The Food Routine

Ever since CJ was diagnosed with cancer (actually what led up to the diagnosis), he’s been very “particular” about eating. He just stopped eating all his food at each meal. Which eventually led to weight loss, which led to the vet and the final diagnosis.

We tried all kinds of things. We tried warm water to make it softer, chicken bouillon, and various soft dog foods mixed in. For the last couple of months we’ve settled on a particular soft food that we mix in with the morning meal.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

An additional effort to help it all work is waiting till the last minute. Make sure he’s starving, so he hungrily gulps it all down.

There’s no science to this. No Vet. has told us “He needs to eat.” It just makes sense to us that if he’s eating, he’s getting nutrients and probably staying stronger than if he wasn’t.

That’s the deal. That’s the mantra. That’s the thought rushing through my head every time I feed him. “Make sure he eats so he stays strong.”

Here’s how it goes down.

I get up. Cj get’s up. He follows me out of the bedroom. His claws clicking and clacking behind me. He follows me into the kitchen as I make coffee. He goes to the sliding glass doors and whines to go out. I let him out. He barks to come back in. He follows me down the hall to the bathroom. He follows me back to the kitchen where I sit down to drink my coffee. He whines. He walks over to the living room. He whines. He walks clickety clack down the hallway and whines. I’m getting pissed because he’ll wake the baby or worse Jen if she’s home that morning. He walks back to the kitchen to me and whines.

He basically continues this (clickety clack, whine and repeat) all morning while I get ready, take my shower and make my lunch.

Somewhere in the middle of this routine Gretchen decides she needs to be a part of it. She doesn’t share in the whining, but she’s just as noisy and one more obstacle under foot.

Finally, before I leave and I know everyone’s starving, I dish out the food and stand guard insuring everyone eats their portion, all of their portion and only their portion.

Without fail he leaves some behind. He walks off to circle back around the kitchen sniffing for human food scraps while his bowl sits unfinished.

I can’t begin to explain the frustration and aggravation this causes. I know he’s unaware. I know he’s afflicted and hormonally imbalanced.

But I just want him to eat his food and stay strong.

without waking the baby or Jen of course.

And Gretchen’s not back. The $50 soft cone, though quieter, doesn’t keep her from linking her paw. She’s licked it raw and angrily had it rebandaged by the Vet. How did dogs ever make it this far if they insist on reopening their wounds with licking?

– b