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Monday, June 26, 2006

Warning: This is GROSS!!

Sunday morning, I woke up to the all too familiar sounds of Pig puking. It started with a gurglegurglegurglegulpgulpgulp and ended with violent wretching and heaving. I sat up and watched as she hacked up a dark mass of stuff. It was not until I put on my glasses and went to clean it up that I realized that it looked, smelled, weighed, felt (through a bag) and as far as I could tell, was a....

LARGE TURD OF POOP THE LENGTH OF MY PALM AND THE WIDTH OF A 50 CENT COIN.

Now, this totally freaked me out. First off, I saw it come out of her mouth, so I knew she didn't poop in the middle of the night and then puke on it. I also knew that she didn't eat anything gross all last week, and her stomach should have been empty. And I knew she didn't poop Saturday night (no poop marks anywhere on the carpet) and then eat her poop (she has never shown ANY interest in her own poop - she hops away from as soon as it lands on the grass) and besides, why would it come up in turd-form? If that had happened, it would be all liquidy and chewed up.

So I started really freaking out. Because, as illogical and improbable as it sounds, it is possible in rare cases that poop does come out of someone's mouth. And in those cases, the person/animal is really really really sick and their insides are all just a total mess. Of course, that's what I read on the internet.

I saved the Puke-Turd in a bag and called the emergency animal hospital. They couldn't tell me anything, but I ultimately decided to wait until today since Pig seemed totally fine. Apart from the whole puking up her own poop thing. She was energetic, had an appetite, and even pooped normal poop. I saved that too, in case the doctor wanted to compare and contrast. For the most part of yesterday, there were two matching Target baggies of poop sitting outside of my front door. One came out of her mouth, the other out of her ass. I had to move them on to the balcony after a bit because they were stinking up the stairwell.

Anyway, after breaking down and crying several times yesterday because I was convinced Pig was on her deathbed, I finally spoke to the vet this morning who told me it was not possible that it was actually poop. Sometimes they eat things that get obstructed in their intestines that will come back out looking LIKE poop, but isn't. And if that happens, the dogs are really sick, don't want to eat, and just lay there. I offered to bring him my baggies just in case he wanted to check but he declined and told me considering the fact that Pig is otherwise normal, there was no need to. Hmm. He said we'd probably never really know what it was that came back up. But to call if it happens again.

So now I get to throw the baggies away, which is nice because they're stinking up my balcony. If someone wants me to, I will plug my nose and take a pic of the puke-turd so you guys believe me, but unless someone posts pretty soon, it and its cousin ass-turd are going into the dumpster.

12 Comments:

Blogger Plumb said...

I BELIEVE YOU.

2:38 PM  
Blogger 3am wanderer said...

if it's something that made the journey to the intestines and then returned from the intestines even after acting for whatever length of time as an obstruction, isn't it inherently, poop?

4:37 PM  
Blogger S said...

I think it has to actually make it down to the colon before it finally becomes a poop. Maybe it is just a pre-poop.

Plumb - thank you, because I really don't want to open the baggie!

5:45 PM  
Blogger ElliottPreciousPants said...

OH MY GOD. I believe you too--throw it away!

I am really glad though that Pig is all right, and if it's any consolation, I would have been crying all day thinking my dog was on her death bed, too.

Thank God, she's not.

Thank you for not photographing the poop. Unless you think it will make you feel better, then feel free to photgraph and post.

7:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i'm the lone freeky friend who's like, "yeah, show the poop." maybe disect it a little, to see what's in there. definitely test for occult blood. not because it changes anything, just for the sake of science. but i'll cave on this one, and go with everyone else in the throwing it away. biomelissa... i tried to resist the urge to check out the front half of the lobster some kid was eating in front of me the other day. yes vegetarian, yes, i wanted to identify parts and see brains and stuff. such a freak!

glad pig is ok. i nearly called the aspca poison control line the other night because otis defiantly walked up to the lone pot of impatients on my window ledge, and looked at me, while i was yelling, "no!no!no! badbunny! badbunny!" and rushing over to him, and took a huge chomp out of a leaf. i couldn't find out for sure by looking stuff up if he was gonna croak or be ok. andy finally said, look at him. he's fine. go to sleep. and he's right. he is fine...

3:04 PM  
Blogger S said...

I did throw it out yesterday without taking a pic, but I can report, for Biomelissa's sake, what it looked like because I did examine it when I first picked it up.

First off, it was much denser and more fibrous than poop. Darker too. I tried to, through the bag, pry it apart to see what it was, and it did not want to separate. Which I think is not the case with poop - poop separates.

There was definitely bark and plant material. Also, what looked like thin black plastic rubber strings. Definitely man-made - not worms or something like that. Imagine a thicker but skinnier version of cassette tape stuff. She must have gotten into something - I have no idea what. They actually looked like these plastic black rubber bands from Hong Kong I used to have, but I don't think it could be them because I haven't taken them out to use it years. Of course, maybe this stuff has been in her stomach for years.

There was also some stuff that looked like either gum, or chewed up rawhide. Like a pale green playdoughy thing. I had been giving her a lot of rawhide chewies lately, I suspect they may be the cause of this whole thing.

And - lots and lots and LOTS of her fur. Short black and white furs. The whole thing was a lot like the clogs that I get in the vacuum cleaner, but more solid.

So, I think it was basically just a shit load of stuff she couldn't digest.

Eww. I'm grossing myself out just thinking about it.

4:22 PM  
Blogger ElliottPreciousPants said...

Just as an fyi--and please don't freak out about this--but there are people out there that believe that rawhides are not good for dogs, and that you should not give dogs rawhides. This is because apparently the dogs swallow them rather than chew them up to bits, and when they swallow them, the liquid in their stomach can cause the rawhide to swell. This can cause problems. So probably, you should look into this theory, and see if it's true, and then decide if you still want to give Pig rawhides.

Obviously, I only know this because my mom believes and practices this theory.

One more thing--sounds like the puke turd might be grass. Does she eat grass? My mom's dogs eat grass sometimes, and then they puke it up and it comes out looking like pieces of dark green or black string all stuck together in a log formation. Can definitely look like poop.

It sounds like she's doing good so far though:) I always keep my fingers crossed for Pig:)

6:18 AM  
Blogger kate g said...

i think as much as well all love pig and are concerned for her (even those of us who've never met her) we can do without the pics.
whew.
i'm just glad she seems to be ok. i would assume it's something she ate too, and the rawhide thing-i've heard that too. sometimes when dogs have stomach issues, rawhide makes it worse. and poor pig has enough issues...

9:13 AM  
Blogger S said...

Yeah, I think Pig is off the rawhides. I like to give them to her, because I hear they're good for her teeth, but I really suspect they're culprit of this whole puke-turd thing!

9:45 AM  
Blogger S said...

Yeah, I think Pig is off the rawhides. I like to give them to her, because I hear they're good for her teeth, but I really suspect they're culprit of this whole puke-turd thing!

9:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Keep in mind those crazy greenies give Parker seizures. I swear, some dogs are just sensitive to really wacky stuff. Yick.

5:58 PM  
Blogger ElliottPreciousPants said...

See how weird that is--because my mom gives all her dogs greenies, and hasn't ever had a problem.

9:40 AM  

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