Yesterday (Friday, March 31st) morning Zoey gave me a little scare. It all started with some diarrhea on the kitchen floor before I could get her outside. And a little more outside, though not quite as yucky. Once I’d gotten her back inside and had taken care of Zen’s bathroom needs, I prepared some Olewo dehydrated carrots for my girl. They’ve always helped before, so I figured they would again.

The carrots helped firm up her stool a little bit, but what alarmed me was the tinge of bright red blood in her after-breakfast stool. I always have a poop pickup bag in my pocket so I used it to scoop up the poop. I brought Zoey in the house (leaving the poop bag on the porch) and called our backup vet to make an appointment. Then I sent a text to our regular pet sitter to see if she could stay with Zen while I took Zoey to the vet. Luckily she said could so that was good. A couple of hours later, I gave Zoey some more of the carrots.

Once we were at the vet’s and in an exam room, I told the tech that Zoey had been eating acorns off the ground – despite my numerous attempts, both successful and not, to prevent her from swallowing them – for quite some time but more so over the past week. I had even picked one up and put it in my pocket to give them with the poop bag. I also told her that Zoey was still eating her poop whenever I wasn’t close enough to stop her. 🤮 I forgot to mention that the “No Poo” chews I’ve been giving her the last couple of weeks may have finally started working. Then the tech took Zoey and the acorn back to the treatment area.

After about ten minutes, the vet brought Zoey back to the exam room and sat down to talk about what he suspected and how to treat it. The fecal labs were still in progress, but without TMI, I’ll tell you that Zoey has some intestinal parasites. The vet was also curious to know how I knew about the Olewo brand dehydrated carrots. I told him that I had learned about them some years back from one of my pet blogging friends (Joy at My GBGV Life) and have been using them ever since. He had learned about them from a veterinary parasitologist who had told him a few years ago that this particular brand of dehydrated carrots does an excellent job of killing off intestinal parasites that have become antibiotic resistant. So, obviously, I’m going to keep giving them to the Z Kids, just like I had with their predecessors.

As if all the GI tract upset wasn’t enough, as I pulled into the driveway at home, poor Zoey expelled her entire breakfast on to the back seat and floor mat. All the stress of the day was too much for her. The pet sitter was kind – and sweet – enough to keep Zoey with her and Zen while I cleaned up the mess, even knowing she might be a few minutes late to her next appointment. (She did arrive on time, though, she told me later on.)

As the evening wore on, Zoey started feeling better so I started her on the meds the vet had sent home with us. She was more tired than usual, but still felt well enough to play with Zen a few times before we all went to bed. She’s still a bit tired today, but I can tell she feels much better after a good night’s sleep.