log lotto

Amidst all the consternation of these past few weeks getting ready for shows and holidays and visitors, Baxter's digestive system must have decided that it, too, needed some attention. We were oblivious at first to the gentle pleas it made last Tuesday, manifested in a slightly gassier and noisier pup who would make slightly grunting old man noises as he sometimes does when we pick him up or move him, only this time with more frequency than usual. Weird but kinda cute, we thought, and went on about our business.

Phase two of his digestive system's efforts to get noticed worked like a charm on Wednesday evening, as Baxter's bout with HGE has trained us to be wary of loose stools. Did he snarf some decaying delicacy when we weren't watching the last time he hunted in the back yard? Did he find a morsel of something one of our houseguests accidentally drop? Whatever happened, we knew we had to work to bind his stool and hopefully stave of digestive disaster. Ratios of wet to dry, of fiber to water, of overall portions and timing were all managed over the next four days in hopes of satisfying Baxter's digestive system's need for attention.

With each mealtime experiment, I began to notice that taking Baxter out back to do his business felt more like watching the lotto draw to me as I stood there, eagerly anticipating every inch of stool the way a ticket holder holds out hope with every powerball number drawn. Every inch of stool was a number on my special lottery ticket, and I would win if Baxter's colon gave me a string of numbers that were all nicely formed, finely colored, and firm. Four times a day and inch by inch, my hopes would either raise or fall and I would adjust the ratios and timing of his diet accordingly.

By the time Sunday closed, we were feeling cautiously optimistic that we were close to winning the jackpot on Baxter's log lotto. But, alas, by Monday morning the bright pinkish red streaks in Baxter's stool told me we could no longer manage our trials without some professional input.

"Slightly odd in consistency though parasite free and with traces of undigested rice" is where we currently stand after visiting the office of our backup vet, who dutifully dissected and inspected the stool samples we brought back to his office when an invasive sampling provided little to inspect from our empty boy. Most likely Baxter did get into something that didn't agree with him, which only made me more determined to one day mount a video camera on his head so we can review footage of his comings and goings during times like this.

We left the vet's office with orders to discontinue the fiber and feed him only dry kibble, in frequent and smaller amounts, and watch for any serious changes in his stools like a large amount of blood, a change in color to dark almost blackish stool, vomiting, or a change in Baxter's chipper and hungry demeanor. And by all means, provide another stool sample in the next 24 hours. Yessssss, I'm sure Baxter's digestive system proclaimed in his best Napoleon Dynamite voice. Another person to play my game of lucky log lotto.



So today, it's all about tiny kibble meals and quart sized ziplocs. Little boy seems no worse for wear, save for the odd poops. In fact, he's been rather chipper, if not inquisitive. I'm sure he thinks we're nuts, fussing about his behind and the stinky stuff that comes from it. Who knew, he'll think, that my poop is so wonderful that mom wants to bag it and give it to people as gifts.