"I Crap Bigger'n You" - Curly (Hill's Science Plan)

Member Name: cbpotts

Product:	Hill's Science Plan
Date:	10/10/01 (2057 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Kind to an upset stomach

Disadvantages: Chicken lips and beaks and footsies

Sometimes words of truth come from the most unexpected places. Sometimes truth is so brutally honest that all you can do is accept it and move on with life. Over the last few weeks, these words spoken by Curly have kept coming back to me. Do you remember what movie that line's from?

Five weeks ago my husband and I had the perfect life. We had a beautiful 105 year-old farmhouse, a jeep, two cats and a beta fish. We went out on dates together, cuddled on the couch and listened to great music or sat with our dinners on our lap in front of the television and watched football (sorry folks, American football).

That all changed when Bailey, a cute, innocent, rolypoly golden retriever puppy entered our lives. Her sad brown eyes gazed adoringly at us and our hearts melted. How could anything this cute, this innocent be anything but joy and happiness?

As with all pet owners, we provide Bailey with everything a growing puppy needs. Toys litter the house, her favorite being Teddy, a bear that is carried from room to room and is a constant companion. We researched what kind of food to give her and ended up with Iams large growth for puppies. I know, I know, this is a section for Hills Science Plan. Be patient. I'm getting there.

We also bought Bailey "babysitters." These took the form of rawhide chew bones and pig ears. The pig ears are her favorite. They keep her occupied (thereby quiet) for hours at a stretch. It was heaven. Want to read a book; give the dog a pig ear. Want to watch television without being stepped on, gnawed at or slobber upon; give the dog a pig ear. You get the idea.

And, through all these ministrations Bailey grew. As she grew, her outdoor piles grew. As she grew, those piles got more aromatic, more dense and more retch-inducing. However, we were pround of Bailey. She was only ten weeks old yet she was fully house trained.

Then came that fateful morning when I opened the door t
o the laundry room where she sleeps and just about passed out. I should have been warned by the green cloud seeping from the space between the door and the floor, but I wasn't. The odor hit me full force. The evidence was right in front of me. Three huge piles of the blackest, gooiest, most disgusting dog poop I'd ever seen. I gagged. It was close, but I managed to back up, take a deep, clean breath and walk into the room to the outside door where I promptly escorted the evil, wretched, dog outside. For the next two days it was the same thing, piles upon piles of black goopy dog poop.

Finally there was no choice but to take the poop machine to the vet and find out what was wrong. After being poked and prodded in places no one has a right to be poked and prodded, the doctor gave us vitamins and electrolytes to replenish what the diarrhoea was removing from Bailey's body. She also gave us cans of Hills Science Diet in a can. Apparently this is a mild food for canines that have stomach irritations.

She also told us that Bailey shouldn't receive any more pig ears because they are very high in fat and can cause stomach problems for some dogs. We were devastated. In one fell blow our babysitter had been removed from us.

Bailey remained on the Hills Science Diet for a full five days and has just celebrated her second morning of a poopless laundry room. We've returned her to the other food because it has vitamins and things that are needed for her large growth body, however, the Science Diet was an excellent food for helping her system return to normal.

We don't feed Bailey Science Diet because it's first two ingredients as a dry food are corn meal and chicken by-products (what the heck are chicken by-products? Ground up beaks and claws?).

The first two ingredients for Iams dry food are chicken and corn meal. Much more attractive. I like the fact that unlike the cheaper, grocery store brands,
Iams doesn't color the food to look like corn and peas and doesn't spend the money to form it into little sausages or steaks. I've seen Bailey grab "kitty crunchies" from the litter box before so I'm pretty sure that color and shape doesn't mean much to her.

For the factually minded, the Hills Prescription Diet that we fed Bailey during her recovery was Canine i/d, 415 grams (she had two cans a day). Its main ingredients are: water, egg product, turkey, rice, ground corn, liver, and soy fiber. It contains a high level of crude protein and moisture (which makes sense since the first item is water).

Bailey still craps bigger'n the cats but at least she does it outside (we love leaving doggie bombs around the back yard for the occasional neighbor kid that wanders through) and they're back to their normal shape and texture. I'm sure by the time she's full grown, she'll crap bigger'n us too, but hopefully we have a little bit of time before that happens.

So, all that is to say that I do indeed recommend Hills Science as a recovery formula for pets suffering from stomach ailments. However, if Iams is available in the UK, I recommend that as the food of choice for the "normal" dog.

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