Who would have guessed?

A few weekends ago, when all my family was here for Naits birthday, we noticed Jet was really sick. He was lethargic, not eating or running and his ears were crusty. Then we noticed he was scratching off the fur under his belly and legs. Not knowing what was wrong and not really having the $ to spend on a dog we decided to watch him for a few days and feed him separately to make sure he was getting his food. By the next day he was much worse, so I called the vet. Thankfully they had an opening from a cancellation for that afternoon. When I went to put Jet in the truck, I noticed he smelled, BAD!!! I thought I was going to be sick it was that bad.
The vet took a look at him and knew it was bad. He had infection all over his belly, in his ears and under his arms. We answered all the questions with all the right answers but still were unsure why he was so sick. She thought it could be an allergy to his dog food, or a spider/snake bite. But she couldn't tell until she had him washed and shaved and got a good look at him. She said he would have to stay the night and have meds, a bath and a possible sedated exam. I let her know our $ situation and how a dogs bill was not a high priority right now. She promised to keep it as low as possible and work with us anyway she could. So I left him there and prayed it wouldn't be as bad as it looked.
The next day I went to pick him up and as she was explaining his illness and infections she mentioned all the "hot spots" were in contact areas, or areas he would be touching when he laid down. Then it hit me, we had just bought new straw to lay in their beds to keep them warm. She said that was most likely it. He was allergic to straw!! So I brought home a marine haircut shaved dog with a bag full of medicine and raked up straw for 2 hours. We've spent the last 2 weeks giving medicine, spraying antibiotic all over his belly 3X's a day and trying to keep blankets in the dog house. The think they work better pulled out into the yard and tore up. But thankfully Jet has bounced back and is feeling great. He still looks pretty silly with his underbelly shave, but is loving all the treats (AKA medicine hiders). The vet kept her word when she gave me the bill. She didn't charge me for the overnight, the bath, the shampoo she sent home or the antibiotic injection. Really all I paid for was the office visit, the grooming and the medicine. And we have our wonderful Jet back. And we learned a valuable lesson, I guess dogs can be allergic to straw! That's our weird pet story for the year, feel free to share yours!