No Annie didn't like her reduced diet, but I feed her 3 times a day (small meals) so she doesn't have to wait too long. I am glad Poppy is on the mend.
See how you get on, she may not even notice. If you think she's upset by it, it might be worth looking for a less calorically-dense food, so she gets more volume which should make her feel fuller. Or bulk it out with some low-calorie veg, like broccoli?
So pleased the night went well. Now for that next hurdle: food reduction. Oh boy!! Do you feed raw meaty bones? That might give her some chewing satisfaction.
We feed her one meal of raw food (with bones), and one meal of kibble. She usually gets 3/4 of a cup of kibble in the afternoon - we will cut that down to half a cup and just reduce her breakfast a bit too, and use veggies as fillers. I'm sure it'll be fine - we'll just have to remain strong when she starts with the 'starving eyes' thing...
So glad that Poppy is ok. Harley struggled with the food reduction, but we have eventually found a good balance. She went through a period of being a bit too big for my liking, but is now back to 27/27.5kg and has a nice waistline. Be strong....those starving eyes are a killer!
Snowie loves the central stalks of raw cauliflower, raw broccoli, and cabbage! We're vegetarian so we eat a lot of veg and we always save up these central stalks for when he gives us the starving eyes. Once he got such a big hunk of cabbage that he carried it off to his mat where he likes to eat his meaty bones -- so you see, the cabbage was in the same league as a meaty bone!
Willow does have less than Shadow, but not as significant a difference as you might think, considering she's a spayed girl and he's an entire boy. At one point, he was on twice the amount, but is probably now on about one and a fifth times what she has over the course of a day, treats included. I think Poppy is active enough that you won't find she has to reduce by a huge amount.
I didn't reduce Moos food by much as she was very active. I also use steamed green beans in her food. It was lovely for the dogs on a cold day after a walk, nice warm tea. It hard now she's not very active, but my vets ok with her weight gain. I would gave to really starve her now and I won't do that to the old girl. Glad Poppys done so well
She's feeling very bouncy this morning, and I had to put her on the lead when we met one of her favorite doggie friends on our walk this morning to stop her from rushing around with him. She's also feeling very hungry, but seemed not to notice that there was a little less raw food in her bowl this morning... I'm sure it's all going to work out fine. Thank you all for your support and good advice, much appreciated. Now I just have to recover from the 1,100 Euro bill!!!!!!!
Oh definitely, I don't begrudge the money at all. All the research I did said that recovery is much quicker and pain is much less for the dog with a laparoscopic spay, so it wasn't ever really a question for me. They also cleaned her teeth while she was under the GA - I thought that would just involve a quick scrape off of the plaque, but no, it meant a change of surgical team, the surgeon who did the spay was done and the DENTAL TEAM swung into action... They polished her teeth, she looks amazing! Honestly, the care at that place, far far better than at most human hospitals I've been to!
Oh, my, that does sound like fabulous care! Eeek to the bill, though! Laparascopic spays aren't available in Andorra, sadly.
Glad all is going well, it most often does. I did not cut back on my girls' food. I would watch to see if it was needed but not every dogs' metabolism makes a drastic change. Mine ate just as much before as after and did not gain weight. They didn't slow down either, I really couldn't see any change in either, spayed at 4 years and the other at 9 months.
South Devon referrals are quoting £300 for bitches under 25Kg (2016 prices) - won't include dentistry! I'm interested because I want to get Jaffa done when she finishes her current season.
Our vets will do a laparoscopic spay. Saying that the lead vet is so experienced at the traditional spay that the the other vets recommend this over doing the the procedure laparoscopicly. Something worth considering.
I`ve had both done, well, not me but my girls ! I think the one who had the laparoscopic spay did recover slightly more quickly than the others, but quite honestly , there wasn't a great deal of difference . Weight gain wise , I agree re the individual dog and metabolism , two of mine never gained an ounce , were fed as before whereas little Millie would have become a proper little fatty is we hadn't taken more note of the input of food x
Poor Pops isn't quite right yet. She seems a little flat; almost depressed. I played a game of 'search for the pieces of kibble' with her yesterday evening, which cheered her up. I don't know if she is feeling a bit down because we haven't been doing much with her, or whether she is still feeling the after-effects. At any rate, we are keeping a close eye on her. The wounds look great; completely clean and practically healed. I've just emailed the surgeon; see what he says.
