Pathetic, Sick, DISGUSTING, Doggie

[mbc1963]

Yesterday, in the woods, my dog "disappeared" for a few minutes. That always means he's either playing with a special friend, rolling in poop, or eating something disgusting. This time, he was eating something that was buried underneath a couple inches of leaves. Not even close to being recent. Ugh.

 

So, I came home from work today and got ready to walk the dog, as I always do. Only, he wouldn't touch his supper. Very strange. We went out, and as soon as he was free he was sick sick sick with diarrhea. Come home, and he revealed to me two piles of vomit and another pile of loose stool scattered about the house. I have to say - in the loose stool I could actually SMELL the remains of whatever dead thing he had dug up from the ground and eaten.

 

And NOW he's happy, lively, and starving. No wonder; he seems to have evacuated 1.5 days' worth of food to purge whatever that was he ate.

 

Ugh.

 

Is this enough reason to take a personal day tomorrow? I don't have babies who get diarrhea like all my coworkers.

 

Mary

[Barb Scott]

HE IS YOUR BABY! Take a personal day tomorrow!

Barb S

[mbc1963]

Bleah. Twenty-four hours later, still a sick puppy. Diarrhea has blood in it. I brought him to the vet; he gave us metronidazole. I'm hoping it settles the tummy. I was up at 1:00 a.m. last night and just about every 15 minutes afterwards - the poor boy must be cramping, so he feels like he needs to go outside. He's only producing maybe every fourth trip out. The rest of the time, he just looks incredibly uncomfortable, squatting with no purpose.

 

I'm guessing that the thing Buddy ate in the park Sunday was a dead rodent or bird? The vet gave us a single treatment of Drontal (tapeworm med) as well as the metronidazole. My question is, will giving him the worm medicine upset his digestive system more? I'd hate to add yet one more irritant to an inflamed colon. But if the worm medicine is relatively side-effect free, I'll dose ASAP.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Mary

[Barb Scott]

Isn't metronidazole flagyl? My vet used to give it for giardia and now gives panacur!

If you're not sure about the meds, I'd say trust your vet. But then, if I thought I was seriously ill, I'd go to my vet for a second opinion!

Barb S

[powerfulgazelle]

metronidazole = Flagyl. Our vet has given Sol Flagyl + Panacur or Drontal over the last year for his intermittent, mystery GI issues. (Yes, he was wormy when he came from the shelter.)

 

Then, it seemed that mysterious star alignments were responsible...honestly, we had tried all sorts of things/food changes.

 

The magic cure? Canned pumpkin and plain/live culture yogurt with every meal. I am not sure Sol's issues were necessarily infectious, now that we have found The Magic Cure.

 

Hope your pupster feels better soon.

[in2adventure]

Flagyl is fine for infections, but with blood in his pooh, he really needs to be on some Dex to help with the inflamation. His system has to be REALLY irritated with that much diahrea

 

You can give him Pepto a couple times a day to help slow the diahrea down. Whole canned pumpkin or oatmeal works really well. Oatmeal is my favorite to use and the dogs love it. I always have it on hand anyway. You also might want to consider some plain yogurt after his system starts to settle down. It will help get the good bacteria rolling again.

 

I hope the poor guy feels better soon.

 

edit: I forgot to add to give the wormer. It shouldn't cause any issues and if he ate something that was rotting, I have no doubt he ate worms too

[mbc1963]

Thanks for the advice, folks. Yup, metronidazole is flagyl. Doctor says it not only treats infections (giardia, etc.) but acts as an antiinflammatory on the digestive system. I didn't feed Buddy last night, and gave the first pill. Some diarrhea throughout the night (sleepless one again for me!), and then after 3 a.m., no more. He hasn't had any since. I gave him a little bit of rice cooked in chicken broth this evening, and he seems to be holding it down fine. The vet called and said there were no signs of parasites in the sample I brought in, but I'll give the worming meds, too. I just want to wait until Saturday - just in case it causes another shake-up of the dog's digestive system. (I really need some sleep!)

 

Incidental Dog Behavior Observation:

 

My dog doesn't poop in my yard. Ever. He just won't dirty his own area. Throughout the two nights of diarrhea, I was letting him go out in the yard when he was letting me know he was very uncomfortable. But he'd just stay out there, squatting and pacing, and also barking at random cats and noises. (Not good for the neighbors.) He was sniffing like crazy, all around the yard. I'd let him in, and he'd ask to go out again, right away.

