Adventures with Obi: HE'S BAAACK!!!!

[StarDeb55]

This update is for both Obi & Pippin.
When Pip started growing his hair back after his last groom about 8 weeks ago, the hair on his body has grown back a light tan color. His head & tail are still white. I'm thinking that maybe he has either a recessive apricot or chocolate gene somewhere. I know that poodle puppies will change color as they get older as one of my aunts used to raise poodles. She always told me that her silver poodles were born black, then the color changed as they got older. I thought she was pulling my leg, but finally got to see this happen in one of her puppies, but does an older dog change color like this? I've been asking Pip that whoever did his "dye job" forgot to take care of his head & tail.

Obi & I had an argument last Thurs. evening. He was trying to "disembowel" a stuffed toy. I use my left hand to grab his collar & jerk him away, thinking he will drop the toy. Well, I was partially right, he dropped the toy, but went after me. He didn't like me trying to get his toy AT ALL! Fortunately, I moved away fast enough that he never broke the skin, but left forearm is pretty badly bruised. Next time, I guess I'll work a trade, "here's a nice treat for you, if I can have your toy."
Speaking of mouthy, both of them have gotten into the habit of trying to eat the dead leaves when I take them out in the front yard. It's a constant battle to stop them, including pulling leaves out of their mouths. I know I'm not successful all the time, as some of the poos I've seen can be kind of strange looking.

Hope this finds everyone well.

Debbie

[Budsters Mom]

Hi Debbie,
Thanks for the update. That's toy thing is downright scary! Please be extra cautious from now on.

Pip changing colors is very interesting. Buddy's (my angel yorkie) black hair grew back silver after one of his grooms. His dark brown parts grew back light tan. It's odd when that happens, but rather fascinating too.

When you figure out how to stop your fur babies from eating leaves, please let me know A.S.A.P. I have a constant battle with my little Rosie picking up and eating anything and everything. She even tried to eat her own hair when she was groomed. I had to stop every few minutes to pull hair out of her mouth. xxxxx

[StarDeb55]

Hi, Kathy! Believe me, I already know the dangers of stuffed toy ingestion. 3 months after I got him, Obi ate 2 of the limbs off of one his toys, & ingested a lot of the stuffing, too. He had actually thrown up the feet, but ended up in surgery for a bowel obstruction, losing a fairly good size piece of his bowel. I know this danger very, very well, unfortunately.

Debbie

[mcdavis]

Cairn terriers change colour throughout their lives - I think it's because of the brindle gene so when you look closely at their fur a single hair may be 2 or more different colours. That may be the same with poodles, although ours was white his entire life.
My previous cairn was black as a puppy then went red when he was around 4, then lightened to cream retaining the red stripe down his back around 8 and was very pale cream by the time he was 12 (and constantly mistaken for a westie).
My current cairn is red but lightening a bit already, although the breeder expects him to be charcoal by the time he's 3.
They say if you own a cairn you have to remember to update their KC records (and any lost / found databases) with the colour changes

When it comes to toys etc. we try trading as Henry always seems to know when he's eating something he shouldn't, but being a terrier any attempt to take it from him results in a chase during which he often swallows the item, and we occasionally manage to identify it at a later date

[molly muffin]

Great to hear from you Deb.

We do the trade thing here too as Molly will really go for you if you try to remove something from her. Not so much toy's since she doesn't tear those up, but a rawhide, she will take your arm off (she isn't allowed to have anything like that any longer) That and she can choke of them and is a royal idiot.

Papertowls though, trade 1/2 a treat for a papertowl or some other object she has and is going to town on.

That is really interesting about the color changes. I wonder if then after the next groom it will change again. hmm..

Don't be a stranger! We love to hear what the gang is up to.
hugs,
sharlene and molly muffin

[StarDeb55]

Well, Mr. Obi has had another round of GI upset starting at the end of last week. He refused supper last Thurs. night, didn't eat all day on Fri. He was vomiting off/on, & the one time I caught it. It was very mucoid & full of grass. He was still drinking so I wasn't terribly alarmed, yet.

