What did I NOT need last night? A sick dog!!
It was about 11:30 when I went to bed last night. I really am such a chicken when I’m here alone that I have to stay up til I can no longer hold my eyes open and then I fall right to sleep or else I hear every sound this house makes, every sound the wind makes, every sound that isn’t even being made . . and I can literally make myself sick. I will get used to it after a week or so but for now, dark is a scary time for me. I’ve always been afraid of the dark. I can remember as a teen waking my dad up in the middle of the night when I remembered I’d left my keys in the car and he’d have to get up and come watch me walk three steps out to the car, grab my keys, hurry back inside, thankful no one had grabbed me.
1:22 a.m. Rita woke up. She gets so upset with change and I’m sure being separated from Vince isn’t helping. She’s so attached to him and to her, I’m someone she puts up with when he isn’t around. I took her outside – in the dark. It’s very dark here. No street lights. I was wishing I had some big flood lights on at least the front corners of the house but we don’t and we really don’t need them for the few times we’re out with the dog.
She did whatever she had to do, came back in, went back to bed. Less than an hour later, she woke me up again. This went on til about 3:00 when I put puppy pads down in the sunroom. There’s tile floor in there and she seems to know to go in there when she has to. I sat up and knitted to be sure she was ok. About 4:30, she fell asleep on her pillow next to the sunroom so I went to bed, with the alarm set for 6:30 because I fully expected to wake up and find the movers sitting in front of the house. They weren’t. Vince talked to them and they said they should be here by noon. I should be taking a nap and I probably will.
Rita seems ok – a little wimpy but she was happy to eat and so far, she hasn’t thrown up or had excessive trips outside. Vince wants me to take her to the vet. She’s been to the vet (once here, twice in Texas) three times in the last month – same issue. The vet here did all kinds of blood work, poop inspections, and couldn’t find anything wrong. I think it’s just the move and all the craziness going on and today certainly isn’t going to help with the movers arriving and people running around. Maybe after it’s all done, us staying here a little longer, as well as having the familiar smells of home will make her feel better. If not, I’ll have to take her back to the vet tomorrow.
During the night I read a lot about her tummy issues. Both vets say give her chicken, rice and a little yogurt. I read last night to make the rice very liquid so I put it in the Instant Pot this morning. Instead of a ratio of 1:1.5, I did a 1 cup rice to 3 cups water and it was soupy. I also read that unsweetened applesauce was good. I bought a big bag of apples yesterday so I think I may peel some of those and put them in the food processor and add a little of that to her food. I also read that pumpkin is good so maybe I’ll put a little of that in her food (not apples AND pumpkin – though it sounds pretty yummy). I guess today, with all that’s going on, the easiest thing to do will be to open a can of pumpkin.
Otherwise .. tomorrow I’ll take her to the vet and see what they have to say.
Sara Fridley says
Poor Rita. Hopefully it’s just anxiety about the changes like you say. I know a few people who have similar reactions to change.
Judy Laquidara says
I feel so bad for her and I’m doing the best I can. It probably didn’t help that I left yesterday morning, went to the bank and grocery shopping and was gone for several hours.
Marie S Gilkey says
Judy, not sure how much canned pumpkin you have but there is going to be one heck of a shortage come next month, they are saying. I know I asked daughter to see if she could find any small cans for me, cause I bought the only one the store had yesterday.
Judy Laquidara says
Walmart here had plenty of Libby’s pumpkin yesterday – small and large cans. I also have probably 50 big Seminole pumpkins from the garden that I could process if needed. But, I do have plenty of storebought canned pumpkin. Because I knew I wanted to make the pumpkin gingerbread, and I had heard about the shortage, I brought a couple of cans from home that hadn’t been packed but was happy to see that Walmart was well stocked with it yesterday. Of course, that doesn’t meant they’ll have it today or anytime between now and Thanksgiving.
Judy H says
Too much pumpkin can cause loose stool, so start with a small amount until you know how she handles it. Poor baby. I don’t always do change well, either!
Judy Laquidara says
Thanks! I always added pumpkin or sweet potato to the homemade food but it ended up being a very small amount when mixed with everything else. Maybe I’ll stick with a bit of apple.
Karen Sutton says
I sometimes have to give our 8 lb Maltese half a children’s benadryl. It was recommended by our vet and it does seem to calm him down without making him a drugged zombie. Poor Rita – pets seem to have such a hard time adjusting to change. Now that I think about it so do I on occasion! Bob left this morning for the country and Ollie will have me up off and on all night listening for him to come home and running to the door barking.
Judy Laquidara says
Maybe YOU should take a Benadryl before bed tonight. 🙂
I’ll ask the vet about giving Rita part of a children’s benadryl. Thanks for that tip.
Linda in NE says
When the movers come it might be best to have Rita closed up in one of the bathrooms with her bed, water, and puppy pads. Having strangers running in & out of the house could be very upsetting for her. Poor pup, she has to be feeling very disoriented & anxious right now.
Judy Laquidara says
Rita loves people and she thinks they’ve all come to see her. They do stop and pet her every time they walk through. She’s happiest when she has a big audience of adoring fans! 🙂
Sam H says
While fostering for rescue organizations we used Fortiflora you can buy it either from vets office or Amazon. I also like goatsmilk and Honest kitchen digestive. Good luck!
Judy Laquidara says
Thanks for that tip. The vet in MO did give me some samples of a probiotic. I may see about getting what you’ve recommended.
Nelle Coursey says
We have given our dogs pumpkin before, several times. We have also given them Pepto-Bismol, with the doctors approval of course.