Afraid Zack has it

[Karlin]

If you have a rug on the kitchen floor I'd just take it up while he is being housetrained. Once they wee on something, they will keep going there because of the scent and you need to use something like Nature's Miracle to destroy it enzymatically (regular soap won;t work). I threw out a few area rugs after housetraining Jaspar and in future won;t keep them donw at all when they are young. One of the problems with wee wee pads is sometimes it gets them thinking any pad is OK; also they plain old like soft things like carpet or rugs to pee on (as do kittens) so it is better not to even give them the option if you can take it up.

Note Bruce was saying 1/2 cup for his adult cavaliers -- adults usually eat less than puppies. Again feeding amounts really depend on the size and metabolism and amount of exercise for a given dog.

Try not to get overly worried about him too -- dogs can sense your anxiety and they in turn can become anxious simply because of this, so do your best to relax and feel positive about sorting out his tummy problems.

[judy]

If you have a rug on the kitchen floor I'd just take it up while he is being housetrained.....One of the problems with wee wee pads is sometimes it gets them thinking any pad is OK....

Try not to get overly worried about him too -- dogs can sense your anxiety and they in turn can become anxious simply because of this, so do your best to relax and feel positive about sorting out his tummy problems.

i only have one small rug in front of the sink in the kitchen which is easy to remove. but this is what i'm afraid of, he will pee in there and there will be a residual scent, and just a habit he will form, of going in there. The kitchen was the very first place he went pee when i brought him home, the first night, i was fixing dinner and my back was turned for a moment. but he hasn't done it again in over a month, and i let him run around unsupervised somewhat, i was lucky to catch him in the act and put him outside and he seems to kind of dimly 'get' the point of that ritual. i've been using natures miracle for years with my cat, it's great stuff alright.

you're right about anxiety and stress. i try not to let him know how worried i get. So far so good since last night, hoping chicken and rice will help a lot. Today we are going out later together to buy him a doggie booster seat that goes in the car, so he'll be able to see out the window when we go places. to me, this is a fun thing to do, and a sign of being carefree and, well, cavalier...

[judy]

zack was sick on saturday, feeling better in the afternoon, started feeding chicken and rice, he was fine all day yesterday, sunday, and then this morning, monday, i heard his stomach making loud noises again, like it's done before when he is sick and vomits. i thought he seemed a little quiet although as normal he was excited about the cat when she came in. i was about to prepare his chicken and rice, but first, for the second time, starting last night, i cut up some tiny pieces of chicken and i used them to have him practice coming when i say 'come,' i did that 3 or 4 times, less than 5 minutes, then made his food.

Before all that, i gave him the pepcid pill from the holistic vet and i gave him the flagyl pill from the first and second vet, and then after feeding him, i was going to give him the sulfasalazine pill. i called him to come get his food, he didn't come, not a good sign that he wasn't in there helping me fix it, i went to find him and he was standing over the bits of chicken he just vomited. i guess he vomited the flagyl and pepcid too? i only have one dose of flagyl left.

The above is clearly a pattern by now. In the past two weeks, he acts fine one day or two, more like a day and a half, then he acts sick for a day or less, then fine, then sick, then fine, etc. by sick, i mean vomiting and quiet. I'm not sure how the diarrhea fits into the pattern. I think it follows the vomiting/nausea episodes by some hours, looking back, but i'm not sure it's systematic. so i am waiting to see if that happens. since starting the chicken and rice, his stools have been much smaller and less frequent, unless i'm missing some. but his pooping behavior seems different from before, it was easier to tell before when and where.

the holistic vet on saturday gave me deworming pills. worms or a worm could cause his symptoms, she said, and although he was dewormed before, it could happen again. I didn't start it yet because he's taking so many pills, and those deworming pills, even broken up, are huge. i wish they could make something suitable for a puppy. I thought i would see how he does on the new diet before adding another factor. i need to go to work now but will be able to get home early, by 2 or earlier, and can be home the rest of the day, so i can watch him. I hate to give him a big pill and leave.

He's so nice about taking the pills. i appreciate that. he doesn't fight. but they don't always go down, and sometimes i accidentally hurt him while holding his mouth closed. i wish i could get him to take it with food but unless i use that greasy mushy kind of canned food, he doesn't eat it.
i don't want to add another kind of food in.

one thing worries me. I wanted to give him just the chicken and rice and nothing else, but he has eaten little pieces off of a chew thing, i don't even know what's in it, it was from his first vet and is some kind of dental cleaning chew. and he chews on bully stix, doesn't seem to get much off of them, except yesterday at the pet store, i gave him a bully stick to occupy him while i looked at something, not realizing it was the kind with the smoked flavor. I have stayed away from those. when i got him home later, i saw that, because it's a small one, he was able to chew pieces off of it. so i threw it away and took away the other thing he was getting pieces off of.

i feel i need to let him have some of these chew things, hoping bully stix are ok, because if he doesn't have those, then he chews inappropriate things that could hurt him more, paper, cardboard, electrical wires, cloth. I keep lots and lots of toys and chews available and there isn't too much of a problem with chewing the bad things, but when he's hungry especially, there's a potential problem.

I would like to have an idea of how long he can be on just boiled chicken and rice and nothing else. Is this something that can be done for a couple of weeks, or would that be too long? Is he getting enough nutrients? at some point should i alternate chicken and rice with other foods, like that natural balance potato and duck? should i give a kibble? Are there some chews that are less of a potential digestive problem than others?

we had such a great day yesterday, especially when we went on our outing to the pet store, and he got to ride in his new booster seat on the way back and really loved seeing all the people and dogs out the window.