"Smells like ass..." SM observes.
"Makes him fart something awful too. I tell you it lingers in the house for hours." He says wrinkling his nose.
"Sprinkle some of the dry food in there with it." I suggested busy getting the other dogs food in their bowls. We discovered that Scooter was more inclined to eat if we fed him along with rest of the pack.
We put everything down and step back. Ginny and Casey eat right away but if we "hover" Scooter tends to not eat. I pretend to be busy but stay close because the other two will muscle him aside and try to eat his food too. I hear him eating but it's slow going. I tempt Ginny and Casey away into the other room with rawhide chews and come back to see that Scooter has walked away. I offered it to him again. Nope.
"Seems like he shares your opinion." I say to SM. "It must taste like ass too."
I put the food on the counter and over the next few hours offered it to him periodically. No thanks. I left to go to work.
When I got home I tried again. Nope. So around lunch time I cooked up some rice, scrambled some eggs and mixed it with a plop of cottage cheese onto a plate and offered him a small portion of that.
He gobbled it right down. So I mixed up some more. Viola. Success!
"It's funny, the Science Diet is specially made to give him everything he needs nutritionally and he won't eat it." I observe.
"Can you take it back?" SM asks.
"Yea. Come to think of it, Cheryl (my Vet Tech) did say we could bring it back for a refund if he didn't eat it. Must happen a lot."
"So you're going to feed him rice and eggs? Is that wise?" SM asks.
"Well...I'll get some ground turkey thawed and fry that up. Toss in some veggies too, I think." I muse.
"What about the protein? Didn't the Vet want him on a low protein diet?" SM points out.
"True. But look at it this way. He needs to eat to keep up his strength. At this point I'll feed him ice cream if that what it takes. And ask yourself this. If your Doctor told you "You could live to be 100 but you have to eat oatmeal 24-7 for the rest of your life OR you could live to be 80 and eat whatever you want." What would you do?" I ask SM.
"Eat what I want." SM responds.
"Yep. Quality over quantity. If it's going to be a crappy life keeping him alive, what's the point? I'd rather he have a shorter, happier life than a long drawn out painful one."
Kind of a "no-brainer" for all of us. So dig in and enjoy that ice cream Kids. In the words of Sheryl Crow
If it makes you happy...It can't be that bad.
Amen to that!
ReplyDeleteWhen the doctor told my mom that chocolate and butter was going to kill her, she asked him "well, if I eat all this grapefruit, will I ever die?" She may have died sooner, but she was one happy lady.
Have a great week, Tami. And good luck with this all...........
We had two Great Danes which developed stomach torsion. They also ended up being fed rice, veggies and mince. But, NO cheese - especially yellow (cheddar, gouda, etc). It is poisonous for dogs - same as chocolate.
ReplyDeleteGoogle home made dog food - there are loads of blogs which give out recipes - then clear the one you pick with your vet :)
Never heard that about cheese. I did look it up. Cottage cheese and yogurt is OK per this Fact/Myth site.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=myths
I've done CC and yogurt for digestive issues with all my dogs. I plan on discussing with Vet tommorrow anyway plus I want to see about MV supplement too.
BTW...he's had 3 meals now of rice/turkey/egg/cheese and he's actually got some energy today!!!
I'm VERY encouraged. He hasn't been this "sparky" in over a week.
I too have a dog that I have to cook all her meals due to a low protein diet. She also is on prednisone. I can remember having to lay in her bed and try to force feed her since I was sure she would starve. Now with the pred munchies and the cooked food she is eating like crazy. She actually gets angry bark if the food is taking to long to cook. I agree that a shorter, happy life is the way to go. I know the pred will kill her faster, but she can actually stand and walk more now. Of course the other dog is furious that she still has to eat the dry crap. It is hard to make them all happy ;)
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear he has more energy now. I say you're on the right track!
ReplyDelete