Friday 24 July 2009

Dogs eat dog food - right?

I cook for four! Cooking is a wonderful diversion for me - all that creativity and presentation etc... I love it. I often say I love to cook, but not eat. 'How can that be' I hear you say. Well it is true - I eat to live and not live to eat. Robin and Lucy - well, they live to eat. I plan for the four of us when I cook... and quite often feed them at the same time as my wife and I. They love my food, but no matter what, whilst Cristina and I sit down - there they both are; Robin and Lucy sitting by our side waiting to eat our meals as well. Any tips anyone as to how we/I can encourage Robin and Lucy NOT to 'beg' for extra food whilst we eat? They even expect a dessert! I suppose I/we have made rods for our own backs. They both go at their food like it was the last meal on earth and then sit by us expecting MORE! Lucy is now a FAT pig... we will take her to see the VET later, just to check her out whilst we purchase their special dried food from him - she is doing just great now - no medication - unlike the rest of us! So what is dog food? I suppose anything they can eat - Lucy just loves to hunt for anything outside that IS AND IS NOT edible... she even now insists on stopping by the store down below, on her way back from 'walkies'... because the store owner always gives her some chourico... and I have to 'drag' / slide her out of his store... I should take a photo she is incredible AND STUBBURN!

2 comments:

  1. Hi, Robert! Doxies are known for being pigs so Momma said she understands. I will let her explain...If you really don't want them to beg the best thing to do is pay absolutely no attention to them while eating and don't give them anything while you are eating. It may take while because it sounds like you have been reinforcing their behavior. Now, for a word of caution....Twix has always had people food treats and she is now 10. About 2 years ago, she got some paper towels out of the trash that had bacon grease on them and proceeded to eat some. A couple hours after that, she threw up the paper towels. No big deal, or so I thought. She continued to throw up everytime she ate something. She became lethargic and eventually refused all food...treats, dog food, or people food. That is when I knew something was seriously wrong. Took her to the vet and they thought she might have the flu, kept her overnight, gave some medication to help her tummy, and gave iv fluids. The next day the vet called me and said she was no better and wanted to do an xray which showed a blockage. Next, I get a call at work that they need to do emergency surgery. It ended up that she had Pancreatitis from the bacon grease. Her pancreas was so large it was blocking anything from leaving her stomach. The vet told us she didn't think she would make it. She spent about a week in the doggie hospital and we got to bring her home. It was quite an expensive lesson to learn. The vet said dogs are not meant to eat foods that have grease on them, even steak, and eating that can cause them to get sick like Twix did. We have to be careful now what we give her but she mostly gets things like veggies and fruit. Sorry this is such a long comment but I just wanted to warn you so you don't have to go through the same thing.
    Love and hugs,
    Twix and Mom

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  2. Dogs require special food. They require more calcium and higher concentration of proteins. Human food is not an ideal food for dogs. Your blog is very nice. The images are very beautiful. God is Great. Best wishes.

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