Chief is sick. Hopefully he's going to be fine, but still. This morning, he didn't greet me when I went outside and didn't come when I called him. I found him over in his trough drinking water, which he promptly puked up. He then followed me around the rest of the morning like he normally does, but he was really lethargic. He wasn't his usual bouncy in-the-way, pain-in-the-butt self. He was still reasonably interested in his surroundings and what was going on, he was just a bit listless. I gave him some kibble for breakfast, and he wouldn't eat it. I gave him a satin ball, and he ate that. I don't know if he puked it up later, but he probably did.
I checked on him throughout the day and he was still kinda blah. I tried to catch him pooping to see how his poop was, but I couldn't catch him in the act and a walkthrough of the pasture turned up no Chief poop. I decided that if he didn't eat his next meal, he was going to the vet. Dinner came at about 3:00 and he still didn't eat. I even offered him a whole raw egg- his favorite forbidden treat- and he turned it down. If Chief turns down and egg, there is definitely something wrong. He's been drinking tons of water all day, and throwing up water and bits of grass and stuff every few hours.
Found a vet that would squeeze him in if we hurried. I'm sick (bad cold/maybe flu) so DH took him in for me. Sucks, because DH doesn't know nearly as much about the dogs as I do, but I was really in no shape to go. DH told the vet his symptoms (vomiting, lethargy, lack of appetite.) Vet did a CBC, abdominal x-ray, urinalisys, and a fecal. I wasn't there to ask questions or get specifics, (and again, DH is really not very well versed in dog-stuff at all) but apparently they induced vomiting too, which is weird to me since he'd been puking all day, but I guess it can't hurt.
X-rays showed no blackages, and the vet wanted to know if he'd eaten anything "weird." Well...define weird? Chief lives outside with goats. He eats goat crap, horse crap, chicken crap, tons of raw meat (some of it not so fresh) catches wild animals and eats them...I guess he eats alot of things that could potentially make him sick. DH tried to explain that he was a working dog and lived outside and he could have potentially gotten into LOTS of things...and apparently the vet went into a big spiel about "letting dogs roam" and how "we need to keep him inside or tied up," and overall just acted like we were incredibly irresponsible owners for having a dog that has free run of our property.
When DH said he was a working dog, and tried to explain what an LGD did, the vet said "That's completely irrelevant. Supervise him while he's working and then bring him inside. There's no reason to leave a puppy outside to fend for himself like that."
DH gave up at that point.
Anyway, I have no idea what the results were on any of the tests she ran, she apparently didn't tell DH. She's closed now so I'm going to have to call her in the morning and get specifics. She she gave him some fluids and told us to give him plain Pedialyte to drink. She also gave us Famatidine(sp? Isn't that what's in PepcidAC??) and he's getting 20mg every 12 hours. She told us to fast him tonight and then offer him boiled chicken and rice starting tomorrow and just give him that for the next 72 hours.
She said to watch him for signs of shock, and told us what to look for, and said to bring him in if he gets worse or if he doesn't feel any better within 48 hours. We brought him inside tonight, which he hates- he wants to be with his goats- but it's cold and I don't want him wasting energy trying to keep warm.
So is there anything else I should be doing for him?? I'm assuming he just ate something that disagreed with him, but who knows.
Please send Chieferson your good thoughts. He's had a very tough day.