Friday I noticed that Dena didn't seem 'right', and then that evening she ate half her dinner and walked away. VERY not like her. She refused breakfast on Saturday and ate maybe 1/4 cup for dinner, and one piece of chicken jerky during the day. Sunday she had very strange poop (and this is from the queen of perfect poop), so I was starting to get concerned. Saved the poop, just in case. Sunday I got about a cup of food into her in the morning and almost a cup in the evening, but her appetite was still off, and she was obviously not feeling well.
So I took her into the vet yesterday, and he said it looked like she got ahold of a small mammal, possibly a squirrel. HUH?!?!? But he pointed out that what I couldn't identify was little bits of bone, and there were clearly clumps of hair too. No idea how this could have happened - for one thing it would have had to go into the dog run, which would be weird in any case, but also if there were small furry critters around it seems like Keefer, who lives to eat and has wicked prey drive (he loves to bark at the squirrels in the back yard), would have gotten it. Although I guess if she got to it first and warned him off he'd defer to her. But I still don't know where she'd have had the opportunity since they're only in the main part of the yard where the squirrels are when we're outside, and then they're just a few feet away, maybe out of sight for a couple of minutes while Tom hoses down the pee in the side yard.
But in any case, the vet ran the full gamut of tests - urinalysis, giardia, and a full blood workup. She's on flagyl, and I bought some canned food to mix into her kibble. We've been able to get her to eat about 2/3 of the usual amount of kibble by mixing in a bunch of Wellness canned. Yesterday afternoon after she came home from the vet she had another weird poop with more of the bone and hair, but this morning, although it was very loose, it seemed like she'd gotten all of whatever it was out of her.
But the bad news - I called for the blood test results this afternoon, and the vet said that it showed that whatever she ate has made her sick, hopefully only temporarily.
![Image]()
Her gall bladder and liver values are elevated, not seriously, but moderately. I have a copy of the test but I'm not sure what I'm looking at. He wants to recheck her blood work in two weeks, and in the meantime make sure she keeps eating and drinking plenty of water. Fortunately, no vomiting, and she does appear hungry, she'll readily eat a biscuit and the canned food, but if I hold out a piece of kibble, she'll turn her head away. And she's still lethargic.
I remembered reading about Milk Thistle, so I went by the health food store on my way home and bought some. It's 175 mgs Milk Thistle Seed Extract, 80% standardized Silymarin. I think I need to give her one capsule twice a day - can someone confirm that for a 73 pound dog? And please think good thoughts for my baby girl!
![Image]()
So I took her into the vet yesterday, and he said it looked like she got ahold of a small mammal, possibly a squirrel. HUH?!?!? But he pointed out that what I couldn't identify was little bits of bone, and there were clearly clumps of hair too. No idea how this could have happened - for one thing it would have had to go into the dog run, which would be weird in any case, but also if there were small furry critters around it seems like Keefer, who lives to eat and has wicked prey drive (he loves to bark at the squirrels in the back yard), would have gotten it. Although I guess if she got to it first and warned him off he'd defer to her. But I still don't know where she'd have had the opportunity since they're only in the main part of the yard where the squirrels are when we're outside, and then they're just a few feet away, maybe out of sight for a couple of minutes while Tom hoses down the pee in the side yard.
But in any case, the vet ran the full gamut of tests - urinalysis, giardia, and a full blood workup. She's on flagyl, and I bought some canned food to mix into her kibble. We've been able to get her to eat about 2/3 of the usual amount of kibble by mixing in a bunch of Wellness canned. Yesterday afternoon after she came home from the vet she had another weird poop with more of the bone and hair, but this morning, although it was very loose, it seemed like she'd gotten all of whatever it was out of her.
But the bad news - I called for the blood test results this afternoon, and the vet said that it showed that whatever she ate has made her sick, hopefully only temporarily.
I remembered reading about Milk Thistle, so I went by the health food store on my way home and bought some. It's 175 mgs Milk Thistle Seed Extract, 80% standardized Silymarin. I think I need to give her one capsule twice a day - can someone confirm that for a 73 pound dog? And please think good thoughts for my baby girl!
