Wednesday, June 02, 2004
What do you canines out there get for kibble toppings?
When we were young, we got nothing. Plain old, high quality kibble in a bowl. Supposedly it was good for us for so many reasons - our teeth, our stomachs, what-have-you. But as the years went by, some other foods slowly crept into the mix. Mostly it was little additions - some grated parmesan on our dry kibble, the occasional scrambled egg, a little shredded cheese, a tiny morsel of hamburger. Occasionally a little bit of vanilla ice cream (once a summer or so).
But then a very fortuitous thing happened from an appetite standpoint - Cori got bone cancer (we're not happy about it, but you have to take the bad with the good). No longer was she limited to plain old kibble. In fact, her cancer diet involved reducing carbs (which feed the cancer) and raising protein (hmmm... sounds like doggy-Atkins). Suddenly low fat proteins supplemented her (and therefore ALL of our) kibble every night - delicacies like chicken breast poached in a flavorful broth, pork tenderloin, cottage cheese and ground turkey. Yumm! Our palates were awakened.
And once you start, you can NEVER go back (kind of like dogs on the furniture and the big beddy, but that's another story).
The toppings have continued for the four years since Cori's diagnosis and treatment. This past winter when Cori's kidneys started to show wear, our diets changed again a bit (hers especially), but the toppings continued. And tonight we had one of our all-time favorites - some diced rotisserie turkey and a nice turkey broth* on our current favorite kibble - Nutro's Natural Choice Lamb & Rice (our all-time favorite for taste and for shiny, soft coats).
*note from Cathy: regarding the kidney diet, unfortunately, Cori completely refuses vegetables - she does not believe they have any food value whatsoever and will pick around them delicately to get to kibble and other toppings. She also does not like rice and has grown weary of many filler carbs. Vegetables must be completely disguised in other things, like nice broths with pureed veggies, gravies, etc. This impedes our delivering an optimum kidney diet, but we do make an effort. And her kidneys are holding their own for now.
When we were young, we got nothing. Plain old, high quality kibble in a bowl. Supposedly it was good for us for so many reasons - our teeth, our stomachs, what-have-you. But as the years went by, some other foods slowly crept into the mix. Mostly it was little additions - some grated parmesan on our dry kibble, the occasional scrambled egg, a little shredded cheese, a tiny morsel of hamburger. Occasionally a little bit of vanilla ice cream (once a summer or so).
But then a very fortuitous thing happened from an appetite standpoint - Cori got bone cancer (we're not happy about it, but you have to take the bad with the good). No longer was she limited to plain old kibble. In fact, her cancer diet involved reducing carbs (which feed the cancer) and raising protein (hmmm... sounds like doggy-Atkins). Suddenly low fat proteins supplemented her (and therefore ALL of our) kibble every night - delicacies like chicken breast poached in a flavorful broth, pork tenderloin, cottage cheese and ground turkey. Yumm! Our palates were awakened.
And once you start, you can NEVER go back (kind of like dogs on the furniture and the big beddy, but that's another story).
The toppings have continued for the four years since Cori's diagnosis and treatment. This past winter when Cori's kidneys started to show wear, our diets changed again a bit (hers especially), but the toppings continued. And tonight we had one of our all-time favorites - some diced rotisserie turkey and a nice turkey broth* on our current favorite kibble - Nutro's Natural Choice Lamb & Rice (our all-time favorite for taste and for shiny, soft coats).
*note from Cathy: regarding the kidney diet, unfortunately, Cori completely refuses vegetables - she does not believe they have any food value whatsoever and will pick around them delicately to get to kibble and other toppings. She also does not like rice and has grown weary of many filler carbs. Vegetables must be completely disguised in other things, like nice broths with pureed veggies, gravies, etc. This impedes our delivering an optimum kidney diet, but we do make an effort. And her kidneys are holding their own for now.
