YOUR DOG IS GOING TO EAT MORE THAN NORMAL

In the continuing saga of "How the Poodle Turns" last week my poodle had a liver biopsy.  I thought they'd just stick a needle in her and take a plug out.  The Vet explained oh no we'll need to cut her open and take a sterile sliver of her liver.  We've tried everything since January when this all began to figure out why her liver isn't functioning properly.  I consented to this final test.

When the results came back it was about the same as every test.  No real reason why it's not functioning properly.  They said there are signs of a "toxic event" (Vet words.)  The Vet goes on to tell me her liver seems to be struggling to recover from this.  To help the healing along we'll need to put her on Prednisone.  On Prednisone she may notice her become more hungry and thirsty.  I asked the Vet, "Do I need to feed her more?"  He said, "No, you may just have to watch out for her nipping things off the counter and getting into the trash."  I said, "Oh she already does that.  We have a whole plan to keep her out of the trash and off of the counters."  He laughed and we concluded our conversation.

Flash forward about a week that my poodle has been on Prednisone suddenly she's drinking 2 bowls of water a day and she's asking me for food all day long.  When I don't give her food she goes outside and grazes.  We now have to go out with her, because she's eating things that we have no idea what it is and she's eating her own poop.  No more leisurely going out and picking it up.  We have to pick it up immediately.  I'll be walking along with her and suddenly she's crunching on something.  I've watched her like a hawk and don't know what she's eating.  She knows to swallow quickly or I'll drag it out of her.  I'm hoping they are acorns or some other nonlethal plant substance.

She asks to go out about every hour.  I don't know if it's to eat or to pee the 2 bowls of water.  This afternoon she asked to go out and I told her no.  Next thing we find out she's peed on the carpet.  I felt SO badly.  I told the family every time she asks we just need to walk her out.  The Prednisone is supposed to be a 3 month treatment.  In fact after about a month we start backing down the dose and I'm hoping her hunger will back down to a normal poodle level.

Today I was cleaning off my dresser and came across this cartoon one of my favorites and it just seem so apropos for our life right now.