The Food Experiment: A Change of Course

I did it.  I moved the girls to another formula of Solid Gold's (MMillenia - beef formula) to see how Maggie would react.  Unfortunately, she has started the scratching again - it's pretty minimal at this point but I don't want it to build up again.  I want her to be happy and itch-free.  Having found that one formula that eliminated her itchiness overnight, I'm sticking with it.  Bye, Bye Food Experiment.  I'm glad that we found the solution to her problems and, though I would have liked to try a few more foods so that I had personal experience with which to recommend them to my customers, my goal was met.  Sadie is looking spectacular and though I haven't taken her in to the vet for the official weigh-in, there is no doubt that she is very close to her ideal weight.  She has gone from sausage to svelte.  I think all three of the foods we tried helped her as she started trimming the fat once we moved off of Iams and kept going.

I did have one goal in my experiment that won't be met by sticking to one formula - and that is providing variety in their diet.  So how am I going to accomplish that?  By supplementing their diets with fresh snacks and homemade meals of course!  I have already been doing this a little for the past few months but off and on and only when the cooking I was doing for us peeps was appropriate to feed to the girls.  Now I'm going to make the commitment to more than just off and on and when it's convenient.  They'll get one home-prepared protein per week, I will sometimes add food toppers like broth, eggs or fresh veggies and I'm going to start replacing some of the treats they get with raw veggies and fruit.  Sadie is pretty psyched about this. 

I will have no problem with Sadie and the fresh veggies.  I discovered her love for all things vegetables - well, not all veggies...just the crunchy ones - a few years back when a piece of raw asparagus fell on the floor.  She gobbled it up and I waited for the horrible, what the hell is this crap expression that would inevitably come.  I mean, raw asparagus?  Even I need my asparagus blanched at least.  Nope.  She loved it and begged for more. This past week, I introduced celery and now I have a dog that begs whenever I break out the cutting board.  Except if I'm cutting up meat - she knows her place is lying down at the edge of the kitchen when she smells meat.  Guess I'll have to start training her that the same applies to veggies too.

Maggie wasn't having any of the celery (good thing I won't be relying on celery for nutrition!) but she did have a good ole time chomping on carrots.