Thursday, January 20, 2011

Keep him calm? You've got to be kidding me!

As evidenced by his ridiculous amount of energy, Skeletor is doing fantastically after his first heartworm injection. I was instructed to keep him calm. At first I boxed up all his toys. He then made myself and the cats his toys. When Skelly gets bored, he makes it your problem! He's been nibbling on my elbows all day because I have been too busy to let him outside every 10 minutes.

The elbow nibbles are nothing compared to the claws in the back or shoulder when he decides to jump up to get my attention. Yowza! Cut those talons!

I'm a little behind on posting. Work has been (thankfully) very busy so far this year. Let me see...

So last week I ran out of dog food. As you may remember from an earlier post, Skelly refused to acknowledge most dog foods as being food at all. I (quite foolishly) thought that this pickiness may have been a symptom of his condition at the time. I thought perhaps he'd appreciate a little variety.

So I picked up a huge bag of the same exact food but the beef version this time as opposed to chicken, which he's chomped through a consecutive 65lbs of during the past few months.

Well... fat chance! 

Skeletor would occasionally nibble out of desperation, but did not consider this beef-flavored atrocity to be food in the least. I weighed out my options... I could either A) add something to his food 3 times a day to make him eat it. B) Play tough love and let him starve to the point that he breaks down and eats it. or C) Return it to the store.

Now, I have never returned a bag of dog food to the store. If you had asked me, I would have doubted it to be possible. However much to my relief, petsmart took the bag back, no questions asked.

I exchanged it for the chicken variety and Skeletor is back to his normal eating habits. *whew!*

That's all we need is his anemia coming back just because he's got such distinguishing taste. Who'd a thunk that the dog who has come back from the brink of starvation would turn out to be the world's pickiest eater!?

At any rate, Skelly is doing very well. Coughing is rare but still occurs in the morning. He's definitely breaking the rules when he goes out in the back yard. He runs around the perimeter of the yard expending copious amounts of newfound energy.

I brought his toys back out and he sometimes entertains himself with those. Mostly he spends his days demanding to be either let in or let out.

He barks in the face of poor James whenever he wants to go out. He's a spoiled brat! There's no doubt. We'll have to really start working on those manners once he's out of the woods with these darn heartworms.

On a more somber note, I just filled up his pill organizer over in my compounding lab...


He's down to his last week of Viagra. After seeing what a difference it has made for him, I may have to seriously consider its purchase.

I think it would be wise to keep him on the Viagra for the next 6 weeks. Perhaps I can find a deal online.

Now if you'll excuse me... somebody wants out (again :)

11 comments:

  1. Yay! I'm SO very much glad Skelly is doing so good!

    And I don't blame Skelly for being picky. My former humans weren't very good about feeding me either but now that I know that I actually have a choice about what I eats - well, let's just say that dad is always saying, "You're awfully picky for a dog who almost starved to death."

    Wiggles & Wags,
    mayzie

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  2. Ha! maybe you should walk him (in the yard ,so he can't get too active) yes, I'm the Mom...it's my job errr habit to nag :)

    I'm going through the same food issue with O'reilly. He refuses to eat the cat food here. He picks out the few "good nuggets" and paws the rest onto the floor.

    I'm going to have to go in search of some obscure ,expensive cat food from God knows where. gah!

    Keep up the good news!! You've done a fabulous job with Skeletor. I'm soo proud of you!


    Love Mom

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  3. I'm still looking for a cheap Canadian pharmacy for the Viagra. I'll let you know if I find one that is cheap and legit!

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  4. Oh Skelly!! He sounds like one great big bundle of energy!! Good luck with the treatments!! Good luck with finding some viagra!!! Skelly is such a bright intelligent doggie! I hope he beats this heartworm thing for good so he could get all trained up! Take care
    x

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  5. My Shiver is good at clawing me up and down too when he wants love and affection.

    So glad Skells is apparently feeling better!

    My dad's really ancient beagle is really picky too. Sometimes she wants her food watered down and sometimes she doesn't. You just never know from one time to the next.

    I mailed the check for the shirt to you last week. Hope you got it.

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  6. @all Thanks for the comments and the support!
    @Sprinkles, I did receive your check. Thank you for buying a shirt! It's on the way :)
    @JackDaddy, Thanks for keeping an eye out for Viagra deals! 6 weeks at his current dosage would equate to 21 50mg tablets. I guess that shouldn't be too expensive. We'll see!

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  7. Hehe, Go Skelly! Glad to hear he's doing well! I'm super picky with my food too... he's a spoiled rescue dog kind of thing ;-)
    -Corbin

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  8. Aww i love his personality! Spuds is a very picky eater too...he wont even take certain human food (gasp!)! It's funny to think that dog's could be so picky.
    It sounds like Skeletor is doing so well.

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  9. I'm so glad to hear Skelly is doing so well. You have to remember, his food habits are discriminating, like a well culture pup! The only thing HoneyBuzz won't eat are french fries. Go figure!

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  10. Those are a vet's famous last words "keep him calm..." So much easier said than done! Good luck - he's sooooo worth it!

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  11. I have some ideas on the Viagra that you may have already thought about but I wanted to share with you anyway. Do you a pharmacy called Walgreens near where you live, other pharmacy's may also off this program? Can your vet prescribe the Viagra for Skelly? My dog has to take Prozac and it would have cost me $74 a month. I purchased a Walgreens Pharmacy card for $35 per year (they will add your pet as a family member) and I now get a 90 day supply of Prozac for $9.99.

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