I did remember that the vet had told me, along with a number of postings on this board that they can have Pepcid. i picked some up on my way home Sat., gave him one, & put in a call to the vet, as my crazy man hadn't eaten in 36 hours. Well, by the time the vet called back, I could tell Obi felt a lot better. I was given instructions to feed him a bland diet, Pepcid daily, & Kaopectate, if needed for vomiting. As a side note, PeptoBismol has fallen out of favor because of the sulfasalycilic acid that is one its components. Vet said to feed him like 1 tbsp of bland food, if he keeps that down, then he can have a little more. We were doing good until about 7PM. I was on the computer waiting for the dryer to stop, Obi was laying on the bed. I turned around & found a good size spot on the mattress pad that certainly looked like bloody diarrhea to me. I told Obi, "You've convinced me, I guess we're going to the ER clinic." With his history of foreign body ingestion & a bowel obstruction, I'm not about to risk another one.

The x-rays at the ER clinic were inconclusive, the radiologist could not absolutely rule out an obstruction, but what I saw was not as obvious as the films when he was sick 2 years ago. I mean that obstruction was so bad, a child could have picked it out on the films. They sent us home with metronidazole, sulcrate, & ID dog food.

I paid for 5 films, so they told me I could bring him back in on sunday for a recheck, with films at no charge. When I got home, he met me at the door was bouncing off the walls, so I told him, "Good, we're not going back to the ER." I did a big no no, though, I stopped the metronidazole after only 3 days, supposed to have been 5. Basically, he seems to feel fine, but we went to the regular vet today as Obi was overdue for vaccines. The one thing that was bothering me about this GI issue is that his stools are really not formed yet, soft serve ice cream in consistency, along with the fact that he is probably pooping double the amount that he usually does. The vet went ahead & drew blood for a Wellness panel to make sure that there's nothing out of whack with liver or kidneys. Put him back on ID canned for five days, & wants me to pick up some type of lactobacillus supplement to try to repopulate his normal gut flora. The vet thinks that even though he feels better that something is still going on in his GI tract that is causing him to not really digest his food which is causing the increased volume of his stools.

Now, here's a chuckle for everyone. Obi really also needed a fecal done, & considering what's been going on, that was probably a good idea. We had walked over to the shelves were the food is kept, I turned around & came back. How very considerate, & thoughtful of Obi to have left a sample just inside the front door. I laughed & said at least I don't have to go following a dog around the yard. I even offered to pick it up if they would give me a sample cup, but the girls were "No, no, we'll take care of it".

Should know more by Saturday at the latest.

Debbie & the monster, aka Obi

[Bailey's Mom]

Hi Debbie-sorry Obi is under the weather. Let us know what the vet/tests showed.

[StarDeb55]

Obi's labs are all normal. I will pick up copies tomorrow as I always like to review them myself. He acts like he feels ok, but he did jump up about 2AM & run outside. I will bet anything he had to vomit, but I'm not taking a flashlight out to check. Obi just doesn't get up at night unless he's sick or he thinks the mad rapist of Chandler is breaking in, & he has to play guard dog. When he came back in, I noticed that his tummy was just rumbling & grumbling, so he got another Pepcid.

After talking to the vet, & telling him about last night's episode. I'm to restart the flagyl for 5 days, (I had to swear an oath that he would get all five days), back on ID canned food for five days, & a daily Pepcid for the immediate future. The one thing I have noticed with Obi even before this GI upset, is that he seems to have the "burps" a lot. I told the vet this and asked if dogs can develop reflux. He said they can, but it's not usually as bad as people. He, also, said that reflux could be a contributing factor to the GI upset.

Don't have the fecal exam report back yet, but I'm pretty confident that it will be negative.

That's all I know.

Debbie & Obi

[addy]

Sorry to read about Obi. Dietary indiscretion can cause GI upset so we do have to wonder about our little boy,Obi.

Deb, Zoe's tests were always normal in the beginning as well but she never vomited, just the bad stool though never bloody. Funny thing is, a local vet thought Zoe had helicobactor infection and a few years later when the IMS scoped her and did biopsies, sure enough, that was part of her diagnosis.


Let us know how things are going,ok?