Food is exciting again!

Posted on | March 25, 2009 |

After a couple of scary days, Vodka’s belly seems to be settling down. About time too. It was pretty unsettling to see him turn his face away from food. This is the same dog that climbs on counters to steal food, gets into a milk box to drink up cartons of milk and buttermilk, even gets into mail packages to eat half a box of Canine Transfer Factor (it had chicken liver flavoring in it!).

We still don’t know why he was hit so hard by unappetance, it could just be Palladia build-up. Or maybe, if we’re lucky, this is a one-off thing and we can manage the side effects going forward. The good thing is that he didn’t really lose any weight through all this, guess we still managed to get some food into him! Karen did stick one of those fancy subcutaneous IV pouch thingies into Vodka’s shoulder on monday since he seemed a little under-hydrated. But even by the time she saw him, he had started eating again, albeit quite pickily.

Vodka’s appetite isn’t back to its manic proportions yet, but he’s doing pretty ok right now. We visited Dr.Meleo this morning and she had a hard time believing that this pooch had refused food for a whole day - I guess it is hard to buy that when he’s sitting at your feet begging for more treats! :)

So, what’s with Mr. Smell-everything-a-hundred-times-before-eating? So bizarre! He smells everything over and over, walks around the food before finally deciding if he wants it or not! Currently, boiled chicken is on his off-list. But turkey is so hip! Homemade chicken jerky works … maybe! Peas rock. As do sweet potatoes. No chard or bok choy - too healthy! I think he’s got some lingering nausea courtesy of the Palladia and this is making him super picky about all foods. He was even refusing cheese over the weekend! Vodka refusing dairy? That was scary!

Since he’s been responding so well to Palladia, we figured it was worth it to rework the dosage to avoid intense side effects - his dose is down a bit (from 130 mg to 115 mg) and he’s only going to get Palladia thrice a week instead of every alternate day. We’re hoping this will help keep most side effects at bay. In the meantime, we’re armed with Cerenia and fennel tea and alfalfa and yucca and more for GI goodness :)

Hmm … maybe I should elaborate a bit about the herbs we’re trying to use to stabilize Vodka’s GI system:

Fennel seeds

This was an easy one to start using - we grew up using fennel seeds as a digestive - either as fennel tea or just as a post-dinner nosh with some betel nuts and other seasonings. I’ve been soaking 1-2 teaspoons of fennel seeds in boiling water till it cools and then straining the water out. We basically spoon the tea into Vodka’s mouth - atleast a couple of spoons at a time.

Fennel seeds are great for dealing with digestive problems, especially for dealing with flatulence, acid indigestion and cramps.

Alfalfa

Alfalfa is insanely rich in nutrients - Vit A, B12, C, D … name it, it has it! It also has a zillion trace minerals like magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and more. And it has antioxidants and phytonutrients. Hmm … maybe I should just be eating this as a meal?

Alfalfa is pretty rich in fiber - a good thing for digestion. Plus it is great for detoxing and can improve liver health. We’ve been using powdered dried alfalfa - mixing a spoon of this into Vodka’s food as often as we can.

Yucca

Yucca has saponins - great anti-inflammatory agents. So, this was something I’ve wanted to give Vodka for his arthritis anyway. My herb bible ‘All You Ever Wanted To Know About Herbs For Pets‘ also recommends this for dealing with GI issues.

Apparently, yucca is insanely bitter. So, I’m planning on trying Dr.Fox’s suggestion for getting this into Vodka - soaking a piece of bread with the liquid and rolling it up in a wonk of ground meat before dropping it in Vodka’s mouth. Hmm … I’m hoping that’ll work :)

Yes, Chicken Toy! No, real chicken!

My chicken toy is so much better than real chicken!

Vodka is all excited about his rock star status - many thanks for all the emails and calls and wishes. Like I’ve said many a time, often it seems like all the goodwill is what is truly keeping him happy and healthy! :D

Category: Diet, side effects, treatment
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Comments

2 Responses to “Food is exciting again!”

  1. arundati
    March 26th, 2009 @ 12:04 am

    that’s great news…and the pics are adorable… hugs to vodka

  2. floor
    August 30th, 2010 @ 5:59 am

    Cabinets http://umovingkli9.BEDROOMPROPERTY.INFO/tag/floor+bathroom+Cabinets/ : floor…

    bathroom…

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