Dogs Can't Eat Tacos

Man oh man, what a crazy past couple of days. Our dog Ben has been sick since Sunday night, but it looks as though he's going to make it through.

Apparently on Sunday afternoon Frankie fed his dog and our dog a taco from Taco Bell. Now, I have stuffed my face with Taco Bell tacos on occasion. Usually the circumstances prompting a visit to the Bell involve a good buzz and a very late night. Sometimes nothing quells the drunk munchies like crunchy tacos with that oh so greasy "meat". Typically however, I never eat at Taco Bell because it's disgusting. Every time I've eaten there I end up with a tummy ache I swear that this time will be the last. I do not want my dog eating Taco Bell, ever. And it's particularly disturbing that Frankie often feeds Ben people food without asking us if it's okay.

So you can imagine how unhappy I was when Ben spent the entire night on Sunday puking his poor little guts out and ending with a finale of bloody shit all over our bedroom carpet. It was impossible to be upset with Ben because he was a complete mess and it wasn't his fault to begin with.

He was drinking a lot of water, but was still vomiting and shitting blood on Monday. By Monday afternoon we feared that he had been poisoned rather than just the taco effecting him. I was seriously worried he was going to die. He wouldn't move, Husband had to carry him out to the truck to take him to the vet. The vet was quite certain that it was the taco that did it. Some dogs can handle food like that, especially if they've been given it their whole lives, i.e. Frankie's dog. Ben is barely a year old though and we have made a pretty strict rule about people food. He doesn't get to have it. I will occasionally give him meat juice on his dog food, perhaps some rice or chicken, but not junk. So Ben is not used to digesting the crap that Frankie gives his dog. In dogs like Ben, the pancreas will inflame and cause the vomiting and bloody shit. It can become a very serious problem, so we're lucky that we took him in right away.

The vet had to give Ben a liter ("Liter's French for gimme some fucking cola!") of fluids because he was severely dehydrated, poor guy. Anyway, he came home with us that night and finally stopped puking. His shitting problem had already stopped prior to the vet, and it didn't come back. I stayed home with him yesterday to make sure that he didn't get worse and to give him the proper food and medicine.

The funny thing is that when we brought him home from the vet, Frankie was flabbergasted that dogs can't eat tacos. No, they can't. They also shouldn't eat bacon or other pork products, jalepenos, really spicy or rich foods, in general people food. He was asking us what he could give Ben to eat after the poor dog just spent two days puking.

What's with people wanting to give dogs food? They'll be just fine living on dog food, I promise. Dogs are not people, they have different insides. Their tummies work differently than ours. That's why dogs get dog food. You're not abusing your dog by not giving him people food. You're prolonging it's life. You want to kill your dog? Fine by me. But leave my doggie alone.