Monday, August 10, 2009

Sam

Well, he's done it again.

I had a partial bag of Nutro Ultra sealed up and waiting to be returned to the store. (We're no longer serving Nutro here, but that's another story.)

This morning--my day off--I slept a bit late, then walked the dogs. While out, I saw my neighbor's new puppy. I didn't go near the puppy with my two--Sam's not allowed puppies as snacks--so I took my guys home, left them inside, and went back out to visit with the puppy. And while I was outside, Sam went for the opened bag of Nutro Ultra.

The bag is upright--and tall--and he didn't pull it over. He had to stand on his back legs and stick his head down inside the bag, then inside the drawstringed plastic trash bag, to get to the kibble. When I came back in the house, he yanked his head out of the bag and trotted innocently back into the living room.

I couldn't tell how much kibble he'd inhaled. I went to feed Jacey, while I debated how much of his usual 1.5-cup breakfast I should withhold. I heard those very distinctive noises from the living room and came out of the kitchen to discover he'd upchucked about half a cup of kibble. While I was cleaning that, he upchucked another half cup. I got that cleaned up and started checking on Sam--and he was moaning and groaning. This is not typical with him. He's eaten raw potatoes and danced around like nothing was wrong.

Greyhounds--like other big-chested dogs--are at risk for bloat, and Sam was acting like that was a very real possibility. So I hauled him outside, pried his jaws apart, and poured some hydrogen peroxide down his throat. We waited a bit--nothing happened. I gave him a bit more. Bingo!

He started throwing up--probably threw up another two cups or more of kibble--and all the kibble was coming up covered with thick white foam. There'd been some foam when he got sick in the house, but there was lots of it when he got sick outside. His moaning discomfort, I think, was just gas, the result of his having eaten more in one five-minute binge than he normally eats in a day.

Anyway, he threw up half a dozen times outside, and finally was down to just bile. I took him back inside and let him have some water. After an hour, I let him have half his usual breakfast. An hour after that, I let him have the rest of his breakfast. He's been fine ever since (okay for 4 hours now)--bouncing around and his usual self.

But I've stayed home today. I'll do my errand-running tomorrow, but I didn't want to risk leaving him home alone this morning if he was going to be sick again. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a vacation day, and I'll do my running around then.

And the next time I go visit with a puppy, I'm leaving muzzled dogs* at home.


*At least Jacey stayed out of trouble. I suspect Sam got snarky with her and threatened her. Food is the one thing he'll defend, and she's smart enough to know it.