Pack On the Pounds

Mona went in for another round of chemo on Friday. I had to drop her off while I was at work so I sent her with a Kong to keep her busy. Everything went fine. The vet didn't admit it, but I discovered she had barked the entire day -- she was completely hoarse. Her bloodwork is good so far.

However, she did lost a half a pound. So I've ramped up her food intake .... tons of green veggies and two Kongs every time we leave the house. She's being finicky about the Kongs. I usually stuff them with her chicken strips, a few biscuits and some cream cheese. Now I mix a teaspoon of wet catfood into the cream cheese, just to get her going. Today, she got a few carrots and a piece of turkey lunch meat. She had green beans for breakfast. Dinner featured lima beans and green beans. She inhaled them. She loves green veggies more than the canned dog food. I am not exaggerating.

I also bought some store treats for her to have at the vet this coming Friday. I figure the tradeoff of her making herself hoarse is not acceptable, especially if she isn't going to take an interest in the Kong.

Her weekend was better than last. She was energetic and playful. She got a few car rides -- she rolled with me to help Ledcat drop off her car at the shop and then again Saturday night when we had to go back to the Southside to pick up Ledcat's glasses. She was tussling with her brothers and completely underfood during Xmas Tree Take Down 2008. It was great.

Today, she's been perky. We had chicken for dinner so she was very attentive to that. I diced up the last few bites and mixed in with her remaining dry food to get her to eat. Sometimes I feel bad when she doesn't polish off the same dinner as her siblings, then I remember that they weight three times as much as she does.

Our freezer is packed to the gills with bags of frozen green veggies. I meant to get some spinach to try. The lima beans were like candy. Deus and Xander were scooting all over the floor to scarf up the few that I dropped.

I have a lot invested in the veggies. Not money, but hope. I tell myself that if I can keep her eating well, we are winning. Those green guys are warriors in our cancer battle. I've got my mind set on her making up that lost half pound this week. The good thing is that she is eating and she hasn't had any problems with diarrhea or vomiting at all.

And it gives me something immediate that I can focus on --- a sense of control. I'll spend half an hour preparing her dinner if I get the payoff of her eating 3/4 of it. I can't see the chemo working and it scares me anyway to think of her poor body struggling with it. I can see the impact of the veggies - her allergies aren't as severe, her poop is ... interesting. :-)

Today, I was thrilled to come home and discover that she had burst through the babygate, broke into the cat litter box and left me a big steaming pile of poop on the attic floor, a pile that Ledcat left for me. Ha. I was happy to clean it up b/c that's Mona behavior we haven't seen in a few weeks.

In other pet news, the boys have been doing good. They both seem to have this allergy thing going on -- some coughing and wheezing. I dosed 'em with Benadryl and its better. They, too, love the green veggies. Deus has two more weeks of post-operative recovery until he can begin exercising again so the extra bulk in his diet is good. Kitties are good. Simon needs a nail trim (ouch). He tried to eat a lima bean tonight, but Mona took it from him.

So that's it for tonight.