Sick Puppy Dog

Let me say, here and now, that a sick puppy is almost as bad as a sick baby. I feel that I am qualified to say that because I have had both. I will add that my human babies had me a bit more worried. That said, our goldendoodle had us very worried today. Everything in our day started out as usual. Then, all of a sudden our puppy seemed to be in distress on his bed. I thought that he was choking and immediately called Steve in from the next room. By that time, he had thrown up some undigested food. He was able to walk outside with Steve, but managed to throw up one more time in the screened in porch area before making it outside. 

Of course, he seemed confused, a bit, because he has never been sick. We looked (as hard as it was to do so) to be sure that we did not see something abnormal in what he had thrown up. Neither of us saw anything. Surprising, since we must guard everything from him taking it and eating it. Just as babies put everything in their mouths, so does our puppy.

We very carefully observed him, as he rested in his crate and on his bed. The momma in me tried to keep him quiet and still, which really was not very hard to do. Davis was not himself at all. Yes, the Google Queen here, looked up information on dogs getting sick. It has been many years since our family had a large collie who had a very finicky tummy. I do, however, remember getting our family take out food because I was too busy cooking chicken, rice and potatoes for this collie. I was wondering if I would be doing this for our little Davis. I am now laughing out loud at me calling him our little puppy, as he is now almost 11 months old and a little over 60 pounds.

What I did find out on my Google quest, is that after a bit of rest for the tummy, try him with an ice cube. He loves to munch on ice cubes so we tried one. Then two. For one hour, all was good. Then he stood up and threw up just a small bit of liquid. Now, back to square one. Again, he just rested and we gave him no water or food for a few hours. Everything that I did read said to watch for dehydration. Withholding food was just fine for up to 24 hours, just not water.

After a few hours, we let him out and he wanted to play with his ball. He continued to bring it to us to toss to him. We gave him a few little tosses and then just let him be. With no food, he surely could not have that much energy to release. We tried another small ice cube. That seemed to work and stay. We went to bed earlier than usual so when Steve took him out he reported that he did at least do a little of his #1 business. I continued to worry about dehydration. How much is not enough water vs. too much water? Just as with babies who can't express themselves, puppies fall into this same category.

We went to bed, not knowing what to expect in the morning when we both got up to start the day. The first bit of good news is that he did not get sick during the night. He popped out of his crate, wagging his tail and seemed like his old self again. He went out and did a small amount of both of his "duties." This was to be expected, simply due to the fact that not much went into this sweet little body yesterday. 

For today, we will start slowly with ice, then a bit of water with a small bit of food. The food will start with a boiled baby potato before we try a little of his regular dog food. At this stage, both of us agree that we do not need the vet unless this continues on today or into tomorrow. Puppies will be puppies. I need to let my intelligence take over and not read too much into the medical Google information. Most of what is written is strictly common sense. Which according to a quote from Voltaire, "Common sense is not so common."