This week more than a few people are dealing with dog tummy trouble.
We know you didn’t smuggle the stuffing to your dog, but there’s no telling what Aunt Lucille was doing when Fido pinned her with those adorable puppy-dog eyes. And now you’re left to clean up the mess, so to speak.
Dog tummy trouble pros
Unfortunately, our experience is vast and deep. And something we’ve had to pull out all the stops on for the last six weeks. We hope that if your dogs have tummy trouble, it’s a very short-term visitor this holiday season.
It all started when Torque brought home some kind of stomach virus from an obedience fun match we attended. His stomach tends to get a little upset when he goes someplace new and exciting, so we weren’t too concerned for a couple of days. He usually takes longer to recover than the other dogs, but time usually takes care of it.
Tango got the sniffles, which is how every virus he’s ever encountered manifests with Tango.
Booker was next to come down with it. Then Simon.
Symptoms and recovery vary
Tango and Booker were both fine within a couple of days. We fully expected Torque and Simon to return to normal within a week.
We were wrong. Every time we thought we were over the hump, there was another explosive episode. Fortunately, we read their signs well enough to know when they really, really need to go outside.
We’re hovering on the edge of too much information given, but we think you understand what we’re talking about.
What we’ve learned
Don’t ignore the symptoms, but don’t go haring off to the veterinarian right away. Wait a day. Then panic and run in.
It’s not imperative to starve the dog for 24 hours unless the tummy trouble includes vomiting.
Sometimes probiotics work, sometimes they don’t.
Sometimes prescriptions work, sometimes they don’t.
Listen when your dog tells you he has to go – now. Grab your coat as you run out the door, but don’t worry about getting it on inside. Same for shoes.
Young Boston Terriers like Simon lose weight like crazy. He’s on the mend but so skinny Fran’s quite sure she’ll be accused of neglect. Nothing’s further from the truth.
Useful things we learned:
A “bland diet” is whatever protein your dog is used to eating in his regular food, boiled and served with canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) and/or white potato (also boiled). Feed only bland food for three days.
Flax seed is soothing: Take a tablespoon of whole, organic flax seed and pour ¼ to ⅓ cup boiling water over it. Stir for 1 minute, let it sit for five more minutes. Strain the seeds out and use some of the syrupy water on your dog’s food. It helps.
Bone broth is also good. We used Veterinarian Judy Morgan’s recipe. We portioned it into ice cube trays and now have a gallon bag of bone broth ice cubes ready to go whenever we need them.
Reintroduce your dog’s regular food gradually. Very gradually. Be ready to go back to bland.
Hoping it’s not needed
We hope your holidays are wonderful and free of dog tummy trouble. But if it does happen, we hope we’ve helped.
My dog Stephan is experiencing stomachache, that’s why I’m planning to look for a vet that will be able to address this concern. Thank you for this; I’d make sure to feed him bland food for three days. I’ll also keep in mind to add falx seed and syrup water on Stephan’s food.
We hope you’re able to find some relief for Stephan! It’s so sad to see our dogs in pain and not be able to help.