Making Progress
Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 4:45PM It's been six days since Stella came home. Everyday she's been making progress . . . a little perkier, steadier on her feet, bright little eyes.
Her course of meds has been painkillers (3 tabs every 8 hours) and antibiotics (2 capsules every 12 hours). More about the the meds in a minute.
We left the hospital with a dozen cans of Hills I/D canned dog food (designed to be gentle on the gastrointestinal tract). After 13.9 years of kibble, you'd think the girl would have figured herself to have finally made the big time. Well, not so much, as it turns out. She tried, she pushed it around in the bowl, and then spit it out in chunks on floor.
Hmmmmm . . . okay, maybe that sawdust kibble for senior dogs is not so bad after all and I can shed a few pounds of guilt. Or maybe she just didn't have much of an appetite. Either way, she wasn't having any of it.
Last night, we served up boiled chicken bits and cooked rice. She practically knocked me over getting to her bowl. Didn't give her much since she hadn't eaten in a couple of days, but she ate every last kernal of rice and stared at her empty bowl wondering where the rest was. Homemade is the new order of the day.
Now for the real challenge - the pain meds. Apparently they emit an aroma that is quite unappealing, not to mention the taste. Dr. Seguin confirmed this. On day one, StellDell was so wiped out, she would go ahead and take them as long as they were wrapped in, say, a small chunk of string cheese.
On day two, she was onto the cheese trick and was having none of it. Spit, spit, spit. Or she managed to eat the cheese, but spit out the pills.
Hmmmmm . . . okay, how about something else? How about the Pill Pocket things? Hey, great idea! That worked. She found the Pill Pockets irresistable. On day two, that is.
Day three. Pill Pockets? Spit, spit, spit. Turned up her nose. Held her jaw firm. Not falling for the old Pill Pocket trick this time. Not gonna happen.
Well, now what? Peanut butter? Sure, that might work. Worth a shot. Wrapped each pill in a big dollop of peanut butter and offered it to her. She snarfed them up and smacked her lips after each one. Great!
Day four. Peanut butter? Are you kidding me? I can lick every bit of peanut butter off that pill and spit, spit, spit, she says. And spit, spit, spit she did. Of course, several blobs of peanut butter fell into her coat, onto her feet, into her beard. Peanut butter everywhere and the pain meds on the floor.
Day five. Battle on. Cheese . . . Pill Pockets . . . peanut butter . . . pleading, begging, cajoling. Spit, spit, spit. I can only conclude that the pain in her hairy little peanut butter encrusted body must have subsided to a greater degree than the pain of swallowing those pills. We'll go with that and concede the battle.
So what about those antibiotics? Not a single problem. Compared to the pain meds, they must be like little nuggets of tasty goodness. Phew!
Making progress and getting better every day.
Reader Comments (2)
You show em Stella! Another trick. Smash the pill in to nothing but powerder. The secret mixture is rice, natural chicken broth (girl has to watch her salt intake) and some yummy green beans. Corn has a lot of starch so we need to watch the carb intake as well! Microwave it all together, mix it and bona petite'
Nancy - thanks for helping Best Bud figure it out. Never thought I'd ever say I miss those green beans! I must be feeling better. Woof!