About ten days ago I shared with you that I was concerned about Shadow’s odd meal-time behaviors in my post, Senior Eye Exam Scheduled. 

I wish I could have gotten a better video to show her odd behavior, but it just didn’t work out. 

As I told the vet, any time she senses that she’s being watched, Shadow stops eating. Period. But that being said….

When I finished telling the vet my slightly abbreviated version, the vet checked everything. Shadow’s eyes, her teeth, her spleen/abdomen area, and his records on her past visits. Her teeth are all good – which I expected him to say – except for a little tartar on one of her premolars. She does not have cataracts. She has a little bit of sclerosis (hardening) of the lens of both eyes; but it’s so slight that it is not a concern, nor is it painful.

I raised the concern that she’s not eating enough to stay healthy. The vet knows me well enough to know how hypersensitive I am to Shadow’s issues after Callie’s illness last year. I told him that on days when she eats her full meals she gets between 800 and 1,000 calories…

“For a dog her size, her age, and her activity level, she’s getting enough calories on average.” She had lost very little weight since January – maybe 4 ounces, if even that – so we’ll just do monthly weight checks and see if there’s any need for concern.

“In short,” the vet said, “Shadow is playing with your head. She knows your emotions well. So, what I suggest is some ‘tough love’ at meal time. Continue with the same food; and when she walks away from it, pick up the bowl and put away whatever’s left until the next meal. Eventually she’ll figure out that if she’s hungry, she’s going to have to eat her whole meal first time around. She’s not going to starve. If she starts losing weight too quickly, we’ll run tests again; but I don’t believe she will. There’s nothing in her chart to worry me right now.”

And with all that out of the way, we had to do an X-ray on her left foot. Since Wednesday afternoon, she’d been alternating between favoring the foot slightly and really limping noticeably. I’d been using ice packs on it and giving her some Tramadol; but it didn’t help. Turns out that in one of her jaunts around the yard – chasing the ball – she stumbled and sprained the second joint of the left toe on her left, front foot. (We did the X-ray to rule out any tumors.) So, she’s on rest, Tramadol, and generic Carprofen for the week. We go back for a re-check on Friday. She was already walking better by Friday night, so the Carprofen must be working. 🙂