Mom, we don't feel good

We all know when our pets feel in top form, and when they are under the weather. They have moods just like we do. But the past few days had me scratching my head and trying to decipher the signals.

Jake stopped eating on Wednesday. The Little Shit, his official nick name or LS for short, would not touch his dinner. Then he stopped taking treats. So I tried a different food, eggs, and that didn't work either. By Friday morning, Gracie wouldn't eat and a giant red flag was waving in front of my eyes. The Diva never, ever refuses food. She is a food hog. I've explained to her that she is going to lose her girlish figure, but that doesn't stop her from eating whatever she can get. When Gracie wouldn't accept a favorite treat, I knew we had a problem.

I googled the problem, and found four possible answers, the first being "take the dog to the vet to make sure there is no acute or chronic illness". So I made an appointment. One of the other answers was boredom with the food. In retrospect, I think I have 3 issues in force: Jake at times will let Gracie be completely dominant and this affects his appetite. I think he did indeed have some type of mild bug that passed to Gracie (the vet says this is rare, but hey, why not?). The third reason is they were bored with dog food that I pay $62 for a 32 pound bag. Say what? Do you not know how good this is for you?

The recommendation from the vet was to switch to either rice and cottage cheese (Jake doesn't like cottage cheese, tried that in the past), or sweet potato and baked chicken breast, no skin, no fat. Off I go to the store to buy chicken breasts ($4.98 for a pack of 3), and sweet potatos (fresh, $.88 a pound, resulting in $2.82 for 4). But of course they both dived right into this mix, butts wiggling, smiles on their little faces. The vet visit was $73.

Love and companionship from my two furry kids: priceless.
Linda