We (me, Amy, Stella and Rufus) packed up the truck and headed from Baltimore to Youngstown Ohio to celebrate Christmas with the Goldberg family (I know - Goldberg's celebrating Christmas? - Yep). We arrived at the Youngstown Holiday Inn, unpacked, fed the dogs, and then headed over to Amy's parent's house as usual. However, we were a bit nervous since we were bringing over our 5 month old puppy Stella, and Amy's parents had recently adopted a full bred Doberman named Quincy. Quincy was not "fixed", and at 8 months already weighed in a 110 lbs. Our older dog Rufus got along great with Quincy, but just like normal overprotective parents, we wanted to keep an eye on the puppy.
Once we arrived at the house, its a bit of a blur. I remember being very glad Stella had not gone into heat yet, since Quincy was more than interested in her. I quickly realized this was the least of our concerns. The vomiting problem started back with a vengance. We could only assume it was from all the activity, and we tried to keep the dogs separated and calm. Yet, every time Stella would drink or eat, it would come right up. By the fourth day, she was looking miserable and exhausted. We switched her diet over to boiled chicken breasts and rice - and she was able to keep this down. But we were worried. Its worth noting that apparently Lawry's seasoning is tolerated well by dogs dealing with vomiting, as we later learned Amy's dad insisted on "seasonging" the bland food, he couldn't bring himself to leave it plain!
We drove back to Baltimore with a renewed concern for our puppy, and quickly scheduled another vet appointment. Stella was doing well on the chicken and rice formula (often recommended by vets for dogs who are having trouble keeping dog food down, or suffering from dehydration) - trust me all dogs love chicken and rice. Our next vet visit would be one of many to come, with little in terms of answers or positive outlooks.
In the mean time, we had found a great resource online - Bulldog Health - run by a very nice woman named Jan Oswald who has some great wisdom and info to share. She made us feel there was hope for Stella, based on her own documented experiences with her bulldog, Vivy.
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