Our cats, like our younger daughter, are very small.
Our dog, like Charlie and I, is very large.
The little ones can eat anything they want, we shouldn't. Without an opposable thumb for the refrigerator door, you would think this would be easy for the dog -- but she is a master beggar and we are weak humans. She has Black Lab eyes, we have no resistance.
As she approaches her ninth birthday she has the hips of a 20 year old. Twenty year old hips are a very good thing for a human, not for a dog.
She takes expensive pain medicine and joint supplements, but they do little. She simply can't gain any more weight.
Our British friend Carol shares custody of a lovely dog named Jude when Carol stays at her home here. Jude has the opposite problem. Finicky Jude is one skinny dude.
Being a solutions-oriented sort, Carol tried a variety of home dog food recipes and on the internet came upon "Satin Balls" originally formulated for a showdog named Satin.
The recipe starts with 10 pounds of ground beef and includes a whole box of vitamin fortified cereal, a box of oatmeal, a jar a wheat germ, vegetable oil, unsulfured molasses, 10 raw eggs in with their shells, 10 envelopes of unflavored gelatin and- my favorite -- a pinch of salt.
Jude said no.
Smokie said "Gawd, yes!"
Thus Smokie inherited from Jude a dozen one-pound bags of frozen Satin Balls, to be thawed one at a time and parcelled out in 4 oz. daily supplement feedings. The ingredients are excellent for her coats and hips, but are formulated for weight gain if served as a regular food. She can't have more than 4 oz. a day.
Getting more than allotted has become her obsesssion. She starts whining early in the morning, accompanies every visit to the refrigerator and has become a master at the the old divide and conquer "Dad forgot, but you can be my hero" eyes.
She's a house pet that doesn't get farther than our fenced yard, but I know she is plotting to get under the fence to score street stuff. I've tried to explain that they cut it with low grade cat litter out there, but she seems undaunted.
If she was capable of being shaky and irritable , she would be. She cares only for her next score (and nap).
If we can keep her to 4 oz. a day, the current stock will last until Thanksgiving.
We're not going to replace it.
She's going to have to go cold turkey.



Copyright 2004 Judi Griggs