Beginnings....

Well, when I got Lil Bit this time, and she ran in the house, greeted the cat, made herself right at home... she also had the runs.  Not good.  Twice more before sleep, and once again at 4am.  Knowing her like I do now, and having learned what I have so far about her problem, I realized - yet again, she has had too much protein.

You see, the protein builds up in her system and becomes toxic because her liver can't process it fast enough.  Its this that will eventually be her downfall - and the assorted complications - and it is this we fight hard to monitor and keep below levels that will cause her serious harm.  Yet, she NEEDS the protein.  Thus, its a never-ending battle.  T-Mama, her first mother - the one who saved her and bottle fed her and discovered she had problems... had changed her diet again in an attempt to get her to eat.  It worked.... yet I saw a drastic decline in her in just 4 days.  So, I am trying out new recipes for her, in an attempt to get her to want to eat - but keep her protein levels within reasonable levels.  I am personally not comfortable with adding in any kind of commercial dog food into the mix, and especially not the excellent kind T-Mama has around the house, due to her husband's occupation of musher.  It is designed for athletic dogs... and has a minimum of 32% protein.  When she's doing well, a few little kibble bites shouldn't hurt, but I had to completely cut her off of it today.  I was rewarded with a mostly solid poopsie early this afternoon.

However, by this evening, we were back to the other kind of poopsie.  fiance (i also refer to him as hubby, and other times by his given name - Paul LOL)... anyways, he had bought Lil Bit a bone, cus she just loooooooves bones.  He didnt realize it, but it had some meat still attached.  So... yep, you guessed it, she had some extra protein.  Soon as we got it away ( wow, miss lovey becomes miss grouchy about her bones!), we noticed the effects - circling, stumbling, falling over.  It only lasted about 10 minutes, then she was fine.

She got the bone again for a little while later, after i got as much of the meat off as possible.  Boy was the CAT happy.  Same problem for Lil Bit, but it didnt last as long.

Then, I decided to make dinner for her....

1 cup white rice
1/8 cup corn
1/16 cup green beans, mashed
4 canned shitake mushroom slices, diced
1/16 cup chicken broth
1 rounded tablespoon nutrient pack
2 tablespoons olive oil
dash garlic
pinch ground sage

mixed rice with nutrient pack, added in warmed chicken broth, garlic & sage. blending between each, i  added beans, corn, shrooms, and topped it off with olive oil.  The mushrooms would have added 3 grams of protein if I had used a full serving.  This is a recipe I would consider for readjusting her back to health quickly. 

She seemed confused at it at first, and ate on it, but not very enthusiastically.  Gonna adjust herbs as well to see which work better with her and whatnot, and hopefully we can come up with some standard recipes for her - some for when she needs her protein reduced quickly, and some for hopefully maintaining balance.  Hmmm, maybe she is one of those dogs who doesn't like garlic? =D

Tomorrow, I intend on cooking a fresh zucchini in with the rice, mashing it up cleverly.  i've already discovered she'll spit them out if she finds them =D

So far, we have found she doesn't like green peas, and zucchini if she can find it in there.  She also doesn't like potato skins, but the insides are fine, specially with a little milk and a wee dollop of butter.  Dont think she likes green beans much, either - which is why i mash them up LOL.

I imagine okra would get a similar reaction as the zucchini - that look of "just WHAT is THIS, mom???"  LOL.

she also seems to prefer her rice boiled in the broth, instead of broth added later - will have to do this next batch I cook.  You see, I cook up a cup or so at a time, giving me two to three cups to work with for a day.... it makes things simpler.

Anyways, no real stories today, other than how sweet it is to sleep with a puppy beside you, and how wonderful puppy hugs and kisses can be!  I hope this blog will be informative, enlightening, entertaining, and touches you in some way.

Kisses from Lil Bit, and welcome to our blog,
Lil Bit & Meli-Mommy