Last month I got quite concerned about little Charlie Basset. He stopped eating! After showing zero interest in his morning kibble I decided to consult the Basset manual. The manual basically describes Basset Hounds as humble priests that only bow down to an alter of food. The manual says, and I quote “…you can train your Basset to walk on water for food…”.
Needless to say, I paged straight to the sickness and wellbeing section of the manual. I carefully read through all the known health issues and symptoms and simply couldn’t find one that matched Charlie’s behavior. The closest I got was gastric torsion; this happens when your dog eats too much air and it gets trapped in the GIT causing massive discomfort, pain and… loss of appetite. The manual said it can be fatal in a matter of hours. So I picked up Charlie and massaged his belly while holding him upright all the time listening for the movement and release of trapped air…
Nothing…
What could it be???
I wasn’t convinced by the symptoms, he was still as playful and happy as the day we got him. No signs of discomfort either, just a loss in appetite. 12 hours later his bowl of food was still untouched. He wouldn’t even eat his special treats or even sausage!!!
I spent that night checking on Charlie every hour for signs of stress or pain to no avail. He seemed perfectly healthy. The next day he ate a little after being messaged for around 20 minutes but it was only about a ¼ of his usual quantity. By that evening I was convinced that I should take him to the vet. I was so close to loading him up into my bakkie to the vet before I noticed something…
There…
…between his legs…
This dog had a serious boner!
Could it be??? His love of food has just temporarily been blocked out by…
...other needs…
My Charlie is growing up so quickly *sniff-sniff* (I'm listening to 'Alphaville - forever young' and crying helplessly right now)...{no, not really, what do you take me for!?}
I chose not to go to the vet and instead monitor his… penis… till I got an answer. That very afternoon I got a sign (I'll leave out the desciption here to address my TMI comment from a previous post). Charlie tried to hump my leg as I was brushing his coat. Slightly disgusted but less worried about his condition, I retired to bed to have a good night’s sleep. The next day, I was able to draw a pattern, every time I gave Charlie attention he got a boner! By the afternoon he was humping the edge of his tyre bed.
Sigh! (…of relief more than anything)
All is well now, I guess his hunger took over from his hormones after three days of eating a fraction of food.
Needless to say, I paged straight to the sickness and wellbeing section of the manual. I carefully read through all the known health issues and symptoms and simply couldn’t find one that matched Charlie’s behavior. The closest I got was gastric torsion; this happens when your dog eats too much air and it gets trapped in the GIT causing massive discomfort, pain and… loss of appetite. The manual said it can be fatal in a matter of hours. So I picked up Charlie and massaged his belly while holding him upright all the time listening for the movement and release of trapped air…
Nothing…
What could it be???
I wasn’t convinced by the symptoms, he was still as playful and happy as the day we got him. No signs of discomfort either, just a loss in appetite. 12 hours later his bowl of food was still untouched. He wouldn’t even eat his special treats or even sausage!!!
I spent that night checking on Charlie every hour for signs of stress or pain to no avail. He seemed perfectly healthy. The next day he ate a little after being messaged for around 20 minutes but it was only about a ¼ of his usual quantity. By that evening I was convinced that I should take him to the vet. I was so close to loading him up into my bakkie to the vet before I noticed something…
There…
…between his legs…
This dog had a serious boner!
Could it be??? His love of food has just temporarily been blocked out by…
...other needs…
My Charlie is growing up so quickly *sniff-sniff* (I'm listening to 'Alphaville - forever young' and crying helplessly right now)...{no, not really, what do you take me for!?}
I chose not to go to the vet and instead monitor his… penis… till I got an answer. That very afternoon I got a sign (I'll leave out the desciption here to address my TMI comment from a previous post). Charlie tried to hump my leg as I was brushing his coat. Slightly disgusted but less worried about his condition, I retired to bed to have a good night’s sleep. The next day, I was able to draw a pattern, every time I gave Charlie attention he got a boner! By the afternoon he was humping the edge of his tyre bed.
Sigh! (…of relief more than anything)
All is well now, I guess his hunger took over from his hormones after three days of eating a fraction of food.
