The lessons of living each day to the fullest never seem more important than now when I suddenly realize months have gone by since I’ve paid any attention to this blog. Life races by at warp speed and if we don’t pay attention entire months and years can fly by and suddenly we’ve had another trip around the sun.
It is nearly impossible to believe it’s been thirteen months since we said goodbye to Aspen and welcomed into our home this big, anxiety ridden sweet boy. The general rule of adoption suggests there is power in the number 3.
Lesson 1: Believe us, it sometimes takes longer.
Ryder’s time as a Delameter certainly started out with some unique challenges. No one would recommend adopting a new pup on the same day you move to a new city for a new job. To complicate life further only 10 days in we had to evacuate the resort to escape the forest fire that destroyed hundreds of homes and tens of thousands of acres around Lincoln City.
Through it all, our boy did great. Honestly, far better than we’d expected. What we didn’t realize in those first weeks and months is that we were facing some internal issues we’d never dealt with previously.
After spending over seven years with a dog with “lab-gut” who never had tummy upsets regardless of what she ate, we were stymied by the relatively frequent attacks of diarrhea and vomiting. Ryder is the sweetest boy but was a picky eater and we didn’t realize immediately that sharing french fries with him or treating him to a puppercino at Starbucks was actually making his condition worse. We began researching his condition.
Lesson 2: Never assume anything
Only a month or so in several days of vomiting and diarrhea was enough for the local veternarian to make an emergency visit. They examined him, sent us home with anti diarrheals, anti-nausea pills, and prescribed a limited diet. This somewhat corrected the condition on a short-term basis but he still had frequent gas and often seemed to be uncomfortable.
Outside of his tummy issues he quickly settled into a routine. We returned the dog crate, basically unused, and he happily spent our working hours napping on our bed in the trailer. Originally we allowed him full access to Aspen’s toy box until we realized destruction was his favorite game and now her beloved Lambchop and Hedgehog are safely out of reach.
He fully embraced beach life and hours were spent racing waves, making sand angels, and perfecting carrying his ever over-sized sticks down the beach.
Ryder is our 6th fur baby, and 4th black dog and only the second of our adoptees who came to us with a known history. We’re not sure if the name Ryder comes from his love of going for car rides but his love for a road-trip caused him to immediately fit in to our lifestyle. Leash training continued along with lessons in manners- at 93lbs he can be a handful, but the months rolled by with him relishing in his new life. Sadly, tummy issues continued.
Lesson 3: Don’t assume that you receive all of the relevant information, even if the dog is an owner surrender.
By this time we’d cut out the high fat diet and allowed no table scraps. He’d be fine for weeks and suddenly end up with another bout of vomiting and diarrhea. Additional bloodwork finally sourced the problem; pancreatitis.
We immediately went to low fat/ high fiber kibble combined with low-fat canned food but his appetite declined further. In an attempt to get him to eat we traded out the canned food for a combination of low-fat cottage cheese, canned pumpkin, and rotisserie chicken. The situation improved somewhat but occasional bouts of diarrhea continued.
His anxiety in new situations was an additional consideration as we spent weekends visiting family and friends and this was new to us. Porter had seperation anxiety, readily remidied by the adoption of Aspen, but didn’t experience anxiety if we were near, even in new situations. Aspen was, quite literally, bombproof. Dealing with anxious crying, nervous pacing, and whining was challenging for us and, obviously, difficult for him. In experimenting with CBD oil and creams such as Rescue Remedy we’ve found them to be only mildly helpful.
Lesson 4: Anxious behavior often has multiple causes.
With this anxiety, we sometimes have felt as though it is attached to his iffy tummy. Then, a game changer when a friend suggested a pre & pro-biotic digestive enzyme in the form of a fine powder. Suddenly Ryder cleaned his bowl for the first time ever and is overall more relaxed which makes perfect sense. After all, who wants to have constant sour stomach?
The months have rolled along with nary an issue until one week ago when the vomiting and diarrhea returned. This time around who knows what caused? Another expensive trip to the vet showed lots of good news; his pancreas isn’t inflamed meaning we’ve got his diet under control, he didn’t have giardia or another bacterial issue. What happened? We suspect we’ll never know.
At the end of the day perhaps he licked a dead sea bird on the beach. Maybe chewing on a bit of bark irritated his sensitive tummy. Perhaps an anxious moment we weren’t aware of caused stomach acid to raise it’s ugly head.
As I type this my big boy is crashed next to me snoring loudly after a couple of days spent entertaining friends and lots of beach fun. I’m certain we will continue to learn eachother and grow more as a pack as time goes on and, we may simply need to know there will be moments of anxious meltdowns and upset stomach.
Lesson 5: The learning continues.
My heart is still broken. Aspen was my soul dog and her loss is immearable. But I only need to look into Ryder’s sweet, sweet face and smile knowing he has joined the long list of dogs that have enriched my life.