She kept pushing and I kept pulling and the pillowfluff-turd kept coming. Every so often, Dusty would look back at me with an anguished expression that said "What are you doing with my anus, you EVIL, SADISTIC PERSON." I kept pulling.
By this time, we were attracting some attention - in fact, a few very strange looks, since we were doing this in broad daylight in the middle of a popular city park. I kept pulling.
Do you know the circus act where all the clowns keep coming out of the Volkwagon? And they keep coming and coming and coming? Get the picture?
When I finished, I had pulled 20 centimetres (that's 8 inches, Mom!) of pillowfluff-turd from my puppy's anus. When I was through, she sat down and looked at me expectantly. Her look said: "Where's my treat?" Nothing, and I mean *nothing*, affects this dog's appetite.
(and yes, I'm saying happy prayers to the Intestine Gods today. I'm very lucky that this pillowfluff-turd did not turn into an intestinal blockage that could have sent Dusty to the Vet or worse. And I'll be on pins and needles until Dusty's bowels normalize. Come to think of it, I spend a lot of time thinking about her bowels. I can't wait until she grows up.)
4:00 p.m.
A few additional notes:
1) Yes, you're not mistaken. I *did* give the pup a bath today. Talk about adding insult to injury!
2) I don't know how I'll break the news of Dusty's affliction to the Paranoid Woman in the dog park. If a sudden plague of 'pillow-eating' afflicts our neighbourhood dog population, I just know she's going to be pointing a finger at me.
3) As bad as the pillowfluff-turd pulling incident was, it was infinitely preferable to my former job.
4) Did I mention that it's my birthday today?