Jasper (12 yr old Mini Schnauzer) is now at peace

Did your Mum find a new stereo? Queen's birthday sale, must be like our Presidents' Day sales here, Lol! :D I know, I always have to look in all the fridges too! Mine is so old, the new ones have such cool features.

I have thought about adding stock or broth to Jasper's kibble, but have to be real careful with the sodium due to his PLN. So far it works great to add a little of the canned lowfat food, but I just don't want him to think he can have it all the time, or I won't have anything up my sleeve when he truly won't eat.

When he is eating normally, he just eats steadily until his meal is gone. When he is just being finicky with his food and Shelby looks like she might be thinking about snatching some, that will usually prompt him to go and finish it. But if he really isn't feeling well, he doesn't really care if she is hovering. She does pretty well, she usually stands back in the middle of the kitchen looking longingly at his bowl. She knows better, I have told her "no" enough. But if she can steal a bite or two she will try to sneak it. And she is fast! After about 5 minutes it becomes too tempting, so I just have to confine her until he finishes. Normally I only wait about a half hour or so before mixing in the canned food. But sometimes now he will eat the kibble just fine. It is variable I guess.

Yes, I believe we will be getting a follow up urine culture after he finishes the clavamox. My vet did not say that, but that is what she usually does. And after this difficult bug, I will ask for it if she doesn't order it. Gosh, I know, this has been so hard to get rid of. Always in the back of my mind is that something else might also be going on. I sure hope not, but it does enter my mind.

Our minds work in mysterious ways!!! I know I have dreamt up calamities that have never eventuated too ;) One more week when he is off the ABs, then we will see what is up with that appetite!

Shelby sounds like an opportunist!! I think they all are :). I said to Mum once that Flynny always wants to share our food, but he never wants to share his with anyone :D What's mine is his, but what is his is his!!

What is the main meat in that RC diet? Maybe you could make your own stock by just boiling a bit of that meat in water, then you have no added salt or other additives?

Oh yes and Mum did get a new stereo... Her old one was OK but for some reason she gave Luke (my nephew) the old speakers. So she went in to get new ones, but it appears they only make them for that model and you cannot buy them separately. So she ended up buying a whole new stereo. just a small one. She got home and wired it up, she's not bad for nearly 80 LOL!! Started blasting some music, she has eclectic tastes my mother :D Glad your weird like me, I like looking at all those fancy fridges with their fancy attachments!! LOL, would be fun to go shopping with you Tina!

Wow, your Mum did great getting it all set up herself! I don't think my Mom could handle that, she is very technically challenged, lol. She is 76 and does pretty well with most things, but not electronics. My Mom likes a lot of different music too, but she is mainly all about Elvis. She loves him. Yes, it would be fun to go shopping!

The meat in the RC lowfat is chicken. I am sure it is not a very high quality chicken, I just cringe when I read the ingredients, but it is what the vet says he has to eat. He was on a holistic kibble before he got sick, and the ingredients were so much better. That is a great idea about making my own stock! I never thought of that. Thanks, I will have to keep that in mind. :)

I know, I was talking to Dad a bit when we got back there then went down to her room to set it up and she had already done it!!

Well I reckon get a skinless chicken breast chop it up to little bits then boil it and sieve it. The put the liquid on his kibble. That won't alter it too much would it? Might help to soften up the kibble too!

What happened with the storms, nothing hit your house I hope??

No, I think that chicken stock might be worth a try. The only thing is that boiling chicken smells sooooo bad. But I will do anything for my boy. :)

The storms were pretty bad, lots of tree damage. Some big trees down in a neighborhood near mine, but just small to medium branches in mine. I didn't see any reports of homes being damaged thankfully. Lots of shingles everywhere in my yard and the street, but they don't match mine, so hope the roof is ok! Luckily no tornadoes this time, but very damaging straight line winds.

On Mother's Day we had a tornado touch down in Omaha, it tore the roof off several houses about 5 or 6 miles from me. I don't think it made the news as it was only an EF1, and there were many more damaging storms in the Midwest that evening. But that was a bit scary. We were down in the laundry room (aka my storm shelter) for a while that night.

