Epsom Salts and What They Can Do!

A lot has been happening around here, and yet not really much of anything.  Two of the puppies have gone to their new homes.  The one with a lot of orange that I called Pumpkin has now been re-christened Rosco by his new owner.  It's an older gentleman, a friend of our friend Bob, who has been a widower for years and whose dog recently died.  His daughter lives with him, and they both fell in love with Pumpkin/Rosco.  He'll have a really good home there.  That was yesterday, and the day before Thomas' nephew and his family came by and took the little black female.   Eler Beth had been calling her Mera, but they'll re-name her, I'm sure.  She'll have a good home, too.  Andrew is keeping the brown one (that I call Traveler), so that leaves 5 pups to find homes for.

They are eight weeks old today.  They have been de-wormed and had their first shots, but on Wednesday one of them was sick.  He is a big boy, but we call him Tiny.  He has such a sweet nature.  Well, they all do, but there's just something about him.  He's like a big, sweet, teddy-bear of a boy, if you know what I mean.  Well, his belly seemed very large and he was whining.  I thought he'd either eaten too much and/or was constipated, or he had a parasite infestation that was making him sick.  I try to keep my dogs de-wormed and keep their yard clean, but you almost can't keep puppies from having worms of some kind.  They were due for their 8 week de-worming today anyway, so that day I just went ahead and gave him his dose early.  Apparently the de-wormer tastes pretty good to them because they drink it down really well from the syringe.  About an hour after I'd given it to him he had stopped whining, but was sleeping, and limp as a wet noodle. 

I've had pups and kittens that have, for whatever reason, not made it, and I usually can tell right away by the way they look and act if there's no hope.  I didn't think Tiny had that look, but I was still worried.  His eyes when he'd been awake earlier and whining were clear, not clouded over.  His breathing was good, and his nose was cold and wet.  But because he was so limp and I couldn't nudge him awake enough to do more than just barely open his eyes I was worried.

I had toyed with the idea of giving him a laxative but wasn't exactly sure which kind or how much.  Thomas got  home and immediately suggested that I give him a dose of Epsom Salts (what we refer to in our house as "Nasty Stuff")!!  To Thomas Epsom Salts is the cure for everything, and I am not exaggerating!  He has a lot of stomach troubles and he can mix up some Epsom Salts in hot water, drink it, and he immediately feels better.  I tasted a little once, just for the heck of it, and I can honestly say that I'd have to be held down and have it forced down my throat or at least be so constipated that I was desperate!  Well, I had actually thought of giving the poor little thing Epsom Salts, so I let Thomas fix a weak mixture and I put one teaspoon in the syringe.

I picked Tiny up and he was so limp that I had to support his head like he was a little baby.  I put the tip of the syringe in the corner of his mouth and pushed the plunger just a bit.  His eyes flew open and he started struggling in my hand, trying to turn his head away from that nasty taste!  He wasn't limp anymore!  I gave him most of the teaspoon, lay him back down in their house and waited.  Not even a half hour later Eler Beth ran inside the house yelling, "Tiny just ran out to meet me!"  I checked, and sure enough he seemed fine.  I'm keeping a close eye on him, but so far he's been normal.  So maybe he was constipated, I don't know.  But I know this -- no one will ever be able to successfully argue against the efficacious properties of Epsom Salts!  Not to Thomas, anyway!