A Canine Mystery Solved ... Sort Of

The jigsaw puzzle of maladies called Jack has partially been assembled.

After a rather long phone conversation with the vet who performed Jack's surgery, she was a bit concerned about some of the issues I told her we were facing. The searing red underbelly was potentially alarming; his apparent listlessness should not be continuing. She wanted me to take him in right away this afternoon, if I could. If I could? I've been in that office more times in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 2 years, and I have a very sick boy on my hands too, both eyes seemingly pestered by pink eye now, along with a high fever. It was the last thing I wanted to do, in all honesty. But I also don't want my dog to suffer. Thankfully the toughest Grandma in the world was willing to watch the kids so I could tend to Jack.

He's quite a celebrity, it seems, at the office -- we were greeted by hearty hellos and sympathetic smiles. I don't think I want to be that well-known in this regard, but what I do appreciate is their obvious love for animals (and respect of their owners) and true concern for their well-being. After a short wait, we were ushered into the room for a long, detailed conversation with the doctor.

Amazingly, a few pieces of this many-year'd puzzle have now fallen into place. The biopsy of the stones came back, and they were indeed caused by diet. As in, food. As in, new food ... the new food that we switched to a few months back at the urging of a friend and über-dog lover. She chastised me for feeding Jack the equivalent of garbage over the past 9 and a half years, and declared that we must switch to Wellness.

Well, Wellness, in short, caused the bladder stones.

Apparently, what makes Wellness so healthy is that it has no fillers, such as corn and wheat. Great. But it also boasts -- in a good way, theoretically -- of a much finer grade of protein. Good in theory, but not for Jack. My poor boy had trouble processing all that protein, and instead of peeing it all out, itty bitty crystalized particles were left behind in his bladder. One particle stuck to another, and another, and another ... until you have a lovely, painful stone. Scratch that -- five stones.

The remedy? Switch food. Again.

This, then, lead to another avenue of discussion -- what kind of food to switch to. We can't go back to Pro Plan, the food o' choice for 9 and a half years, because we realized something in it had been causing his paw-ripping allergies for nearly a decade. So, after an interesting internet search and comparing the ingredients of Pro Plan to Wellness, we unofficially believe we have found the cause of Jack's allergies:

Corn!

Ah, the puzzle is coming together. We must now find a brand that does not contain corn. Well, that's Wellness. But Wellness causes bladder stones. So now what do we do? She then searched the ingredients of the two top brands which are made specifically for this kind of urinary issue ... one of the top 5 ingredients? Corn. Sure, it will clear up his bladder problem once and for all, but the allergies and dry coat will return. Not good.

So, answers are found ... but others remain elusive. The temporary solution: stick to Wellness, but switch to canned food. The reason? Jack needs help diluting all that protein, so he can easily pee it all out the way he's supposed to. Water is the key to dilution, and canned food is high in water. So ... mix canned food with extra water and hope for the best. And meanwhile, he'll be peeing far more than usual because of all this water intake. Great.

I'm none too pleased with this switch -- a 10-can box of food cost me $26 today. 10 cans ... only 10 days. The math on his diet alone is staggering. The alternative? Stick to dry food, but be on some kind of dilution drug for the rest of his life. Unbelievable.

So ... a few problems solved. The 8-year allergy mystery has been tidied up. The bladder stones have been identified. We should be on track now with the proper food. He's healing very nicely from his surgery, and in fact we can probably get the stitches out on Tuesday instead of waiting the full 2 weeks. The raw underbelly was, thankfully, only caused by his cone rubbing on the skin as he desperately tried to do his instinctual dog-thing and lick, lick, lick. Now, Jack is cone-free, provided we keep a very close eye on him and thwart all attempts at licking. His attitude changed dramatically at the removal of the plastic cone -- a good deal of that listlessness was immediately erased. Tonight, for the first time in a long time, it feels as if our Jack is back home.

And his spine issue?

Well, that's another story for another day -- something a little food can't fix.