Spoiled Boy

Not that we haven’t been spoiling him for the past 7 months and not that our pets are not ridiculously spoiled to begin with but I thought I would share how we are stepping up the spoiling right now. It will help me focus on the fun parts of this time.

I bought a pack of ground beef, a big bunch of bananas, a pack of rotisserie chicken meat at Costco and bought a bunch of different canned food and treats. I got them some rubber bones that taste like meatloaf and pizza since chewing the normal bones seem to be a little tiring. We have about 15 kinds of treats in the house. We have pumpkin though he seems to be associating that smell with his amputation and turning away so Ella is enjoying that on her own. He used to love it but we fed him quite a bit of pumpkin during surgery recovery so that is my best guess. We have Greek yogurt and cheese and blueberries and he can eat every last bean in the garden if he wants it.

We give him treats with cannabis oil about an hour before meal times. He is getting a little kibble, a lot of canned food and tonight we added meatballs. I put his pills in balls of raw hamburger and oh my they both went crazy. They also got an extra meatball after dinner just because. I have been deemed The Bringer of Meatballs and it took an hour for them to stop checking if I have beef when I come in the room. I brought him water in bed when he was done eating and he wouldn’t drink until I left because he just kept checking for hamburger.

We are watching Netflix together right now. They get treats throughout the day. They will sleep with us again tonight and we will work on building my carnivorous bog garden tomorrow while sitting in the grass together. He likes helping with projects outside so I thought this would be a good way to spend the weekend.

Mike and I have all the easy to make food and a nice wine stash. I bought a Costco pack of Kleenex. I have a mobile vet lined up which is oddly comforting since I don’t want to be without a plan if things get bad fast. We can let her know when we are at that point and can just wait for his signals until then. We have a bunch of amazing friends and family offering to help with anything they can.

I’m feeling more positive since he ate. He has been getting picky about food and him eating every piece of kibble then licking the bowl clean makes me relax a bit. He seems to be a little stronger today so I think the chemo is almost out. We seem to have a good level and schedule for the pain medication figured out so hopefully he will sleep most of the night. We are keeping the meds as low as possible for now and have quite a bit of room to up the doses as we need it.

He will get meatballs with every meal every day. He will get cuddles and cookies and all of his favorite things. He will continue getting as many belly rubs as he wants. We are taking even more pictures than usual and I am making a mental note of every detail; every stripe, the feel of his scruff, his velvety ears, his doggy smell. We are looking at a ton of pictures from when he was cancer free and remembering both our strong warrior against this disease and the happy, carefree beast he was before.