Me: “It is hard to believe that seven years have passed since we began Barking from the Bayou.”
Pierre Westie: “Hang on there one minute! I am way too young to think about retirement. I have lots of things left to bark about and our readers count on us to give them something to smile about once a week.”
Last month we wrote about our newest affiliate partner, GetPetPortrait. I can’t tell you how much I love my canvas print of the boys. We hung it in the Barking from the Bayou office so we can show it off. Anyway, I’ve told you my opinion, but Bentley and Pierre wanted to bark about them too.
Bentley
Basset: “Thanks,
Mom. I don’t want our readers to miss out on being the best Santa Paws ever
this Christmas. Here we are just a couple of weeks away from the big day and
lots of folks still haven’t ordered their GetPetPortrait. This is SERIOUS!”
“Barking from the Bayou is
a participant in the GoAffPro Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising
program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by
advertising and linking to the partner site”
Pierre Westie: “Maybe Mom forgot to tell them they could save 15% off their order with our affiliate code: BFTB. You know how she gets sometimes. (Rotates paw next to his head) I mean, who could resist putting their best friend in a fabulous portrait. We look totally awesome in ours.”
Bentley:
“What
in the world is all the commotion? Why would y’all be hollerin’ at me when I’m
clearly not through sleeping? I am not deaf, ya know.”
Mom, Dad & Pierre: “HAPPY
BIRTHDAY!! We love you!”
Bentley:
“Awww,
thanks you guys. That is really sweet of y’all to remember. Now, if you’ll
excuse me, nature calls.”
*Bentley
has agreed to a sit-down interview for his birthday AFTER he takes care of his "business" and
enjoys a hearty breakfast. Teenagers…what are you going to do?
Pierre is a nine-year-old West Highland Terrier. He has had stomach issues his entire life. For years, it was the occasional vomit of yellow bile. His stomach would make a gurgling noise, he would whine one time and that was all the warning we usually received. To be honest, we didn’t worry too much about it. He would eat and be perfectly fine. It wasn’t a problem until it was and then it was just scary. You can read about that episode in Our Poor Little Guy.
Over
the past two years, we have been extremely diligent in not allowing Pierre to
eat anything other than his prescription food, prescription treats and boiled
chicken breast. He has been doing great until a couple of weeks ago. His stomach
started making noise around 3:00am and by 3:10 I was in the backyard with him
while he threw up and started having diarrhea. His stomach was full to touch
and he had gas. We were shocked and disheartened. He had been doing sooooo
well! I still had medicine from his previous bout of “gastroenteritis” which
stops the two main symptoms. We continued this for another day before deciding
to call the vet.
They
did a complete blood workup, x-rayed his stomach and I also brought a stool
sample for testing. Pierre was given subcutaneous
fluid (under his skin) while he was there. We left him there and picked
him up a couple of hours later. He was already feeling better when they brought
him to us. We kept him in his kennel in the living room so we could make sure
he was okay. If he got sick, we could control the mess to his bedding. (Both
the boys love their kennel and will go sleep in it anytime its in the house) He
was only sick one more time.
The vet called the next morning to check on
Pierre. He was acting like his normal fun-loving self so she would call back
with the test results.
The fecal result was negative for parasites, so we were waiting for the test
for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. We all were fairly certain it would come back
positive. The lab needed more blood, so we had to take Pierre back up for another
blood draw.
We
received the news yesterday that Pierre does have IBD. I’ve done some quick
research on the subject and this is what I know so far…
What is IBD?
Inflammatory
bowel disease causes the inflammation of the intestines and chronic symptoms
that are related to the gastrointestinal system. Veterinarians don’t really
know the exact cause and that is one of the reasons Pierre was diagnosed with
gastroenteritis. The culprit is believed to be an abnormal immune system
response to normal inhabitant bacteria in the intestine causing inflammation.
It can affect dogs of any age, but it is seen more often in middle-aged and
senior dogs.
What are the Symptoms
of IBD?
• Diarrhea
• Weight Loss
• Depression
• Chronic intermittent
vomiting
• Gas
• Abdominal pain
• Rumbling and
gurgling stomach
• Bright red blood in
stool
• Unable to get
comfortable
• Panting/rapid
breathing
What is the Cause of
IBD?
This
is a tough one to answer because there are several factors that could be the
cause. Hypersensitivity to bacteria and/or food allergies are thought to be a
major influence in this disease. Food sensitivities include meat proteins, food
additives, artificial coloring, preservatives, mile proteins, and gluten (wheat).
Pierre’s current prescription food and treats both contain wheat which is what
probably caused his flare-up.
Pierre
has been dealing with this since he was a pup, so I believe genetics also played a
role in his diagnosis.
How to Find Out if
Your Dog has IBD
Your
vet needs to know your dog’s history with stomach issues. Pierre has only been
seeing our vet for the last two and half years. We are very appreciative that
she recommended this test, so we have a diagnosis based on bloodwork.