 

Last night, to spare the neighbors getting fed up and calling the police, I took the dog out for a short neighborhood walk at 11:00 and 2:30, when he seemed frantic for relief. Both times, he kept his nose to the ground, seemingly desperate to find a whiff of some other dog's feces. When he did, he was able to relieve himself. And then I was able to get a couple hours sleep.

 

I've always thought dogs sniffed out a "used" area of ground because they liked to use their poop as a marker or some sort - liked to go where another dog had gone. But after the last few nights, I'm thinking that the scent actually serves as some sort of intestinal trigger - a neural connection that makes dogs defecate where others have gone. (Could be both: an evolutionary behavior that served a purpose in the wild, to such an extent that evolution favored a bodily reflex that encouraged the behavior?)

 

I think there are certain smells that cause similar triggers in humans. Won't go into more details. Interesting to think about as a "ghost" reflex, a shadow of our evolution, though.

 

Mary

[Barb Scott]

I'm glad your dog doesn't show parasites, but...why would you take a dog who was sick into your neighborhood to relieve itself? (If your dog had to stay in your yard until he pooped, he would eventually.)

Barb S

[nancy]

Barb,

 

Some of us don't have fenced yards. I cannot fence mine - it's an acre of woods. I'd have to cut down the trees to be able to put up a fence. Daytime, Fergie can go wandering until she's ready to poop. But not in the dark. She might decide on an adventure. And that could mean stinky diarrhea by a neighbor's deck.

 

And I cannot stay out with my dog until she gets desperate enough to poop wherever she is. Heck, when I board her, I don't have to pay for "walkies" because they give up every afternoon and walk her because she won't poop on concrete.

 

Of course, I don't let her poop in any of the neighbors' yards. We go for the wooded areas of our yard - on leash. Or, if necessary to get the bowels churning, to the local brier patches, the woods, and the poison ivy. I figure that the deer, possums, raccoons, feral cats, and foxes poop there.

 

Our biggest problem is when we travel. Armed to the teeth with "doggie bags", we still have to convince Ferg to poop at the edge of the dunes, at a curb, in a corner of a grassy backyard....

[Barb Scott]

Nancy, sorry if I offended you. I'm not talking about wooded areas of your property, I'm talking about what Mary wrote:

"Last night, to spare the neighbors getting fed up and calling the police, I took the dog out for a short neighborhood walk at 11:00 and 2:30,"

 

Barb S

[Laurae]

Mary, if Buddy will only poop when he smells other poop, maybe that's why he won't go in your yard (there's no pre-existing poop to lure him in, so to speak). I don't know if you actually want him to poop in your yard, but if you do, you could empty a baggie of his poop on a walk into your yard to see if it will entice him to go there...

[nancy]

Barb,

 

I wasn't offended. I just wanted to offer a possible explanation. I might take Ferg on a short neighborhood walk under the same circumstances. You'd just have to see my neighborhood.

 

Left out of the driveway is a verge and our woods. There's more woods across the street from that - used only by their dog on its morning poop and the wildlife. Right is the major part of our front woods behind its verge.

 

If Ferg needs more exercise than that for a poop, it's one house lot in either direction until we get more woods.

 

Yeah, taking your dog out in the dark to crap on someone's lawn is definitely tacky. But going out in the middle of the night in pajamas and a coat to finally get a sick dog to empty in the woods is a different thing.

 

I was just trying to say that context matters.

[mbc1963]

This is how it works in a densely populated area where I live. We put our dogs on leashes and take them into our neighborhood, where they poop on lawns. Then we clean up the poop. This is the only possible situation, and it's common in cities across the country.

 

I'm happy for all the people who live in wooded areas or have woods behind their properties that their dogs can use. I'm jealous of those whose properties are so secluded that they can leave a barking dog out in their yard at 2 a.m.., without having to worry about neighbors calling the police for disturbing the peace. And I will state in self-defense (though I'm not sure why I feel the need!) that I even brought my dog into my BASEMENT and encouraged him to poop there - with no success - before I put on my coat and boots and walked out into a snow and ice storm in the middle of the night.

 

Honestly, if you have a situation that lets you avoid what I had to do the other night, more power to you. I'm pretty sure other folks who don't live in a pastoral setting can appreciate my plight, and perhaps even squeak out some empathy.

