Kitty was late for school again last Saturday. Again, I take complete responsibility. I’m actually kind of glad we were late for that particular class though. I kind of dreaded it all week. Why? You might ask. Well, because the week before the instructor told us that our dogs would have to come to class really, really, really, really, really hungry. He said that we would be practicing several new commands, and that we would be giving our dogs LOTS of treats. Sooooo, our dogs would have to be extremely hungry in order to be motivated by the treats we were going to be offering.
It’s not that I don’t like giving Kitty treats. I just don’t like giving her too many treats, primarily because of her sensitive stomach. Another reason is because her actual meals are only about a tablespoon and a half. So, to give her a whole bunch of treats might mean having to overfeed her… and potentially make her sick. Anyhoo, after all the reading I’ve been doing on what goes in to dog food, I dread giving her treats even more.
Last Thursday (two days before the “lotsa treats” class), Kitty got sick shortly after waking up. Judging from past occasions when she threw up, I was pretty certain she was not sick because of something she had eaten, but probably more so because she had not eaten enough the day before. I have read before that dogs sometimes vomit bile if they go too long without eating. I think Kitty’s last meal Wednesday night was earlier than usual because I went to bed earlier than usual. She is used to eating her last meal at around 2 a.m.
After she was sick on Thursday afternoon, I did a quick internet search about why dogs vomit bile, and I found some info about how their stomachs may produce too much acid or bile when they do not eat for a prolonged period of time. Kitty is used to eating about every 4 to 5 hours and shortly before she goes to bed for the night. Then she usually eats soon after she wakes up.
In the past, whenever she has gotten sick, she has stayed sick for a period of about 24-48 hours, with bouts of vomiting, dry heaves, retching, and lethargy. This time she just threw up once, was a bit out of sorts for about an hour or two, and then after I fed her a teeny bit of honey, she was up and around again. (I read somewhere online that giving dogs a bit of honey after they’ve thrown up bile can sometimes help prevent them from developing hypoglycemia.)
Needless to say, she was fine after the honey and for the rest of the day. But it was a busy day, and we were not home for a large portion of the evening. So once again, Kitty did not eat at her usual time, or as much as she usually does. The following morning (Friday) she threw up bile again. I tried the honey again, but she was not responsive to it. She was acting better after about an hour or so, but I still decided to have her checked. That afternoon I took her to a new vet, who changed her dog food. This time she was prescribed ROYAL CANIN for intestinal health.
I will admit that I did not research the new dog food before allowing Kitty to eat it, primarily because all I have been reading regarding dog food really just has me turned off to dog food in general. Not to mention that, once again, I figured that since it was a prescription brand, it would be okay.
Unfortunately, the new food (Royal Canin) did not sit well with her. She did not throw up, but she was not completely herself for the four days she ate it. She seemed a bit lethargic and would make little moaning noises from time to time, as if she was not feeling well. Also, she began licking her paws a LOT, which is a sign that dogs are allergic to something in the food. I guess the licking is their way of calming itchiness or soothing skin irritations.
The food also had a very strong odor to it. The night before her class last Saturday, I decided to try and make teeny tiny treat-sized meatballs of her dog food to use for her class, rather than giving her “junk food” treats. I figured she could just get her meal during class, but in treat-form. Well, in rolling little bits of dog food into little balls, my hands must have absorbed the smell of the food. What’s odd is that I washed my hands about five times, and the smell would still not go away! Isn’t that weird?
I figured I would allow Kitty to finish a can of Royal Canin dog food before deciding if I would continue giving it to her. It takes her about four days to finish a can of dog food, and she eats about three or four times a day. On Tuesday, I decided she would go back to her usual prescription dog food. At least that one did not make her itch so much.
I have been considering switching her to a homemade dog food diet, but I still have not made up my mind. I’ll write more about that later.
In the meantime, Kitty has not gotten much practice on the new commands she is supposed to be learning for this week’s class because I am afraid to give her too many treats. Ugh.
Fortunately, two of the commands (sit and down) are commands that I had actually already tried teaching her in the past. I was proud to discover that I did a decent job. Not that Kitty has mastered either of those commands, but I did go about teaching her the correct way. I still wonder if Kitty will ever master ANY command I try to teach her. She seems to have a mind of her own. Sometimes she responds; sometimes she finds other things more interesting…
I guess we’ll see how class goes today…
Poor Kitty - I hope she is feeling better now! My dogs used to throw up bile a lot so I am very familiar with the "not eating makes dogs vomit" stuff. They also used to eat grass which made them throw up, too! It's not fun to clean up that hot, yellow, liquid! Thankfully Bella learned and doesn't do it anymore, but Cosmo often still lets his stomach growl so loudly I can hear it in the next room. It's like he thinks hunger means his stomach hurts/he's sick so he doesn't eat until I give him some meat - then he will go over to his dish of dog food and finally eat, weird guy! (I didn't know that about the honey - I might do that instead next time!)
ReplyDeleteBella was on the Royal Canin as her very first dog food when we bought her from her breeder at 7 weeks old, but as I wrote in one of my first comments, she wasn't on it for very long. It's just like having babies - some do good with breastmilk, others don't, some do fine with all formula, for others it takes a long time finding the right one, some can eat any foods, others have allergies to almost everything. You are getting good practice if you ever do have a child!