The home I grew up in had a \u201clittle kitchen\u201d right off of the main kitchen, basically a pantry with a large white ceramic sink. When we skinned our knees, mom attended to our boo-boos in that sink and the blood dripping across the stark whiteness made me a little queasy. BUT, not as queasy as feeding the dog in this room. For most of her life \u201cDuker,\u201d our black lab ate dry dog food \u2013 simple, no smell, chunk it in the bowl and walk away. As she aged, my mom switched her to wet ALPO. Before the can opener dug into the metal I could smell it, a harsh combination of vomit and leftovers molting in the fridge. Holding my breath the entire time, I scooped it out and filled her dish. Often I couldn\u2019t hold it long enough so I ran out of the room, took another deep breath and came back in. If the smell graced my nostrils I gagged or threw up, swearing then that if I ever had a dog I would NEVER feed it wet dog food scooped from a can. We all know the quote, \u201cnever say never.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Fast forward to 16, yes 16 year old Snuggles. Where do those dog years go? We adore her, but how did I not know that adoring dog owners should brush their dog\u2019s teeth? The groomer did it four times a year which absolved me of this disgusting ritual, i.e. dog breath is always gross no matter how young or healthy the dog is. Now her teeth are in bad shape and it is time for easier to chew wet dog food. Scouring the store I came upon \u201cPot Roast with Vegetables\u201d in the Cesar Home Delights line because it looked like something that I might eat for Sunday dinner and the dog on the front looks like ours, although Snuggles is cuter. This switch went well. The food does not smell disgusting and she loves it. Problem solved.<\/span><\/p>\n Fast forward to 16 and a half years old. It\u2019s time to invest and we\u2019re talking invest <\/b>serious money in a professional vet cleaning of her teeth because the groomer says it is necessary if she is going to \u201clive out her full life.\u201d Isn\u2019t 16 and a half a full dog life? Before this can happen you need to pay for a chest X-ray and blood work to make sure your dog is healthy enough to survive the anesthesia needed for the vet to do the job, i.e. read now \u2013 don\u2019t neglect your dog\u2019s teeth so that this does not happen to you. Several hundred dollars later the email results says, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry your dog is in stage 3 of kidney failure and she won\u2019t be able to have her teeth cleaned until this is abated.\u201d WHAT? Aside from taking more naps Snuggles does not act sick and she is pooping and popping along on her walks as usual. Enter personal state of shock and guilt. Our guinea pig died because we quit feeding her alfalfa (it was already in her pellets), now this! We learn that there is special wet, canned food for kidney failure dogs and now I am flash-backed to the \u201clittle kitchen\u201d of my nightmarish, bad smell event.<\/span><\/p>\n Friends, this is happening! I am scooping gross smelling K\/D healthy kidney stew out of a can. At this point I could launch into a diatribe about how American culture has gone off the deep end with their dogs because they are truly the only relationship we can handle due to the fact that they love us unconditionally and they don\u2019t talk back to us, but I won\u2019t. The bottom line motivation here is LOVE and my groomer\u2019s \u201clive out her full life\u201d statement. Of course, we want her to live her best life, her full life. Our oldest son thinks that dog ownership is an enormous, inefficient waste of thousands of dollars. We who love dogs know this is the farthest perspective from the truth. But the question remains, how far will we go? Should we give her a kidney transplant from the doggie organ donor bank \u2013 probably wouldn\u2019t go that far. All this to say that this month of hearts and flowers we give away, our dogs can teach us about the lengths of love. My engagement with wet dog food certainly speaks of the truth that \u201cGreater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.\u201d John 15:13. Obviously, I\u2019m not laying down my life, just my nose for man\u2019s best friend and that change in behavior doesn\u2019t seem like such a big deal in the grand scheme of our world today. What changes for the sake of love are you making this month? Long live Snuggles the dog!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIt\u2019s your turn to feed the dog!\u201d How many times have we said that and how many times has that been said to us? The home I grew up in had a \u201clittle kitchen\u201d right off of the main kitchen, basically a pantry with a large white ceramic sink. When we skinned our knees, mom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4245,"featured_media":973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[387],"tags":[389,393,391],"class_list":["post-965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humor","tag-dog-love","tag-prolonging-life","tag-sacrificial-love"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1260\/2021\/02\/IMG_2952-e1612292262225.jpg\")
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