 

(Edited to remove language that suggested ruffled feathers on my part. That's two nights with no sleep overstimulating my Internet sensitivity gauge. But really! Tacky schmacky!)

 

Mary

[Root Beer]

I've always thought dogs sniffed out a "used" area of ground because they liked to use their poop as a marker or some sort - liked to go where another dog had gone. But after the last few nights, I'm thinking that the scent actually serves as some sort of intestinal trigger - a neural connection that makes dogs defecate where others have gone. (Could be both: an evolutionary behavior that served a purpose in the wild, to such an extent that evolution favored a bodily reflex that encouraged the behavior?)

 

I've made this same observation. I've noticed that whenever any of my dogs can't "go" right away, that dog will sniff around near where one of the other dogs just "went" and that usually seems to get things moving. They all seem to know to do that and I notice it most particularly if one of them is having a particular digestive issue.

 

Just one of the random peculiarities I notice as part of life with four dogs.

[Barb Scott]

Honestly, if you have a situation that lets you avoid what I had to do the other night, more power to you. But why feel the need to question my judgment, or call me "tacky?"

What I'm saying is that if your dog is not healthy, you should not be spreading this around a neighborhood! My dogs poop in my yard (healthy or sick, night or day, winter or summer). My situation is (and has been) standing out in the dark and the cold (we're in Michigan) with a flashlight waiting for a sick BC to relieve itself; fun no! I personally cannot clean up loose poop without a hose and lots of odaban; do you carry anti-bacterial supplies with you? Sorry for being so unkind, but IMHO I feel you have no business taking a sick dog off your property.

Barb S

[mbc1963]

My dogs poop in my yard (healthy or sick, night or day, winter or summer).

 

That's great for you. My dog doesn't poop in the yard, and never has. He also never stays in the yard alone; it's not part of our life. The middle of the night, during a sick spell, was hardly the time to try to teach him.

 

Sorry for being so unkind, but IMHO I feel you have no business taking a sick dog off your property.[

 

Well, I could counter that you have no business telling me my business.

 

Instead, let me restate that if he was in my yard, he was BARKING. At 2 a.m.!

 

So, I had the choice of letting him stay out in the yard, barking - or taking him out into the neighborhood and letting him poop outside my yard. Choice #1 would have ended with the police at my door. Choice #2 has some slight possibility of creating a problem later - but I'd say the odds are pretty slim.

 

Clearly, neither choice was optimal. I did the best I could under the circumstances. I'd choose the same thing again.

 

So, what's the point - really, what's the point - of questioning me and second-guessing me?

 

Don't feel that you need to answer. It's a rhetorical question. I'm over the ruffled feathers - though likely, in my fatigue, to seesaw on that. (And I will perhaps forever bear the black scar of having been called "tacky.")

 

Mary

[Barb Scott]

Just to be clear, I wasn't the one who called you tacky... and I never said leave your dog in the yard barking!

Barb

[nancy]

I'm the one who said

Yeah, taking your dog out in the dark to crap on someone's lawn is definitely tacky.

 

So, if you take your dog out to leave "gifts" on someone's lawn, I guess you can accept that label. You deserve it.

 

But that was in the context of not cleaning up after the dog. Yes, we walk Fergie down into a more congested area. And we take bags into which to collect her poop. So, yes, she craps on someone's lawn. But we don't leave it there. If you also clean up, I applaud you.

 

However, finding a pile of dog poop under my mailbox or against - or in - my flower garden is really upsetting. Especially as we do have the woods out there, where deer, foxes, and dogs & cats are welcome to poop.

 

So, if you let your dog leave feces on other people's lawns, for whatever reason, yes, I do deem you tacky. Unless, of course, you welcome ples of dog poop all over your front lawn. Then, I guess, you get a pass.

[Barb Scott]

And, Mary, I'm wondering how to clean up loose stools in your neighbor's yard-baggy or no baggy!

Barb S

[SoloRiver]

IMHO I feel you have no business taking a sick dog off your property.

 

You have never lived in a city, have you?

[2 Devils]

I have to agree that if you have a sick dog then that dog should not be going outside your yard period. By taking your dog into someone else's yard you could be infecting someone else's dog. You are not sure what is really wrong with your dog and it is not fair for you or anyone else to possibly infect someone else's animals.

 

I am a little sensitive to this considering my toy poodle has come down with some kind of a bug twice in the last 2 months. He has not been outside my yard but I have found where other dogs have been pooping in my yard.

