Cooking with Hobbes

No, I don't mean using him as an ingredient in some kind of stew (although there are times when...never mind).  I mean finding out what to feed the little guy.  Having gotten his diagnosis of mega-esophagus, I immediately went into "solve the problem" mode.  That means freaking out until I come up with a solution that worked.

First, I bought some solid meat stuff, that looked like something we would get from Hickory Farms for Christmas, and cut it into cubes.  Hobbes seemed to like it, but this stuff is very expensive, and full of protein, which mega-e dogs are supposed to go easy on (slow to digest, so it hangs around the stomach longer).  At the same time I bought canned puppy food, and was trying to roll the stuff into meatballs.  It doesn't stay together really well, and was very difficult to batch.  So, I pulverized some oatmeal to use as a filler, but all I got was pastey dog food.

After a couple weeks of experimentation, I came up with the following formula, which seems to work really well.  The only problem is that this doesn't freeze well, so I can't make a months worth of food at a time.  Hobbes probably prefers that his food be fresh anyway!

2 cups pulverized ProPlan kibble (we are currently transitioning from puppy to adult)

1/3 c. instant mashed potato flakes

1/2 cup pumpkin

1/4 c. water

2 cans ProPlan dog food

Mix the dry ingredients, then add pumpkin and water.  Add in canned food until thoroughly combined.  Press into loaf pan sprayed with Pam or other oil spray, and refrigerate, preferably overnight.  Cut loaf into eight sections.  Roll meatballs approx. 2/3 in, in diameter (size will vary based on type of dog).  Place in eight containers.  Once all rolled, remove enough from each container to evenly fill a ninth.  Makes 3 days worth of food.

As I mentioned in the last entry, Hobbes does not get the majority of his liquid in water form, because water seems to cause real problems.  Instead, I make him chicken flavored jello.  Our other dogs love this as well!

4 pkgs knox gelatin, softened in 2 cups cold water

1 tsp sodium-free chicken boullion, dissolved in 2 cups boiling water.

Mix gelatin into water until dissolved.  Stir boullion mixture until thoroughly combined.  Pour chicken broth into gelatin, straining it to remove parsley and other small pieces.  Stir.  Pour into 13x9 in pan which has been sprayed with Pam.  Refrigerate until solid.  Cut into 48 pieces, and split up into 4 containers.  Enough jello for 4 meals.

I admit that this whole process really wigged me out.  Whether or not Hobbes survived was in my hands alone!  Thank goodness I was on sabbatical during this time--I would have been impossible to work with. I've since gained a bit of perspective on the whole thing, and know that I can only do what I can do.  I am pleased to say that Hobbes grew nicely during the past 6 months, so much so that we had to cut back on his meatball intake because he was getting too fat--unheard of for a mega-e dog! 

Unfortunately, figuring out how to feed Hobbes wasn't our final challenge, as you will see in the next installment.