[Dailydrool] I never really appreciated a firm poop before...

[Angelika Hastings]

Elvis has been here about three months now and is doing well. His legs continue to gain strength~ the "worse" leg (his right leg had no reflex at all for the first few weeks) actually faster than the other. His tail moves, is quite strong now and wags a bit- though I think more involuntary than voluntary. I am still hopeful that he will walk again. If I stand him up on all fours he can sometimes stay there for a minute- then slowly he leans and falls to the left on his butt.
Since this all started we've had some tummy/poop issues. He frequently had diarrhea or very soft and SMELLY poop. Everytime he'd be outside he'd eat grass- only the tall blade stuff- not the softer lawn grass. He rarely threw up though. Sometimes the grass would show up at the other end. After a chat with auntie S I stopped all grains. Got rid of every treat in the house that was not grain free ( too hard to tell the family Ms.Brandy can have them but not to give to him). Everyone was instructed to not 'share' foods with grains. 
The very next day he vomited- a lot. Nasty horrid stuff ( when is it not??), but this was truly awful, by the end it looked and smelled like poop. I put him on a diet of beef and rice and added the BG kibble after a few days.
When Elvis's belly band leaks- he will clean up his pee after himself. I know he does this and of course try to prevent it. I've been told it's an instinct thing and I won't get him to stop doing it. 
So now we were grain free and he was feeling better- no more urking! A few days go by and he poops- and before I notice ( read: SMELL) it- I catch him cleaning THAT up too! YUCK YUCK YUCK!
A lightbulb went off... when we are not home he is in an xpen- if he poops while we are gone- there are lots of blankets and pads and I just wash everything. But we never really noticed that although there were stains and smears ( sorry), there were never any chunks ( sorry- again) of poop. I believe he has been cleaning up after himself all along- which lead to the upset tummy- which made him eat the grass all the time. I now watch him like a hawk outside- he does sometimes still want the grass but hasn't managed to sneak in more than a couple of blades. He is back to eating everything- grains included. And for the last 5 days he has presented lovely firm turds once or twice a day. I can tell you I have never truly appreciated the firmness of poop - but after weeks of cleaning up after an incontinent squishy-poop basset- it is WONDERFUL! Today was the first time that he pooped while I was not right there- and he made no attempt to clean it. 
The reason I shared all of this is just in case someone else is going through the same thing. It just never occurred to me that he would "clean" that up too...
Things are finally slowing down a bit around here and I am able to read the drool- not just skim. I know sometimes I have missed some, but didn't have time to find the lost issues. 
Drool to all in need, how is Kathy L. doing? Does anyone know?
droolies, Angelika, Ms.Brandy and Elvis too.
_________________________________________________________________
Want to read Hotmail messages in Outlook? The Wordsmiths show you how.
http://windowslive.com/connect/post/wedowindowslive.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!20EE04FBC541789!167.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_092008
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20081016/6e93b984/attachment-0002.htm>