 

My other dogs who go places have not been sick at all. All this leads me to believe that someone has "accidently" made by poodle sick.

 

The worst part is - he was so sick he went into shock. So please rethink what you are doing by taking sick dogs out in public.

[SoloRiver]

You know what?

 

First of all, not everyone has a yard. If I lived in an apartment, what would you suggest? That my sick dog craps in the bathtub? (Actually, I bet that is exactly what you would suggest.)

 

Second of all, we all share the world with other people and dogs. Sometimes that means we have to interact with adverse things in our environment. It's the way life is.

 

I have lived in the middle of major cities with my dogs until very recently, and trust me, there was plenty of dog crap (and the occasional human crap -- I DID live in San Francisco) lying around and I am sure it was not all healthy and sterile. And you know, oddly enough, my dogs did not constantly come down with odd intestinal ailments, nor have they ever had the sorts of weird allergies and food incompatibilities that everyone else complains about their dogs having on these boards. I even raised a puppy in the middle of San Francisco with no yard, and she has never been ill at all. Not once.

 

Normal healthy dogs who are exposed to environmental challenges develop healthy immune systems.

[Barb Scott]

Mary says: This is how it works in a densely populated area where I live. We put our dogs on leashes and take them into our neighborhood, where they poop on lawns. Then we clean up the poop. This is the only possible situation, and it's common in cities across the country.

Melanie says: First of all, not everyone has a yard. If I lived in an apartment, what would you suggest?

I'm writing about Mary who lives in a densely populated area (so do I) who lets her sick dog poop on lawns and I'm totally against it! It's not her property or public property!

As for Melanie, I'm not talking about parks or other public areas; if a pet owner chooses to take a pet there, then it's their problem (also rest stops, dog parks etc.). What I am saying is that I don't think it is fair or right to take your sick dog onto someone else's lawn to poop. And I don't think you can pick up adequately after a dog with loose stools!

Barb S

[Ooky]

I don't know if it's tacky or not, but it's what we have to do here. I encourage Odin to go in our small, mostly decked yard whenever I can, and he usually does in the morning, but he often requires some exercise to get it going later in the day (or maybe scent, never thought of that).

 

I know the non-dog people in our neighborhood don't like it, but what do you do? As a neighborhood we dog-owners are pretty good about cleaning up, although obviously not with anti bacterial lawn wash (to tell you the truth I didn't even know they made such a thing). But what can you do about urine? Most of our streets have street easements, so there's the street, a little strip of grass or flowers or whatever, and then the sidewalk, and then the lawn. The easements are technically public property, but at the same time each owner is obligated to maintain their own easement. Odin is not allowed on real lawns, only the easement. One time he waited until RIGHT IN FRONT of this really no-nonsense lady watering her lawn. He peed in her easement right there in front of her as she just glowered at me. I refuse to scold my dog for doing something he has no way to know is wrong since it is what is ok at all other times. So I apologized, shrugged my shoulders like hey, what can you do? She said she would have to "rinse it out" before going in. As a plant biologist I wanted to be like, what do you have against free fertilizer (and he's male, so no pH burn or whatever supposedly happens with female dogs).

 

Anyway, mbc, I would have been right there with you at 11 pm on a weekday night, tacky or no, and also if he was sick, if he wouldn't or couldn't go in our yard. Scraping liquid crap off the grass, if necessary. It is different I guess, having a dog in the city. I expect the outside world to be filthy and disease ridden. Or not, depending on your perspective. The sun's radiation, exposure to oxygen, and time kill a lot of things, you know. The rest - well, I'll stop him from drinking and eating and rolling in gross things as much as possible but otherwise a lot of it is like Melanie said, up to his immune system (which I've bolstered through vaccination and a good diet), or IMO out of my control anyway.

[Chesney's Girl]

Living in the city, where there is grass to be used for a bathroom break for a dog is used and then cleaned up to the best of the owners ability.

 

The only question I have is what is contagious about this dog? He ate something that made him sick, he didn't come down with an intestinal irritation from a whiff of another dogs crap. Now if other dogs go around eating other dogs crap then the owners of that dog should be fairly accustomed to their dogs behavior and come to expect their dog to possibly be sick.

 

Just my two cents from someone who doesn't have grass in a yard for dogs, nor will my dogs crap on the nice colored cement.