Holy cow, just noticed the time, I stayed up way too late again. I better try to get a bit more sleep before work. Nice chatting Trish. See you again soon. Smooches for Flynn. xo

Ok good, sounds like you survived that one OK!!!

Yes, I was thinking it was getting very late for you. Gosh that scares me you were so close to a tornado :eek::eek: Give me a good old earthquake any day!! Night Tina, catch up soon.... Hugs to Jasper and Shelby too!! xx

Hi Tina,

I'm glad to hear that Jasper's appetite has picked up, it is so worrisome when they don't want to eat.

I take reglan for nausea and I just wanted to let you know that it may cause constipation (it does to me, anyway :o), hopefully sweet Jasper will not experience that side effect.

Sending loving hugs to you both, Lori

Hey Jasper, taking those baby steps still eh. Well that is a okay, because baby steps will get you there, just maybe not as fast. :)

Tina you're doing an excellent job with Jasper! You and your vet make a good team. I agree about boiling the chicken. Molly would be right at the kitchen door as soon as she smelled it. She loves the smell of chicken cooling.

My stupid GE refrigerator valve on the filtered water, ice maker thing went kaput again. I think we've replaced it 6 times now. I think I Need to be looking at those new frig gadgets. :) :) Ahh, well, doubt we'll replace this one yet, but boy it is tempting some days.

Yikes, hope those storms settle down. Some of them, like the tornado ones are very scary. Even a 1 would freak me out I'm sure. Gawd, can you imagine, a pool on top of the house! He needs to stake that thing down and fill it with water so it can't move, or get rid of it! sheezz, that's a hazard!

Well hope you have a good week. I'm back to the grind myself. joy joy

hugs
Sharlene and molly muffin

Thanks Girls! Yes, I am very relieved that I have been able to get him to eat. Since I last posted, he has done some back pedaling again and has refused to eat unless a small amt of canned is mixed in. But he finishes it off with the mix, so I have been doing that. I don't have a lot of time to mess around in the morning. We have 3 1/2 days of Clavamox remaining.

Lori, I haven't noticed any constipation but thanks for the heads up on that, I will keep an eye on it. I am on eternal poop patrol anyway. :)

Well, we have had heinous storms all afternoon and night so we have been in the laundry room off and on all night. :( I typically don't get too panicky with severe weather but this has been very scary. This afternoon after the tornado sirens went off the first time, the forecast was so bad, they let us all go home from work early when the immediate all clear was given. I don't remember that ever happening except for a blizzard. It was dark as night at 4 in the afternoon, all the street lamps were on. I barely made it home before the big wind and hail hit. We have had several super cells going through one right after the other, but very fortunate again to have escaped the most severe wind and damage in my neighborhood. So incredibly grateful, I can't even say.

I saw on the news that police and firefighters were going around in rafts to evacuate people from certain parts of town where the flooding was at dangerous levels. I don't remember ever seeing that except for the horrific flooding of the Missouri River in 2011 when the dams up North were opened wide to ease the flooding up there. They showed people with their shivering terrified rain soaked pets in those rafts and I just cried. Thank God no flooding in my immediate area. I don't know how I would be able to manage Jasper in an evacuation, it is difficult enough with a healthy dog.

I think maybe I have been using the wrong strategy when it comes to Jasper and his storm anxiety. These storms went on for so long tonight, there was no way I could ignore him the whole time, it went on for over 8 hrs and we are still having heavy rain and loud thunder right now. I had pity and let him up on my lap after a while. It really seemed to help. He didn't calm down completely, but he became significantly calmer, and stayed that way for the most part.

I don't know if it was the right thing to do or not, but I couldn't stick to my usual strategy for all that time, it would have been bordering on abuse in my opinion. So I guess if I reinforced the behavior then I did. :o He is laying calmly here by me on the couch right now, and that is the goal. What do you guys think?

Hugs,
Tina and Jasper xo