Sunday, January 8, 2012

Little B's Dream Comes True

On Friday Little B had her annual check-up at the vet. The vet said she looks awesome for a 12-year old dog.

One thing we discussed was the fact that Little B has been getting up in the middle of the night, looking for her food. The earlier and earlier she got up, the easier and easier it was to put her food out on the counter the night before so it would be ready for her. Then we started to wonder if maybe since it was out and she could smell it, that she wouldn't be able to sleep without obsessing over it.

So we're on a new feeding schedule for her, spreading the food out over 3 meals a day. She was super surprised when we plopped down a full bowl in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, but certainly didn't question it. And today she was looking for her dinner around the old 4 pm feeding time, but she eventually got some rest without it. We are also adding canned green beans, in an effort to fill her up. Apparently green beans and canned pumpkin can fill up dogs safely, without adding too many calories - not that we're worried about Little B's weight. The beans may cause gas, but the pumpkin could cause diarrhea if you give too much so we opted for the beans.

In addition, we are trying to get her a bit more exercise. Her walks had decreased in the length the last few years and definitely have gotten pushed aside a few times this holiday season. We are hoping that by slowly working her back up to a bit more exercise each day, she'll sleep a little better each night.

So far, so good. Saturday she slept til 5:50 am. She did hop up onto our bed at some point last night, but didn't get up to eat until after CJ woke around 7. We'll take that - much better than the 3:30 am feeding! Let's hope this continues to work.

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