(Continued from Part 1)
After eliminating the Answers chicken formula from the rotation, I thought we were good.
(In literature, they call this ‘foreshadowing’).
On Saturday, we went to daycare. I had scads of errands to run, and it has been so cold, I wanted to give the Pugs time to play outside a bit while I was tooling around in the car.
(Truth? They have awesome new sweaters, and I wanted to show them off).
TO JUST HAPPY HOUNDS! YAY!
Upon pickup, while standing in the parking lot talking to the awesome handlers, both Pearl AND Truman squatted and delivered a squishy pile at my feet.
CRAP!
At first, I thought it was a deliberate message. They were pissed I’d left them behind. But no. Handlers said it had happened all day. They both have a case of the runs.
Dun dun dun.
My mind immediately went into overdrive.
Was it the eggs? No, couldn’t be. They eat raw farm eggs regularly without issue.
Was it the goat’s milk? No, couldn’t be. They had no problem with it the previous week, nor during the week until that point.
Could it be the livers? Too much richness for too many days? No. If there was an issue with the livers, it would have manifested long before Saturday.
That’s one thing about a short digestive track. If you’ve fed something that doesn’t agree, you will know it quickly.
Then, they told me: Oh, yeah. Truman’s got worms.
WORMS!
Ugh.
Little white rice-looking worms in his poo.
TAPEWORMS.
So gross.
But, worms come with owning a dog. They get them. They just do. Try not to freak out.
Remember about a month or so ago, I discovered that they had fleas? Well, turns out, in addition to making them crazy itchy-scratchy, fleas can give your dog tapeworms. Tapeworms can give your dog diarrhea because they irritate the bowel lining, and cause the mucous membranes to work overtime to try to soothe the gut.
#iHateFleas
It was too late in the day on Saturday to get any kind of vet appointment, so I turned to natural remedies.
I found a lovely video and blog post by Dr. Karen Becker on diarrhea in dogs at http://www.healthypets.mercola.com
It’s worth watching.
Dr. Becker is a contributor to my textbook, as well as to articles in The Whole Dog Journal, and has fast become a trusted resource for me. You should check her out.
Also, The Whole Dog Journal is a fantastic resource.
We followed her feeding suggestions and I’m so glad we did…
…to be continued…
The HOL Dog 