A
complete physical exam, blood count, biochemistry profile and urinalysis will
be needed along with a fecal exam to rule out parasites. X-rays can show any
abnormalities. We could see the gas in Pierre’s stomach on his x-ray. There are
more in-depth tests that might be needed if a diagnosis is not obvious through
the lab work. Your vet will advise you of which would be best for your dog.
Is there a Cure?
There
is really no cure for IBD, but it can be successfully managed. The goal is different
for each dog in accordance with the severity of their symptoms.
For
Pierre, we are striving to stop his nausea, gassiness, and diarrhea long
term. He is currently taking an 1/8 of a teaspoon of Tylosin sprinkled
on his food twice daily. It is amazing how such a small amount of medicine can
make such a difference but so far, so good.
We
are also transitioning him to a prescription hydrolyzed food. That means it’s
made with hydrolyzed proteins that break down into tiny pieces so the can be
easily absorbed. This will have less chance of causing an immune reaction than
regular proteins.
In
addition to changing his diet, we are adding probiotics to his meals.
This
will be a lifelong issue but one that we will hopefully be able to control now
that we’ve identified the problem. Throughout the entire ordeal, Pierre has still
been the happiest little man ever!
Resources: PetMD
We are so
thankful to the veterans who have served and fought for our freedom.
God bless America.
We
can’t thank everyone enough for all of the amazing trick videos we received!
There are some incredibly talented pups out there and all of you deserve a
round of applause.
Our third-place
winner is the adorable one-year-old Dalmatian, Diva saying her prayers.
Diva will love her bag of Coconut Smiles!
I am so excited for today’s post because I'm going to introduce you to GetPetPortrait and you are going to fall in love with their work just like I did. As a matter of fact, we are now one of their affiliates and that means we can save you 15% off your order. Believe me, you are going to want at least one!
GetPetPortrait
is a U.S. company that makes the most amazing canvas prints of pets. Of course,
you can always get a high-quality portrait of your pet from them just as they
are in their fur but…
SQUEEEE!!! Look at the portrait of Bentley and Pierre. It is titled “PetBrothers” from the GetPetPortrait Historical Collection and I think it is absolutely AMAZING!!! You can’t believe how hard it has been to keep this under wraps until today. I want to show it to everyone. It is THAT good.
We are joining our
friends at
Dr. Harvey’s for a new Halloween
contest and it starts today!
Let us see your
BEST TRICKS
for a chance at winning
SPOOKTACULAR TREATS!
We hope your October
is starting off
frightfully fun!
Don’t miss next week when we kick off our Halloween contest with Dr. Harvey’s. It will be spooktacular!
Be sure to add my
books to your fall reading list!
Can you believe that it is already October?! There are so many fun things happening this month. This first week is National Walk Your Dog Week.
One
of the important things throughout your dog’s life is to make sure they get
enough exercise. Walking is a great way to help keep your pup peppy. Now that
Bentley and Pierre are both senior dogs, keeping active is crucial for helping
them stay strong.
We are proud to say this is our 7th year to participate in #RememberMeThursday®. Since it began the eight years ago, it has made over one billion impressions on social media! That is a lot of barking, purring, and tweeting to help shine a light on pet adoptions.
There are a few things that are certainties when you come to my home. The first is Bentley and Pierre will come running to welcome you. The second is our house will smell wonderful thanks to my electric wax warmers. I have loved the smell of scent chips for as long as I can remember. That is why I was thrilled when I was contacted about Pet House’s electric wax warmer!
One thing we know for certain is that everyone could use a laugh these days. That is why we are here!
~ APPEARING THIS WEEK ~
The Bayou Boys
Comedy Tour
I guess 2020 wouldn’t be complete without a couple of hurricanes in one week. We are keeping a close eye on Laura to see how Houston will be impacted. As of Tuesday night, we are expecting some high winds, rain, and will most likely lose power. Thankfully, we have had plenty of time to prepare.
In case you need to prepare your pets for possible evacuation due to Hurricane Laura, this link will take you to our Pet Hurricane Preparedness post. This is going to be a fast-moving system unlike Hurricane Harvey but there are still things to keep in mind After the Hurricane (another helpful BFTB post).
Have
you seen all the cartoon looking photos of dogs flooding social media? This aww-inspiring
craze to “cartoonize” your pets is just the latest filter from Snapchat.
I’ll admit to being an amateur at this particular social media app but find it
to be a great way to entertain myself. It is also free so that makes it even
better.
There are only a handful of toys that the boys wear out that I replace. *Lambchop is one of those toys. Pierre loves to chase and play tug with it. Bentley, as you can see, enjoys the snuggling aspect of the LambChop. This is probably our fifth or sixth one but since they are less than $10 and last up to a year, I feel it’s a good investment.
