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About three weeks ago, our dog started doing weird stuff, like she wouldn't walk with us. She'd stop after a block and plunk her butt down and refuse to continue. She's got a bit of an attitude, so while it was odd, it was within the realm of her personality to be uppity.
She began itching incessantly. She's had allergies before, so we did what our vet had said to do before and gave her Benydryl, but it didn't seem to help. Ultimately, it was another expensive vet bill to get a stronger anti-histamine and an antibiotic so the spots raw from itching didn't get infected. The vet said at that time she seemed to look great other than that.
Next, she had the runs, and she vomited a couple of times, not long after, but she also often does that. She's had intestinal issues since we brought her home from the pound, and anything from emotional upset to snarfing something up in the yard can set it off. Honestly, she would have been dead along time ago if we weren't constantly pulling garbage out of her mouth. So, again, we didn't worry too much.
But then she had a day and night of A LOT of vomiting, this time bile, and she didn't look so good. Not connecting all of the stuff that had happened in the last week or two (because remember, this dog has issues and none of any of that was abnormal, taken alone...and we've spent more money on vet visits for this dog than we did in 10 years with our pure bred German Shepard and we've learned to recognize and deal with the issues)we figured it was a doggie bug of some sort, so we stayed up with her most of the night and fed her ice cubes to keep her hydrated and hoped she would make it to morning for another vet visit.
I left for the conference the next day. My husband kept an eye on the dog. He cooked chicken and rice for her all weekend, and gave her plain yogurt periodically, but she didn't eat or drink much. This is diet usually snaps her out of it when she gets sick. And he said it did help a little , but still, she's not herself and there are times when she seems to be in pain. It is at this point we finally start to wonder if this isn't just the 'usual' pain in the butt stuff, but if she is really sick. The last few weeks start to connect and look like one symptom picture instead of a bunch of typical days in life with Dharma. As I'm telling this to my aunt, she suggests it might be Dharma's food. Now, we bought Nurto food because she had problems with wheat, and she's eaten this food since she was a baby because anything else makes her soooooo sick. But my aunt tells me there is a dog food recall and suggests I check it out. I do.
It is then I find this:
Dog Food Recall
and this:
Dogs and cats getting sick and dying on Nutro
With this in front of me and in hindsight, it is now easy to see what is wrong with my poor dog!
I hope we caught it in time. Some of these people spent thousands in vet bills and still lost their precious friends because it seems there's nothing to do but stop the continuing damage and try to reverse the damage that's already been done.
We are now cooking for our dog. I looked up proper proportions (40% lean meat, 30% veggie, 30% starch) and we are feeding her the homemade stuff. However, last night, she was up puking again, and then again this morning. She hadn't for a few days, but then again, she wasn't eating or drinking much.
If we caught this in time, we could be on a slow road to recovery. Otherwise we are just keeping her comfortable and less hungry while she walks the green mile. People with pets, if they are acting funny, think about contaminated dog food before anything else! If Dharma wasn't such a sickie on a regular basis, we might have thought to do so sooner, but now that we know what we do, maybe it can help someone else.
Dharma appreciates any healing thoughts you'd like to send her way.
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