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Paris Windows LFP Acrylic/canvas 18 x 12" 45 x 30cm
Pot of Posies LFP Acrylic/paper 17 x 25" 43 x 61cm
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Baah baah baah LFP Acrylic/cnvas 12 z 18" 30 x 45cm
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Teeny picture of teeny peppers LFP Acrylic/canvas 7 x 7" 18x18cm
“When she’s ready, just place a piece of paper under her.” Hah.
So I was able to obtain a urine sample from Harika, and entertain the
neighbors. With some stiff paper,
strategically cut, I was able to fill the glass tube provided by the veterinarian.
Harika has had some health issues since just before
Christmas. They became really obvious
over the last ten days. So, when we had
to get her heart medicine prescription at the vet, he made an appointment to
get her blood tested. In fact, she had nothing
too serious, but a urine sample might make things more clear. It didn’t.
So then I put on my thinking cap.
What had changed to make her so thirsty? We got a new large bag of her regular dog
food in December, and within a week this insane drinking manifested. After the usual jokes, like, everyone drinks more during the holidays,
and is she taking after her mother?
it was more serious. So, I took a look
at the bag of dry dogfood – pretty much the same, but a former minor
ingredient, ash, had suddenly jumped to the top of the list: 10.5% ash.
This filler should only make up 2 percent of the ingredients, but 10+?
This is the second time we’ve had a problem like this, with
top quality dog food products. I am
really sensitive about ingredients after a friend who worked for a major timber
firm in the Northwestern USA pointed out that “natural fiber” in dogfood (and
in humans’, too) is really sawdust (a major profit center for the logging
company). Companies get away with
putting tons of filler, wood or ash, in dogfood, because dogs don’t talk, don’tcha
know?
After several sleepless nights (she’s been up drinking at 1
AM. Slurp, slurp) and menu modification,
things are improving. I make most of
Harika’s food, anyway, and just use the dry stuff to clean her teeth. So, now I am making a larger casserole of
meat and peas and rice… I am adding
garlic next time, and maybe a carrot or two.
I have been enjoying cooking, not just for Harika, since the
start of the year. There seems to be a move toward more vegetables – a plethora
of which grow in Italy. I am instituting some new dishes in my
repertoire: curried mussels, butternut
squash parmigiana, mushroom pot pie, pasta alla vodka , and beans, sausage and
gorgonzola (in a nod to Italy). Buon appetito.
