Tag Archives: sick puppy

Tips for dog tummy trouble – voices of unfortunate experience

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.

The tummy trouble patients Torque and Simon

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.

One sick puppy

It’s not metaphoric at all – Simon was one sick puppy yesterday. He’s better today, thank goodness. But yesterday was messy, stressful, and thoroughly awful.

No early sign of sick puppy

It was a normal morning in the Sister Shack. All four dogs ate their breakfasts, pottied outside. We had a fun little training session. Fran left for work. (Friday is Hope’s day off.) 

I (Hope) was planning a fun day. I love baking and was planning to make Fran’s birthday cake. Red Velvet cake has been our family’s traditional birthday cake all our lives. It’s a process, but a fun one, if you like baking.

There were a few errands that needed doing (we were out of milk!), so I took the butter out of the fridge to soften while I ran them – planning on coming home and getting the cake-baking going. 

Sign of trouble

The first sign of trouble was the smell that hit me when I got home. I was hoping for the best at first – one of the dogs might have been unusually gassy. No such luck.

Simon had rather violent diarrhea. We crate the puppy when we’re not home. That wound up being a good news/bad news result. Good news – the mess was confined. Bad news – the puppy and his crate needed bathing, fumigation, and I needed a nose plug.

Clean up 

The first order of business was to get him out into the yard and see if the issue was over, or a continuing problem. The latter, of course. Tango, Booker, and Torque were kind of puzzled by the situation but avoided the stinky puppy. And cooperated when I needed them back in the house and away from the mess.

Next? Telling his mom (Fran) that we were in crisis mode. It’s never fun to call a baby’s mom to tell her the puppy’s sick.

Boston Terrier sick puppy
Simon’s staying close to Fran today.

And then Simon got a bath. Generally speaking, Simon is an active puppy. Truthfully – he’s a perpetual motion machine. Fortunately, he was more curious about the water, bathtub, and bath process than afraid or worried. Fifteen minutes later – he smelled much better.

Nose plug time

Simon dried off with nice clean bedding in one of the other dog’s crates. Cleaning the crate was next. I have no idea how all surfaces were targeted, but it even included the ceiling. Further detail isn’t required – I’m sure all dog owners (and parents of human babies!) can imagine the rest.

Off to the vet

When we knew the vet was open for afternoon hours, I delivered Simon to Fran. He’d had several more episodes in the meantime. All outside. He was a very good boy and let me know when it was time to make a dash for the great outdoors.

Our wonderful veterinarians got him in right away. He obliged by spewing for the doctors. You know veterinarians are a different breed. Instead of scooping it up as fast as possible, they pored over it like it was a clue in a mystery novel. Which, to them, it was. Simon obviously ate something he shouldn’t have and we have instructions for a restricted diet and medication for a few days.

Duh! Of course it was something he ate

It’s always something they ate. And we have no idea what it might be. We don’t use any chemicals or fertilizers in our yard. But, even though we live in a very urban area, there’s tons of wildlife: squirrels, birds, rabbits, possums. Who knows what they carry in? Not to mention how many assorted mushrooms have sprouted in this incredibly wet season. And Simon is a grazer. We try to keep an eye on him – but with four dogs running around the yard and a next-door neighbor dog that charges ours, it can get hectic. 

The best-laid plans

So the day went sideways. Birthday cake didn’t get made. Butter is back in the fridge. Meals didn’t get made. That’s okay. Because Simon’s better today. Subdued, under scrutiny, but hopefully on the road to recovery.

I usually resist the title “pet parent.” But when the baby’s sick, either human or puppy – it applies. Everything else is put on hold. As it should be.