Ciao to My Chow Hound?

What Happened to My Good Eater?
Rita, as far as we know, is a German Shepherd/Beagle mix. Until very recently, her beagle side has really shown through any time there's food in the picture. This was a welcome change (back to what we were used to with our beagle, Bailey) from Abby, who was obsessed with keeping her super-skinny super-model figure.

In related news, we won something again! Yes, AGAIN!

But, about 6 weeks or so ago, a weird thing happened. Suddenly Rita wasn't such a chow hound anymore. You might remember we won a sample of Honest Kitchen and she loved it, so we bought her some and had started mixing it in with her Blue Buffalo kibble. For a couple of weeks, she was all over it, licking her bowl so hard that it would slam up against the wall. But then she just went off of it.

Food! Rachel Ray's Nutrish, from MyBrownNewfies.com

I tried just the kibble. I tried just the Honest Kitchen. She didn't seem to want either one. Around the same time she went off peanut butter, which every dog I've ever known loves. She used to love it herself! The other night we made pizza, and she turned her nose up at the "bones."

The only way I could get her to eat was if I cooked something for her myself and mixed it in with her kibble. So, if we were having chicken, I'd set aside enough for a few meals worth for her and boil it along with some greens and then dice that up with her food. Or I'd do the same with some fish or turkey. I'm not a great cook - but she LOVED it! (It's nice to have someone enthusiatically gobble your cooking!)

This is the Lamb Stew. Rita's intrigued...

As I said, this has been going on for weeks now, and I had been trying to figure out what the heck happened to her appetite. But I finally figured it out! When she got the diagnosis of the panosteitis, one site I looked on said that dogs who have it can become depressed or even anorexic. Well, she'd actually gained some weight from all the laying around and not exercising, so that didn't really make sense to me. But, I started to think, maybe the only reason she didn't become anorexic was because I started trying so hard to vary her meals and mix in some home cooking that she kept eating her meals. Plus, she never went off her treats - I mean, she's not crazy.

Anyway, while I was writing up this post I searched again on panosteitis and, more specifically, whether it affects the appetite - and it does! In fact, the site I found said loss of appetite is usually the first symptom. Now it all makes sense!

Rita Wins Again!
So, winning the Rachel Ray "Naturally Delish" dog food from Jen at the My Brown Newfies blog could not have happened at a better time! Rita loves a little bit of it mixed in with her kibble. (I have to mix it up really good or she eats around the kibble...)

"That was SO yummy!"

I have no idea what this new Rachel Ray food costs, but I think it's available in grocery stores, which is handy, and it also comes in resealable tubs, which is also handy (and way better than dealing with an opened can of food). Plus it's made with no fillers, meat by-products, artificial ingredients or preservatives, plus no corn, wheat or soy, and 100% of the proceeds go to help animals in need. I'd imagine it would be pretty pricey to feed your pup this alone, but it's been great for mixing a bit in with Rita's dinner to get her appetite going again.

So, thanks to My Brown Newfies and thanks to Rachel Ray for the yummy* goodies for Rita.

Hopefully we'll get our ol' chow hound back one of these days!


* I should probably say "yummo" instead of "yummy", as a nod to Rachel Ray since that's what she always says... but my bro is not a big fan of Ms. Ray,** so I'll stick with yummy. Or I'm also partial to yumma.

**My bro is a great cook and therefore watches the cooking channel a lot. I think he doesn't like her because she is so darn chipper. Chipper is not really a word that would ever come to mind if you were looking for a one-word description of my bro. Plus, I'd say his cooking style is more Alton Brown than Rachel Ray, so he's just not into the whole 30 Minute Meal thing - he wants to make the 8 to 10 Hour Meal. Seriously. He needs his own cooking show. We keep telling him he should pitch it to the Food Network - we even have the title already: "The Surly Chef". There'd be none of that constant patter. Instead he'd just cook and occasionally explain something. If the cameraman got in his way, they'd have to bleep out a lot of expletives. (Even if the cameraman didn't get in his way they'd probably have to bleep out a lot of expletives...) But the food would be amazing!

Monday Mischief: Scavenging!

This Monday Mischief is actually mostly about me and some mischief Mike's admin asked me to join in - but Rita benefited from the mischief as well!

Last week I participated in a scavenger hunt that was a team-building event for my hub's Finance department at work. The hub's admin was the one who invited me to be one of the "things" they scavenged for, so he didn't know I'd be there.

The hunt took place in downtown La Jolla, full of nice restaurants and shops and always bustling on a Friday afternoon - especially in the summer. I was told to hang out reading What the Dog Ate on the bench outside Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. There were 6 teams, and even though the hunt was to last all afternoon, they were told that my particular clue was only good from 2 to 3 (so I didn't have to sit there forever).

The clue was something like: "The dog ate my homework" is one of the most common excuses in America. Stop by this 3000 mile mountain range for a sweet treat, where you'll find a La Jolla author who can tell you what else the dog ate.

When I got there, the bench I was supposed to sit on was otherwise ocupied by a homeless guy. Luckily there was a tiny little wall about 6 inches off the ground in front of the shop, so I sat on that and pulled out my book and tried to make the cover obvious.