Sick As A Dog

A few weeks back, we started giving Jackson marrow bones a couple of times a week. He loves them, and the hours of chewing do wonders for his teeth. Win-win.

Then, last Monday, I gave him a marrow bone and he disappeared it in minutes, not hours. Same batch of bones, and we were keeping them frozen, so no idea why this bone was different. Whatever. He seemed none the worse for it.

Tuesday into Wednesday, we both noticed that his poop seemed looser than usual. But not off-the-charts. Whatever.

Wednesday night, we came home from dinner with friends. I took Jackson out. His poop looked damn near like diarrhea. Hmm.

Then, back in the house, we noticed some diarrhea on the floor, near the door, as if he hadn't quite been able to hold himself together till we got outside. Hmmmm. We cleaned it up and crossed our fingers.

Then, about half-an-hour later, we heard an odd noise.

"Was that you?" Stacy asked from the living room.

"No. Did Jackson puke?" I asked from upstairs.

Stacy checked the kitchen; Jackson had puked. All his dinner had come out in one large tidy pile of kibble loaf, with pieces of bone in it. I scooped it up with a spatula.

Over the next six hours, Jackson spent a lot of time in the backyard, puking and squirting diarrhea. We used the hose to keep things clean. Stacy spent the night on the couch in the kitchen (big kitchen), next to Jackson, so that she could pop up and get him into the yard whenever he needed. Happened several times. Last puke around midnight, last diarrhea around 4 AM.

Thursday, we gave Jackson just a bit of kibble for breakfast, and stuck to the alleys for walks. Still diarrhea, but he had no problem holding it in till we walked - no accidents, no urgent trips to the backyard. And no puking. In the evening, we gave him a cup of kibble.

Friday morning, we gave Jackson almost his normal breakfast. Stools loose, but under control. Friday evening, full meal, and his poop was pretty much back to normal.

This morning, normal meal, normal poop, crisis over. Way leery of the marrow bones, though. I threw out the batch we had, and we know now that we shouldn't have let Jackson eat the actual bone. Once the marrow's gone, it's time to take the bone away.

Unfortunately, Jackson has to pay the tuition for our education.