my dog needs a therapist
Charlie, the charming dog that he is, has taken to eating his own shit. There is a fancy name for this: coprophagy. How did we find this out? There is a story.
For those of you who are easily disgusted, I warn you that the following contains numerous and egregious references to feces and the many different ways in which said feces is ‘digested’ and expelled by my puppy.
Last night around 10pm, as I was getting ready to head off to bed, Charlie pranced into the living room where my husband and I were watching television, and threw up what looked to be about 8 cups of puke. It’s not unusual for him to throw up occasionally; however, we noticed that this puke had the distinct odour of poo, and the distinct colour of poo. He continued to vomit about three more times and I scooted him out into the backyard. This was just in time for the diarrhea to come exploding out of his cute little puppy butt.
At this point, I started to panic. My first thought was that he had either twisted his stomach, or there was a blockage in his intestines, and this would account for the fact that he was throwing up his own excrement. As we stood shivering in the backyard for a moment while my husband scrubbed the carpet inside, Charlie looked up at me with a facial expression that could only say “Mommy, I don’t feel very good.” And at once I was rendered a pathetic blob of hormones and tears.
I brought Chucky back inside and went for the phonebook. I found an emergency vet clinic a few minutes away from our house and called them. After describing the symptoms to the nice lady on the phone, I was told to bring Chuck in immediately because this sounded like it could be life-threatening. We begin to panic.
At 11pm we made it to the clinic. Charlie bounced happily out of the car and into the office. The technician took one look at him and asked us if we were sure that he was sick. Half an hour and $150 later, Charlie gets a shot of Gravol and a prescription for anti-diarrhea medication. The vet told us to keep an eye on him but felt that there was no blockage and that the vomiting and diarrhea were a result of him getting into something he should not have. He also told us that people ‘love their dogs too much’ and that because Charlie is ‘our first baby’ we are being ‘too overprotective’. Nice. He was creepy anyway.
So Charlie made it through the night without puking. We made it through the night with little to no sleep.
So my husband calls me this morning to tell me all about what Charlie got in to after I left for work. He went right out into the backyard and ate last night’s frozen diarrhea. So I guess that’s what he’s been doing out there in the backyard.
I guess I’ll have to nag my husband about the dog poop like I do about the cat litter. At least the backyard will be nice and clean. I really wasn’t happy with the ‘leave the poo out there until I feel like picking it up’ system he had going anyway.
Ahh, life is so romantic isn’t it?
For those of you who are easily disgusted, I warn you that the following contains numerous and egregious references to feces and the many different ways in which said feces is ‘digested’ and expelled by my puppy.
Last night around 10pm, as I was getting ready to head off to bed, Charlie pranced into the living room where my husband and I were watching television, and threw up what looked to be about 8 cups of puke. It’s not unusual for him to throw up occasionally; however, we noticed that this puke had the distinct odour of poo, and the distinct colour of poo. He continued to vomit about three more times and I scooted him out into the backyard. This was just in time for the diarrhea to come exploding out of his cute little puppy butt.
At this point, I started to panic. My first thought was that he had either twisted his stomach, or there was a blockage in his intestines, and this would account for the fact that he was throwing up his own excrement. As we stood shivering in the backyard for a moment while my husband scrubbed the carpet inside, Charlie looked up at me with a facial expression that could only say “Mommy, I don’t feel very good.” And at once I was rendered a pathetic blob of hormones and tears.
I brought Chucky back inside and went for the phonebook. I found an emergency vet clinic a few minutes away from our house and called them. After describing the symptoms to the nice lady on the phone, I was told to bring Chuck in immediately because this sounded like it could be life-threatening. We begin to panic.
At 11pm we made it to the clinic. Charlie bounced happily out of the car and into the office. The technician took one look at him and asked us if we were sure that he was sick. Half an hour and $150 later, Charlie gets a shot of Gravol and a prescription for anti-diarrhea medication. The vet told us to keep an eye on him but felt that there was no blockage and that the vomiting and diarrhea were a result of him getting into something he should not have. He also told us that people ‘love their dogs too much’ and that because Charlie is ‘our first baby’ we are being ‘too overprotective’. Nice. He was creepy anyway.
So Charlie made it through the night without puking. We made it through the night with little to no sleep.
So my husband calls me this morning to tell me all about what Charlie got in to after I left for work. He went right out into the backyard and ate last night’s frozen diarrhea. So I guess that’s what he’s been doing out there in the backyard.
I guess I’ll have to nag my husband about the dog poop like I do about the cat litter. At least the backyard will be nice and clean. I really wasn’t happy with the ‘leave the poo out there until I feel like picking it up’ system he had going anyway.
Ahh, life is so romantic isn’t it?
posted by vegan mum at 10:31 AM
3 Comments:
I recently learned that hyena droppings in Africa are white--from all the bones. And that the vultures eat those droppings for the calcium.
Now if you could just add a vulture to the household. . . .
Ooooohhhh, our puppy has done that too! Not in the yard as we have pick up right away (she had a giardia problem when we first got her) but when she has an accident inside she eats it. I have read in that case she is probably trying to "hide the evidence". Still gross. The last thing you need when you're already feeling pregnancy yucky.
We had rabbits when we were first married - Dustbunnie and Foobar. They ate their own poop. Little shit machines would leave pellets everywhere (in their litter boxes) then every once in a while they would eat them. Disgusting, but apparently to rabbits it's healthy.
It's too bad we cant train our puppies to poop in a litter box. And while we're at it, it's too bad we cant train our 6'3 husbands to sit to pee either.
I'm glad your munchkin is going to be ok, aside from the shit fetish he's got going on. Just think... sleepless nights with a sick puppy is training you for sleepless nights with a sick toddler. Huzzah!
Post a Comment
<< Home