Tripp the Iron Stomach
For this Tripp Tuesday I decided to go a different route, not the "oh my dog is so cute" but the truth about my dog. My dog is a fatty. Not physically but he has the eyes and appetite of a giant. He eats EVERYTHING... well at least everything that's somewhat edible. He knows shoes, potatoes, and couches won't sustain him. But coffee, chocolate, sugar free gum, corn cobs, chicken bones, underwear, socks? They're all ok in his book.
Let me take you through Tripp's most recent adventures as a foodie.
When I moved out here Tripp, Leyland and I drove all the way here. So one night Leyland and I were in a restaurant enjoying a nice meal after a long day of hiking. Tripp was sleeping soundly in the front seat of the car... Or so we thought. We got back to the car and low and behold, Tripp tore open a plastic cup holder pack of Orbit gum... Cool doggy, it's not like the sweetener Xylitol isn't poisonous to you. So I texted my vet friend and she told me to give him water and monitor his heart rate, because even if I wanted to take him to the vet I couldn't.... we were in Yellowstone, and there was no vet within 100 miles. Thanks Tripp! After I got to civilization, aka my new home, he got all his blood work done, and the vet surprisingly said there was no damage done. Good boy Tripp!
Let's fast forward a year and a half. It's Christmas time and my awesome mom sends lonely ole me a great care package, with presents and... sweets! One in particular is a Killer Brownie. I'm sure the name says it all, it's fudgey and caramely and peanuty and about 4x the size of a regular brownie. So guess what, Tripp jumps on the table (Just so you know he's 14lbs, smaller than most cats, but has the ups of a kitty) while I'm outside and eats the entire thing. Ok. Cool. So I get to spend the night before Christmas with my dog that's vomiting for 9 hours. All over everything... chocolate vomit. So straight away in the morning I rush over to the vet for an emergency visit. It's a good thing my dog easily pukes because that would be the only thing they would do other than check his heart rate and take a blood sample. So they do all what they do at the vet and everything in him was fine, but just to be sure lets feed him some charcoal to soak any toxins up. You know what then happens... He pukes the charcoal all over the light gray upholstery of my new car. Terrific Tripp. I got that cleaned right away and Tripp was a little sick acting for a day, but soon was to his regular self and back to being a perky pup.
Now for the latest... I fixed myself a nice dinner including a yummy cob of corn. After moving out of the cornland midwest I haven't enjoyed a nice cob o' corn in awhile. I was working on a project and mistakingly left my plate scraps on the table while I left the room for a few minutes. I walk back into the room and there's Tripp sitting happily on the ground with pieces of corncob surrounding him. Let me remind you this is a 14lb dog, and he ate an entire corncob. For some of you who might not know corncobs are one of the most dangerous things for any digestive tract, as you know I'm sure corn doesn't digest, so think about any big cob chunks... They won't digest and can get stuck if too large to pass. Which is incredibly common in dogs and causing them to have to get expensive surgery to remove the cob-struction. So of course emotional me, freaked out. I was about to give Tripp some hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting but Mike found me an open 24hr vet. So one x-ray and induced vomit later... they weren't sure. His stomach was so full that the xray showed nothing helpful. The only options, a scope down his throat, which probably wouldn't show anything or get an xray in the morning to see if his stomach is emptying. So we waited. And after the second x-ray they said it was still unsure, but he seemed completely fine... other than everyone looking at him in amazement that he ate a corncob. So over the next week Tripp had rancid farts and I monitored his pooping. And you know what, he's fine. But thank you Tripp for the adventure.
So there's my couple years adventures with Tripp's iron stomach. I could tell you about many other things he's gotten into but I'll just leave you with the highlights. I love my dog, but his appetite needs some adjusting or he's going to make me have a nervous breakdown. If it was up to him he'd be dragging his tummy on the ground and eating anything with a hazardous label. So yeah, all you with dogs, I'm sure you have great stories of the incredible appetites of your canine friends. And I want to hear it!
One last thing, pet insurance... best $10 a month I spend.
