Previously Unseen Phenomena
The first time Eti ever refused a meal was a previously unseen phenomena that immediately caused me to break out in a cold sweat. I knew that something was wrong.
We had just come back from our morning walk and he had had a surprisingly severe bout of diahrrea. I ran through my head everything that he had eaten over the last 48 hours and couldn't come up with anything that he had eaten in any sort of quantity that could have caused this and figured it may have been somthing random he had picked up
We went through the normal routine, he waited on his bed while I prepared his meal. I called him, he went into a down position in front of his food as he always does and I said "Good Boy". Normally this would have created a blur as he dashed to eat, this time he stayed in the down position and turned his head to look at me with a worried look. Activate cold sweat.
He spent the rest of the day very quietly. We went out again late afternoon, it seemd like he needed to make a bowel movement but was unable to. I boiled up some chicken and rice which he ate but shortly thereafter puked up. I called the vet and made an appointment for the next morning.
I am reminded of this incident on reading a recent post on Dolittler about Hugo coincidentally also a french Bulldog who similarly exhibited this previously unobserved phenomenon of refusing food. The post is informative of the cause for this problem -gastroenteritis-a broad term for infection or inflammation of the stomach and intestines. In both Hugo and Eti's case resulting from some kind of blockage.
The post is also insightful about the difficulties of diagnosing exactly the cause for a blockage and more importantly what would be the right course of action concluding that-'Their bodies are as deeply mysterious as the methods we use to measure them are limited. There’s only so much we can do before our methods enter the realm of the doing-harm thing.
In Eti's case, the problem 'rectified' itself. A couple of hours before our 11am appointment at the vet, he passed what looked suspiciously like 2 inches of a Bullystick and ate some chicken and rice after with gusto and without ill effect. Our appointment was duly cancelled and Bullysticks were banned forever from that moment on.
We had just come back from our morning walk and he had had a surprisingly severe bout of diahrrea. I ran through my head everything that he had eaten over the last 48 hours and couldn't come up with anything that he had eaten in any sort of quantity that could have caused this and figured it may have been somthing random he had picked up
We went through the normal routine, he waited on his bed while I prepared his meal. I called him, he went into a down position in front of his food as he always does and I said "Good Boy". Normally this would have created a blur as he dashed to eat, this time he stayed in the down position and turned his head to look at me with a worried look. Activate cold sweat.
He spent the rest of the day very quietly. We went out again late afternoon, it seemd like he needed to make a bowel movement but was unable to. I boiled up some chicken and rice which he ate but shortly thereafter puked up. I called the vet and made an appointment for the next morning.
I am reminded of this incident on reading a recent post on Dolittler about Hugo coincidentally also a french Bulldog who similarly exhibited this previously unobserved phenomenon of refusing food. The post is informative of the cause for this problem -gastroenteritis-a broad term for infection or inflammation of the stomach and intestines. In both Hugo and Eti's case resulting from some kind of blockage.
The post is also insightful about the difficulties of diagnosing exactly the cause for a blockage and more importantly what would be the right course of action concluding that-'Their bodies are as deeply mysterious as the methods we use to measure them are limited. There’s only so much we can do before our methods enter the realm of the doing-harm thing.
In Eti's case, the problem 'rectified' itself. A couple of hours before our 11am appointment at the vet, he passed what looked suspiciously like 2 inches of a Bullystick and ate some chicken and rice after with gusto and without ill effect. Our appointment was duly cancelled and Bullysticks were banned forever from that moment on.
Labels: Health
posted by Le Pack Leader | 14.11.06
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