clean plate club

So it turns out all we had to do to get Thirteen to eat was give her really expensive food. "Holistic" food from Cole Park, $2 a can, in fancy-pants flavors like duck, lamb, and salmon.

They told me she ate about a half can during the day, so I bought a half-dozen cans to bring home. We gave her the duck, and she wolfed it down. I can't remember the last time I saw her eat with that much enthusiasm. I mean grabbing chunks so big they barely fit in her mouth, and swallowing them in one bite. I kept giving her more and she kept eating it, until the whole can was gone. She ate her Nutrical too.

So I guess she just really didn't like the Science Diet canned food. This holistic food does seem much nicer in texture and smell. Heck, you could put it on a plate and call it "duck pate" and I'd be willing to eat it. Add some water crackers and gherkins and you'd have yourself a nice appetizer. Science Diet seemed kind of gross in comparison, but was it really so bad that she would rather starve than eat it?

Because Thirteen's never shown the slightest sign of finicky eating before, it never occurred to me that might be the problem. In 16 years she's never turned her nose up at her food before. I thought she must have been terribly sick. I had been thinking that we would need to cancel the pet sitter for our upcoming vacation and get them boarded at the vet, so Thirteen could be supervised & observed all day. I'm still going to tell the pet sitter about the situation and give her the option, but I think she can handle it. She's always been really good with Thirteen's meds.

Besides the miracle gourmet food, Thirteen and Jane also both got nail trims and baths. Which they both needed very much. Thirteen always needs a bath (see skin infections and hypothyroid, in the post earlier today) and Jane had gotten into something oily and smelly over the weekend. We think she must have been tracking rodents and stuck her head into a plant full of sap or something. She came running out and rubbed her head on the ground like she was trying to wipe it off, and her head & whole front end have been oily and rank ever since. We've been calling her "Stinky Head." Now I guess her new name is "Clean Head." Just like Eddie Vinson!

I promise to write a post about something besides Thirteen real soon now. I've got several movies to write up, plus our trip to the state fair yesterday. Not to mention the Amazing Headache Curing Radio Show. (Not much of a story there, actually: I had a splitting headache, did my show anyway, and enjoyed the music so much that my headache went away.)