Good Morning!

Turkey Tracks: Jackpot Update

This morning I slept until the radio alarm went off at 5:40 am. Jackpot sounded an immediate alarm as I usually wake up and dress before the alarm goes off.

I showered last night, so I got dressed and went down to him. He is ridiculously happy to see me in the mornings, so it is hard and funny to get his collar and harness back on so he is ready to go out and pee, which he does immediately and without fuss. Soon I’ll be able to take him out off leash for this morning outing, but I still need to see his poop and I don’t want him to do it in the woods. The draw back for him is he knows he’ll get his breakfast as soon as we go back inside.

I seem to have lost yesterday in terms of posting. We had a good day. There were two good walks, ONE good poop (no more diarrhea), no accidents in the house for many days now—and I’m learning when he needs to go out. He’s started giving me “the look” that says “I need something.”

I’m close to moving back to the living/dining room table with him if he’s pooped in the morning and if I continue to take him out frequently, which I will. He still has to have my eyes on him though so he doesn’t get into mischief. He loves the big dog bed in that room, and the long hall allows for a ball to be rolled down it. He would love having the extra space, I know.

The blood work yesterday at the lab is still too low—but after the hookworm infestation and so much of the antibiotic metronidazole, it is going to take some time for him to regroup and replenish red blood cells. AND it’s going to take even longer to reorient his gut flora and fauna as antibiotics kill the good and the bad. And this antibiotic also wipes out the mucus lining of the stomach, etc. He’s on his nourishing raw food from Rebel Raw, and I have the food I made for him using some ingredients from My Pet Carnivore. And I ordered, yesterday, the complete raw chicken food from Rebel Raw. The food variety is needed in his diet so he doesn’t start up any food allergies. And different proteins bring different sets of goodies to the table.

The blood test at the vets is $85 a pop! And they wanted to do another one on Friday. That’s too soon. He needs some time. I cancelled Friday’s vet appointment until the already paid for DNA kit comes in—at which time I might consider another blood test since they will be drawing blood. He is anemic right now, for sure. As a result, he tries to eat dirt and goes after any of the wild animal poop he can find up in the neighbor’s meadow. I stop him if I can, but he does often get some. He now grabs and runs, as if it is a very fun game.

It is interesting to me that he totally ignores whatever dog poop he passes, so clearly he’s trying to heal himself with wild fecal matter—and I’m not sure that is such a terrible idea given what we know now about fecal transplants for dogs who have intestinal issues. BUT, he also picks up rocks and carries them in his mouth until I remove them. That part I don’t like. And I don’t like the dirt eating—which is a clear sign of nutritional deficiencies. Dogs DO need soil bacteria though—and most city dogs don’t get sufficient soil bacteria as many are always walked on pavement.

I’ve stopped the Slippery Elm now. And he’s getting a daily probiotic from the vets and from Glenna at Sweet Pups. He’s also getting small amounts of dried colostrum, Saccharomyces boulardi (a GOOD yeast that helps repopulate the gut and drives out bad yeast created by too many starches in industrial dog food), a short course of milk thistle powder to detox all the chemicals he’s had, a Four Leaf Rover organic mushroom mix that will boost his immunity (mushrooms are magic), and the last of the organic bone broth.

Next week, I’ll give him the second dose of the dewormer from the vet and will follow up with another fecal sample. And in mid October some time, I’ll give him the second Heartgard to clean out any heartworms he brought from Texas. And that will be it for the winter, assuming his fecal test is clean. In the spring, I’ll test for heartworms—that’s a blood test. If he is clear and he is healthy, likely I’ll not use more Heartgard, which is a double-edge sword for dogs, in that yes, it can stop heartworms and other parasites, but it is hard on their bodies and they never develop an immune system that can handle these issues—which animals in the wild can do. Fecal tests and a yearly heartworm blood test would be an indicator of trouble.

You know, one reason that we have these toxic business models in all our medicine now is that we have been conditioned to be afraid of everything and to “protect” by using a lot of chemicals that promise prevention, but which also have significant unintended consequences, especially when they are all mixed up together. It’s a tough line to walk today, for sure. And we all just have to do the best we can with our informed consent decisions. For me, it is better to have a dog who can run free on my property and on most walks, a dog who is a team member with me, a dog who is happy because he can be a dog in most every sense of being “dog.” I’ll accept the risks that come with that decision. And I’m so lucky that I live where I can have a dog in this way. I’ll be happy when I can train JP on the outdoor radio fence, so I don’t have to worry if he runs down the front hill or out into the woods. But right now, JP has enough to manage on his plate.

Yesterday I tried out the quilt room for a short period. I put down the beautiful dog bed I’ll use and brought in the toy bucket, and after a struggle to figure out the door gate got that up, sat quietly to see what JP would do. He fussed for a bit and then laid down on the floor and rested. He’d had two walks/runs, so he wasn’t antsy. So…. I think that will work for piecing and cutting, but not yet for the longarm. Soon.

I left the door to the quilt room open last night, and he went inside in the dark several times, and I think his trips were to check out the dog bed.

There’s a whole lotta beagle in that puppy. But I see the terrier too. And I still say there is some retriever some where as he carries things in his mouth and brings back things thrown to him without prompting.

Have a great day everyone!

We’re off for a morning walk soon, and the afternoon will bring thunderstorms and rain. That might make a good time for the quilt room.