Nigel’s Digestive System
Nigel, as some of you know, is prone to attacks of nonspecific colitis (note that this linked page contains images of dogs and cats mid-attack, as well as an accurately nauseating picture of the end result, so please don’t follow the link if you’re squeamish), and it will hit without warning, usually two or three times a year. Last night I came home to discover it had happened again.
He was checked out thoroughly by his vet during the first attack, and it was pronounced nonspecific–no parasites, no germs, no cancer, no foreign bodies . . . just one of those weird things that happens occasionally. They told me what to do, and said that I shouldn’t bother bringing him in unless he’s not responding to home treatment. If he’s not responding, he needs emergency treatment, but thankfully that hasn’t been necessary since that first scary, baffling attack.
Sometimes it seems to be triggered by stress, but I can’t always figure out what causes an individual attack. The only thing to do is to hit it hard, and immediately, with fasting and starchy water or broth to prevent dehydration (he won’t drink plain water when he’s sick, and he doesn’t like the electrolyte drinks the vet said were worth trying), and be there to take him outside ASAP if and when the cramps hit and just generally make a fuss over him. After about half a day, he can usually handle a small amount of kibble mixed with something bland or starchy, and build back to his normal diet from there.
Happily, Nigel seems to be doing much, much better than he was this time yesterday. Still not quite fully up to snuff, but close enough that I felt okay leaving him for thirty minutes to make a run to buy food.
Not that I strictly needed to buy food, or at least starches, because last night I panicked while making up Nigel’s requisite bland pabulum and dumped the nearly the entire jar of rice (arborio, the only stuff I had on hand) into my biggest pot. I now have approximately three pints of leftover sticky, starchy, gummy rice sitting in the fridge, which is way more than Nigel could (or at least should) eat for the forseeable future. It’s more rice than I eat in a year, actually; I occasionally go on rice binges, but not very often. In addition, I have probably about a quart of starchy rice water left over, unnecessary now because he’s back to drinking plain filtered water.* I suppose I’ll freeze it for the next time, the way I did with the leftover vegetable stock last time.
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*Yes, my dog drinks filtered water. Do you have a problem with that?
