Remedy for a dog's grumbly tumbly

Athena, our 2-year-old labradinger

I once saw an add for health insurance for pets. It featured a picture of a dog and the words, "In spite of my keen sense of smell, I do not always make the best digestive decisions." While I did not purchase health insurance for my dog, I can concur that my dog does commit amazing dietary indiscretions. Let's just say that there is very little she finds inedible. Cardboard and paper seem to be a primary food group. True to her Labrador heritage, her digestive track is amazingly resilient. However, she does occasionally suffer from her poor snack choices.

I have no idea what caused her distress a couple of nights ago. Perhaps it was the acorns that are in abundance around our neighborhood. Perhaps she took in one too many empty cereal boxes. In any case, she was miserable. She wasn't vomiting or having diarrhea. All she wanted to do was go outside and eat grass. Her tummy was loudly rolling and gurgling. Every time she came inside she whined pitifully. It was a beautiful evening with a clear sky, full moon, and bright stars, but by midnight, I was more than ready to go to bed. Unfortunately, her tummy was not cooperating. In desperation, I dragged her into the computer room. While she howled I Googled, "remedy for dog's upset stomach". I got numerous hits, and they all mentioned the same therapy: yogurt. I promptly opened a carton of strawberry yogurt and offered it to her. She lapped it up and looked for more. I gave her one more carton. She polished that off quickly as well. Before I could throw away the cartons and get the computer turned off, she had trundled off to bed and was snoozing comfortably. She slept through the night and was fine the next day.

So just in case you have a dog with a similarly non-discriminating palate, I thought I would share this successful therapy.