After we picked up Scout from the Hundehotel on Monday, we suspected that she might be a little sick. When she only ate half of her dinner on Wednesday, our suspicions increased. On Thursday night, when she not only totally ignored her usual dinner but also refused a slice of cheese, we knew that our little dog had to go to the vet. (There had also been some waste-product-related clues, but we won't go into that.)
So, Scout and I walked down to Dr. Bielan, the Tierarzt who'd previously given Scout her German immunizations. He diagnosed Scout as having general digestive upset, and gave her a couple of shots, along with medicine to take home and directions to come back on Monday for a third injection.
The first thing this vet does is attempt to ply the dog with treats; initially, Scout had been doing what she'd done at home, which was to take the treat in her mouth and then let it drop to the floor. After her shots, however, she was walking around the room sniffing out her dropped treats and snarfing them up -- and after that, taking new treats from the vet's assistant! "Next time she won't eat, you should just bring her down here with her dinner!" Ha-ha.
The medicine we were given to administer to Scout at home is basically a tube of clay! The clay is supposed to coat her digestive tract, protecting irritated areas and encapsulating any bacteria or other nasties that are causing problems. So, twice a day, we get to squirt out (it has a consistency a little more liquid than toothpaste) a fair amount of this stuff and smear it inside Scout's mouth. On one hand, the "smear it in" method of dosing is brilliant -- there's no pill to spit out! -- but that doesn't mean it's easy. During last night's test run, we ended up with digestive clay all over our hands, Scout's snout, and the floor, but I think we got enough inside her to make a difference.
(The tube advertises that it has a "pleasant vanilla flavor" -- how many dogs wake up in the morning thinking "I hope my person gives me some more of those yummy vanilla treats"?)
Last night, she ate half of her dinner -- and sometime between last night and when I came down this morning, she ate the other half. It looks like we're on the road to recovery.
Posted by Kevin at April 24, 2004 09:20 AM