I have a new favorite show. It's on the National Geographic channel. The Incredible Dr. Pol. I can't get enough of it! It's on in the mornings, and even during MY mornings, which are around 11:00 to 1:00. And I can also find it at night sometimes. There have been 10 seasons, I think. So plenty of reruns that are new to me.
Dr. Pol is a veterinarian in Michigan. He has several other vets in his practice, depending on which season of the show you're watching. His office will treat animals that other vets reject. Like a little hedgehog, and a chicken, and a lemur. I guess the others concentrate on more mainstream pets like cats and dogs. Dr. Pol also makes house calls to farms and treats livestock. It's a rare episode when Doc Pol doesn't have his arm up a cow's butt.
Anyhoo... after a week of watching, I'm pretty sure I can diagnose animal ailments now! Which made me worry about my little dog Jack.
Jack is usually a little whirlwind of energy, all spunky and up to mischief. Even now that he's grown a bit portly in the belly.
On Sunday, Jack did not come to greet me as I left for town. Juno was there, but not Jack. So Juno got both treats. They only get a small piece when I leave. Like 1/8 of a hot dog bun. Just a bite. When I get back, they might each get half a bun to themselves. Or whatever leftover is laying around.
Anyhoo... it was unusual, but I didn't dwell on it. I figured Jack was off mischief-ing with Copper Jack somewhere. They chase rabbits, and drag home styrofoam food containers and plastic soda bottles. Juno usually stays close to her house, because they've been known to steal from her hoard of old dry bones.
When I got home, still no Jack. So when Farmer H came in and asked if Jack came to get his treat, I told him no.
"I'm getting worried now. I haven't seen him. Haven't even heard him bark, since late Saturday night. He was out by the road, with that bark like when an intruder is coming up the driveway."
"He's out there. He's laying at the back of the Gator. He didn't even get up when I parked the truck. He acts like he don't feel good."
"I hope he didn't get into a fight with something."
"There ain't no marks on him. He just acts like he feels bad."
Of course that made me worry more about Jack. It's not like him to miss a snack. Then I felt guilty. An episode of Dr. Pol had a woman who brought in her dog not feeling well. It was a big dog. Maybe a lab. Dr. Pol said she had something like acidosis. I don't know if that was it. Heh, heh! Maybe I'm NOT ready to diagnose animals yet. Maybe I need another week of Dr. Pol reruns!
Anyhoo... something was wrong with the chemistry of this dog's stomach. Dr. Pol asked what the woman was feeding her. Couldn't figure out what would cause that. Then on the way out the door, the woman said, "Oh. She loves toast. I give her toast every morning." And Dr. Pol says, "Well, there you go. Don't give her toast. Too much carbohydrates." So the woman agreed to stop the toast.
At the end of the episode, they showed the dog at home, frolicking like a pup. And the lady was saying, "I found out that not only was I giving her two pieces of toast every morning, but that my husband was also giving her two pieces of toast, and the neighbor was giving her two pieces of toast." Sweet Gummi Mary! That poor dog was getting toasted near to death!
Anyhoo... I started thinking how I had just been giving Jack and Juno some rolls that expired. Rolls baked by the Country Mart deli. A little more moist than store-bought buns. What if I had given my little Jack an overdose of rolls!
When I went out for town on Monday afternoon, Jack came trotting around the porch. Not as hyper as usual. But at least trotting. Just not jumping up on me. So I figured he must be okay. I gave him a tiny piece of a roll. He was there to greet me when I came home, too.
As I was going up the steps, I got a whiff of something kind of dead. I'm pretty sure that smell came from Jack, and not my Sweet, Sweet Juno, whom I'd been petting right in my face on the side porch while Jack was missing. I guess he got into something decayed. Maybe over-indulged.
Whew! Not my fault!
I hate that smell! My daughter had a Bernese Mountain dog she paid $1700 for this puppy named Frankie. She was about three when she called me one day bawling because Frankie died. She liked to chase rabbits and apparantly ate one the night before. She refused to come in the houseandthe next morning their yard looked like a massacre had occured on the snow. Blood everywhere.She was still alive vomiting blood when my son-in-law took her to the vet. A bone ripped through her stomach and intestines and she had lost too much blood. Everytime Martha gifts fresh kills to the dogs I think about Frankie. And I LOVE Dr. Pol, too!
ReplyDeleteSome dogs like a baby carrot as a treat. It's cold and sweet--at least dogs think they're sweet.
ReplyDeleteGreen beans, too. Wash them off (the canned ones have lots of salt). I know that's not as portable/convenient of a treat, compared to a hot dog bun, but a few green beans might appeal to them.
I am glad to hear that Jack is feeling better.
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteThat smell is usually a problem during deer season, when Juno has a hindquarter/leg bone, thumping it around on the front porch!
OH MY GOSH! Poor Frankie! Our assortment of dogs have always caught and eaten rabbits. The cats too, when we have five of them. I thought that uncooked bones were safe enough for them to eat. I guess it's just rabbit roulette: get a bone at just the wrong angle, and it can work its way through the tissues. Hope a neighbor or someone didn't give Frankie a different bone for a treat.
Dr. Pol had a dog on today that ate a pork roast bone the size of a tennis ball. The owner said his dad gave the dog the bone. I think it was a fat little beagle. Dr. Pol did x-rays, and saw that the pieces of bone were already through the digestive tract, ready to make their exit. No damage. Though he did point out that cooked bones get more calcified, and break with sharper edges. So don't feed dogs bones.
***
Sioux,
I can give that a try, but I have a feeling Jack and Juno will give me the side-eye when I call it a "treat."
Jack has been barking more, so he must be feeling better.
I was thinking as I read that Jack probably ate something that disagreed with him and just needed to rest his digesting stomach for a day or so. I'd worry if it was more than a couple of days.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, it's obvious when Jack has eaten something besides what we give him. Like if he eats a rabbit, he's got a giant belly and waddles. I didn't see him in distress, so I don't know if he was fat(ter).
It also wouldn't surprise me if he ate something that wasn't food. He's a chewer, and soda bottle plastic or styrofoam wouldn't surprise me. I don't know where he gets that stuff. He might steal a soda bottle out of the Gator, but Farmer H rarely drinks a soda outside. I guess ne'er-do-wells toss them out along the gravel road. Or a big dog turns over somebody's trash dumpster.