Shelby's Life and Whatnot

How I Spent My Morning

Ask me why I didn't go to church today.

Go ahead. Ask me.

Why? Because Digory ate 2/3 of a loaf of French bread, probably in about 3 minutes, and instead of going to church and staying after church for an important meeting, I sat here waiting for him to go poop.

Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to do this morning. Thank you, Digory!

It's my own fault--I know. We had one of those giant loaves of French bread--the kind you get fresh from the grocery store that's as long as a baguette but 6 times the girth--and we ate about 1/3 of it (if that) last night. This morning I tore off a piece of give to Scout with her pill (long story there too) and accidentally didn't roll up the bag all the way. So here's what happened.

I got out of the shower and I heard Digory squeal in his pain squeal. Of course I rushed out and he seemed fine--walking around wagging his tail. I watched him closely to see if he was limping or anything, and then palpated his spine gently (he's never had a back problem but Scout does so that's automatically my first thought). Nothing. Then he tried to stretch out and lay down on his tummy. Squeek! He got up, took a few steps, and tried again. Squeek! So I thought maybe he cut himself (on what???) or something. I started petting his tummy while he was standing and didn't feel anything, but when I reached below his ribs, he whined. I gently pressed on his tummy and he squealed again.

Bingo. He ate something. And a lot of it, too. Great.

I walked out into the kitchen and into the living room and there on the floor is the bread wrappe, torn to shreds. In one of the dog beds, Scout is still lapping up crumbs. For crying out loud! I massaged her tummy and she's fine, but if Digory was true to form (and I feel quite sure he was), he probably inhaled the entire thing within a minute or two.

Digory doesn't exactly savor his food sometimes. Especially if it's stolen and he's trying to keep it away from Scout. His MO is to just gorge himself as quickly as possible.

So now had this dog who couldn't lay down and was looking rather sad and confused. I'm like okay, it's only bread, but it's a lot of it, so I called the emergency vet. The vet said that it could either create a blockage or could cause gas to build up and if he was in pain to bring him in for some x-rays.

X-rays at the emergency vet! Woo hoo! That's going to be CHEAP!!!

So then I was trying to figure out how I'm going to get him into the car, because here's the second problem--Kevin was already at church for an early meeting and he took the car that actually fits the dog. My car is a Miata and the one time I tried driving with Digory it was an absolute disaster. Kevin didn't have his cell phone on him, naturally (we really should make it a habit to carry these things around), so then I'm like well, I can drive all the way to church to get him and we can both miss that important meeting (he's on the church council too), or I can just hang out here and keep an eye on this damned dog, leaving Kevin to wonder where on earth I am.

Then Digory went outside and tried to poop. He was clearly straining but was able to produce something small, so I figured at least something was moving through him--maybe I didn't need to rush him to the emergency vet quite yet. Pressing on his tummy, he was still in pain, but I thought I'd give him an hour or so to see if anything, uh, resolved.

I knew Kevin was probably worried about why I hadn't shown up at church--he knew I was up and out of bed and that I knew I had the council meeting, but I didn't have any way to get ahold of him. I figured I'd call the church when the service was over but didn't want to disturb the service (the phone is in the adjoining room). About 5 minutes before I was going to call him, he called me. He was relieved that nothing untoward had happened to me and that Digory seemed to be okay. He stayed for the meeting and then stopped at the Dog Food Gettin' Place to pick up some wet food for Scout (who has an eye and ear infection and is SOOOO good at taking her pills), then picked up some In-N-Out for me (I love this man!).

When he got back he took over Digory-watching duty and I took a nap. Digory still hasn't hit the jackpot on the lawn but he's not in any distress anymore. He can stretch and lay on his tummy and had no reaction when I squeezed him. In fact, he was right up there with Scout scratching for his dinner tonight. Nice try, dude. I fed Scout and gave him 5 pieces of kibble in his bowl. Now he's as happy as a clam. We'll give him some wet food later but he seems to be perfectly fine.