I just had another stomach-ache health scare with my younger Weimaraner, Teddy. Because Weims and other deep-chested large breed dogs are at a high risk for the life-threatening condition called bloat, I go into High Alert Mode the moment I see that Teddy is having gastro-intestinal discomfort. I have had to take him to the emergency vet clinic twice when I saw he was in distress so I wanted to jump right on and deal with the problem as quickly as possible. I even check my own book The Dog Bible in case there is something I am forgetting in my anxiety, but he exhibited all the classic signs and symptoms of a doggy tummy ache: drooling, stretching like a cat, inability to get comfortable lying down, gurgling stomach sounds and then going outside to find grass to eat — even though it was a ridiculously cold single-digit day in Vermont. I thought he was trying to eat snow which was bad enough for a sensitive stomach, but I didn’t realize that a dog could feel sick enough to find grass in the dead of winter. One thing I learned in researching my book is that occasionally eating grass is fine for a dog who is well, but once a dog has an upset stomach the grass his instincts drive him to eat will only further irritate his gut so you have to make sure he eats and drinks nothing until his stomach settles down.
Even though it was a Sunday my vet came into the office to examine Teddy to make sure he was not in the process of “bloating” or developing pancreatitis and if not, if there was something she could do to alleviate his suffering. It wasn’t until he threw up in the office that I saw what a massive amount of grass he had found under the snow and swallowed, which triggered the vomiting. My vet listened to his stomach and saw that his temperature and heart rate were normal. She determined that the pain he was experiencing was from intestinal gas that was trapped. She gave him a shot for pain and for nausea/vomiting and then recommended that I walk him around to get the gas to move inside. I asked whether I could give him some of the gel caps I had at home for people that break up intestinal gas; she looked up the safety and dosage and said to go ahead and try it. She also said to start him on some food to help move things along in the digestive tract. In fact she said getting some food in Teddy in frequent small portions would be the best remedy. Chicken and rice are always what vets (and my own book) recommend, but it’s usually a mad dash to the supermarket for chicken breast with a drooling sickly dog in the car! I was grateful that I had some shredded roasted chicken meat in the freezer so I rushed Teddy home and boiled some basmati rice, which cooks quickly, and stirred in the chicken. But Teddy would not touch it. I added a little cottage cheese for enticement. No go. I offered just a piece of chicken but he turned his head aside. He was stretching and twisting in pain. I felt so terrible. I knew that if I could get him to eat something it would get that painful gas to start moving inside him. I lifted the lid off the dog biscuit jar (where Liv-a-Little biscuits are kept to reward the dogs for returning from far away ramblings) and Teddy looked up with curiosity in his pain-filled expression. I broke one in half and held it out to him. He took it gingerly between his teeth and chewed uncertainly, as if he wasn’t sure it would go down okay. Then he looked up for the second half. He chewed that one with more confidence. I was so relieved! I offered him one biscuit after another and he kept on accepting them (my other two dogs came around in no time, having heard the biscuit jar lid being removed so I had to give them a few, too, which made the whole evening Christmas morning all over again for them). For Teddy, the Liv-a-Littles must have been like crackers are to a person who feels sick, and boy was I glad I had them to help him feel better. From now on I don’t have to knock myself out to make chicken and rice that doesn’t even appeal to a guy feeling lousy. Now I know I have his own secret remedy right in the biscuit jar! (But I’m also going to start giving him an acid-reducer pill every night before bed just to see if that helps avoid another scary belly event.)