Sam

Sam's sick.

He's been "not right" since March, when both dogs had chicken backs and had digestive blowouts afterwards. They went on metronidazole for 9 days, although I think their subsequent improvement was due more to my keeping them on a strict and careful diet.

Since then, I've been careful about what they eat, and to help I've used yogurt, pumpkin, and probiotics (not all at the same time!). They had no more raw poultry for two months, and when I started them back on some raw food a couple of weeks ago, I changed them to turkey necks instead of chicken backs (much less fat).

Jacey got better and stayed pretty sound. Sam has been sporadically better--and then worse. He's had at least one all-liquid blowout a month--as well as lots of soft poop--and that's just not like him.

I don't think he's developed an allergy or intolerance to anything he's routinely eating. If that were it, he'd stay sick instead of getting better between blowouts. And he's been on good behavior and hasn't gotten into anything he shouldn't. (He's gotten his muzzle off a few times in the last couple of weeks, but he hasn't gotten into anything--mostly because the potatoes are locked away in a bin, the bread is on top of the refrigerator, and there's really nothing he can get into. I learned my lesson from past experiences, even if Sam didn't.)

Fecal samples for both dogs were checked a few weeks ago: no signs of any parasites.

But Sam had another blowout on Friday. Afterwards, the dogs had rice for supper Friday, fasted Saturday during the day, and rice for supper Saturday night. (When one dog is sick, both dogs go on a restricted diet.) Sam's a bit better today, but I'm taking him to the vet on my next day off. I'm wondering if both dogs picked up a bug back in March (when they both got sick from the chicken)--something that Jacey recovered from but Sam didn't...quite.

Anyway, there are a couple of other things I want to ask the vet about, so we're seeing our favorite vet Tuesday at 11:40.

Meanwhile, he seems to feel well--plenty of appetite for anything I give him.