Glowing White?

It was mid-winter.  The time of year in the Pacific Northwest when the days are very short.  It was dark when Dad took Mongo out for morning walks, and dark when he took him out for evening walks.

On one of these short dark days, Mongo found the door to the pantry slightly ajar.  For Mongo, this is always an open invitation for noshing.  The first thing to catch his interest that day was a five pound bag of rice.

Eating five pounds of rice actually takes longer than one might think.  It is a lot of rice, even for Mongo.  It turned out to be a whole day affair.

Mongo plunged into the bag with his usual abandon.  Soon he began to slow down.  Swallowing all the little grains of rice was time consuming.  They kept falling out of his mouth and getting away from him.  Then there was matter of getting enough water to keep washing down the rice.  So his normal gorging was interrupted by frequent trips to the water bowl.

While Mongo has a pretty big water bowl, it is not bottomless.  Eventually he drained it completely.  Fortunately for him, the bathroom door was open, so Mongo had a backup supply of water.  The bowl was almost empty by the end of the day.

He ended up forcing down all but the last few grains of rice, but it was a challenge for him.  When Mom-mom came home, he waddled over to say “Hello”.  The water had been hydrating the rice during the afternoon, and it was swelling in his stomach.  Mongo is a big dog.

That’s a big dog.

But five lbs. of rice is a lot, even for a Labrador.  By evening, a distinct bulge was clearly visible in his middle.  He looked like he had swallowed a volleyball.

Mongo did not get dinner that afternoon, though he probably would have tried to choke it down if it had been offered.

During evening walk around the park, Mongo was not his usual spritely self.  There was no gamboling across the field, and no frolicking in the grass.  He waddled around the field like pregnant cow.

After an abbreviated grudging walk, Dad led Mongo back to the house.  Mongo flopped onto a fleece with a grunt; gave a big moan, and went to sleep.

The next morning, while they were waiting for the sun to rise, Dad took him out to the park for morning walk.  As soon as Dad took the leash off, Mongo took three urgent steps.  Then he hunched up and started to poop.  Dad could see the poop particularly clearly.  In fact it was hard to miss.  It was hard to miss because it was so white it was glowing in the moonlight.

“Wow buddy.  Bright white rice poop.  That’s a real gift”, commented Dad.

Mongo looked relieved. He straightened back up and took off at a trot across the park.

Mongo pooped white for two more days.  Those were the easiest night time clean ups at the park that Dad ever had.