Wishful Wednesday - Chore!

I Wish... I never had to do

 Doggy Chef Duties again! 

Now most people probably are wondering how the hell feeding the dog is a CHORE... Oh, yes it is!! Wanna know why? See my pup Bondi has a lovely protein-losing enteropathy (intestinal disease) called "Lymphangiectasia" that nearly killed him (remember?), which means he can eat ONLY:

• Rice
• Tofu Potatoes
• Tuna in water
• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast
• Non-fat cottage cheese
• NO (less than 3%) FAT
• NO GLUTEN

Unfortunately, there are no commercial dog foods that meet the above criterion... (and even if there were, I highly doubt they would be palatable to Mr. Bondi) so to keep my dog alive, I get to for cook for him.... three.times.a.day.every.day.for.the.rest.of.his.life.

 bondi's food. really MUCH larger bowl than it looks. the pills are TUMS :)

This involves buying chicken breast and potatoes in bulk... we're talking 50 lbs at a time, which ain't cheap!! (In case you're wondering, our freezer is pretty much filled to the brim with chicken breast at all times, and our cabinet stays full of tuna for whenever we're in a "Bondi Food" pinch.) Then, we either boil or grill the chicken breast 10 lbs at a time and store it in VERY large Tupperware. Thank God for microwaves, because I can cook his potatoes in about 6-8 minutes.

On any given day, Bondi eats:

• 3-6 chicken breasts
• 3-6 potatoes

I KNOW!!! What an OINKER, right???

Special... the vet said to feed him "as much as he wants" because due to his permanent (now manageable) condition, he will always be susceptible to rapid weight loss. (Jealous much? hehe). Oh, and because his diet is pure protein and starch, it's seriously lacking in nutrients. So CAN'T forget the vitamins and - get this - TUMS for Calcium/Magnesium.

ALAS... you see, cooking for Bondi is quite a CHORE and I would be ecstatic to never.ever.EVER do it again. Lucky me, I have an amazing boyfriend who shares Doggy Chef Duties with me, and I get a wonderful (alive) dog who warms my heart:

yes. this is bondi in a box. (my NEW computer box!!!) hehe

PS: This post reminds me, just a few days ago I realized how terribly rotten Bondi's teeth are getting :-(  I was so busy trying to keep him alive for so long, that I didn't even think about his teeth. Without any hard food or bones to keep the plaque and tartar away, his teeth have totally gone to hell in a handbag. Now he has to go in for professional cleaning - possibly extraction! - on Monday.. they'll have to put him under to do this. And I feel SOOOOOooooo terrible for not noticing earlier. Seriously... seriously negligent. So umm, take home lesson... brush your dog's teeth? Uggghh

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The Seattle Smith's!

Introductions

So I've finally caved and started this blog.

I actually meant to start one awhile back when my dog Bondi got diagnosed with Protein Losing Enteropathy (PLE) last year, as I was struggling to determine the cause and a solution, (more about that later, maybe) but, I never did find the time.

I suppose that part of the reason I didn't do this sooner is because I regularly update and maintain a blog as part of my full-time job at Epoch Design. But after months of following friends' blogs, it seems I've been converted! We'll see how this goes...

Anyway, a little about me: I was born and raised in the greater Seattle area. Went to college at Duke University. Wasn't too fond of the whole "East Coast" thing, so here I am. Living and loving life in Seattle, Washington.

Bondi's Story: I have an amazing dog Bondi - he's a pretty lucky pup. I adopted him from the animal shelter when he was just 8 weeks old. Apparently his mom was a papered Doberman who got knocked up by the neighborhood tramp, so Bondi and his littermates got dropped at the pound when they were just 5 weeks old so the mom would go back in heat. UGH.. Anywayyy so Bondi was my special bastard puppy, named after Bondi Beach in Australia where I lived for several months in college. He was such a cute puppy!! Don't you think?

He got very sick last year and lost about 40 lbs in just a few months. Vets quickly determined he had "PLE" but thought the cause was irritable bowel disease, triggered by severe food allergies. So I bought all the expensive foods, etc. etc. but Bondi just kept losing weight. Months on a RX diet, multiple blood panels, an endoscopy, plasma blood transfusion, and several thousand dollars in cumulative vet bills later, Bondi looked like this:

Now I've left out all of the gory details of Mr. Bondi's affliction, but lets just say it wasn't fun. He couldn't keep anything in him and it was coming out both ends pretty violently about ten times a day. Vets all told me it was time to put him down, but I wasn't ready. As luck would have it (or the Grace of God?) I chanced upon one specialist who said it was a "long shot" but he just might have Lymphangiectasia, an intestinal disease that is a rare cause of PLE.

Anyway, long story short she was right! What does this mean for me? Bondi can't have ANY FAT in his diet. He can eat only a combination of chicken breast, turkey breast, tuna, non-fat cottage cheese, tofu, rice and potatoes. Now I shop at Costco and Cash & Carry pretty exclusively. It's pretty expensive, but it's worth it to have a happy and healthy and alive dog!

Well, that's the background on Mr. Bondi. More about me and my life later!