One afternoon, I received a call from our vet. She said that a Basenji puppy had been found in tupperware box left in a field. He was put in the box with a littermate who had died. I left right away to go meet the little guy. When I arrived at the vet's he was getting a bath, so he was not to happy with the situation. I got to work picking off ticks. He was a mess. So skinny, terrible coat, nicks, bumps, scratches…. and of course the runny behind. The vet thought the diarreah would slow down with a normal diet. So at the time I wasn't overly concerned. Turned out he was LOADED with Coccydia parasites. His growth was stunted and we started a year long journey to stabilize his Inflammatory Bowel Disease brought on by the early trauma of his life.
For 3 months he slept swaddled in sheets, three loads of laundry were done a day to keep up with the leaking behind. I followed him with my bottle of Resolve carpet cleaner, Lysol Disinfecting Wipes, and aerosol sprays. My husband and I both lost over 15 pounds each, you just couldn't eat with the odor. We had faith that he would get better and HE DID!
We switched vets, and got Echo on a regime of Prednisone, Sulfasalizine, and Ultra-Allergy Free Science Diet dog food. It was a Miracle. As weeks passed he went from having zero anal control and a tail that hung down to fewer & fewer accidents and a slowly curling tail. As months went by, the meds were lowered, the tail got higher & curlier and potty time became normal.
I am writing this now, because 3 days ago Echo got into the dog food cabinet and had a little to much fun. By that evening he was bloated, stinky, & poopy. We increased his meds, swaddled him in sheets again, and got back out the Resolve & Lysol. He was back to normal in two days. It was a reminder of the earlier days!
How anyone can do what they did to Echo, I will never understand. But we have been given, we have been blessed, with this wonderful, quirky little guy who makes us laugh everyday. We call him "His Royal Highness Stinky Poopiness", a sense of humor will get you through most anything!
The photo attached is his before & after.
