Diary – Page 19 – My Cocker Spaniel

Hoshi got sick from cheese

Cheese used to be Hoshi’s favorite treat. Not anymore! He still loves it but I won’t give him any. I was making myself lunch and Hoshi saw me take out the cheese. He begged right away since he loves it. It was cheddar I think. I cut him a small piece and gave it to him. The next day he had diarrhea. He had diarrhea for several days and was miserable. Days later, I was cleaning his butt (it was all poopied). His but was RAW. Very Raw. He must have been scooting or licking–not sure. I felt so bad for him. It took about a week for the diarrhea clear up. His rear started to look better too. I gave him Benadryl. I think it helped.

Hoshi had his bath and trim yesterday. I was tempted to shave him down after all the trouble he had been having but didn’t since it’s so cold out.

“Enhanced with chicken broth”

I bought some chicken thighs at Kroger the other day. They were boneless. I really didn’t notice that or the fact the label read “Enhanced with 35% chicken broth.” Well, they gave him loose stools. I’d like to know why it has this? I won’t buy them again.

Picture Day

It didn’t turn out as good as I planned. I made the mistake of not feeding Hoshi before his pictures. I brought treats to the studio so I could get him to sit and lie down. He was so hungry he wouldn’t cooperate with us. It would have helped if I had practiced his obedience. It’s been ages since I told him “down” so he had trouble posing for the camera.

He also had fits in the lobby and I couldn’t figure out why. He kept crying and started barking at the counter. He was really getting out of control. Then I realized one of the staff had their lunch (hot dogs) sitting on the counter. He has to learn not every meal is his. We did manage to get a couple good pictures.

Fleas, fleas and more fleas

Hoshi’s fleas have been having a gay old time till today. My order of Advantage came in the mail today. I bathed Hoshi this morning. He must have had a lot of them on him because I saw them drowned in the bath. Several fell off him while I was toweling him dry too. There were still a few survivors in his fur. I caught a glimpse of them while I was blow drying him. I put the Advantage on him this afternoon. I was surprised how much fluid was in each vial (2.5 ml) that’s a roughly a 3 cc syringe we use in the ER. I must have placed about 10 drops down the length of his back before the vial was empty.

I’m hoping the Advantage will do a better job than the Frontline.

Raw diet so far

Hoshi definitely can’t tolerate his dry food (Royal Canin Cocker Spaniel). A few days ago we ran out of unthawed chicken. I decided to give him some of his dry food. Also, Hoshi’s poos had been extremely dry lately. I kid you not, Hoshi’s stool a few days ago was so dry it crumbled as it hit the side walk. So, I figured giving him some dry food would act like a stool softener. Well, it acted more like a laxative. He had loose stools for three days. Now I’m sure Hoshi would have tolerated it better if it was slowly introduced in his diet although he’s never done exceptionally well on any dog food he’s tried.

Anyways, he’s doing well on the raw diet. I just need to add something to keep his stools from getting too dry and hard.