Yes, I plan on doing 6 meals, every 4 hours. If she refuses to eat the kibble, I will syringe feed the slurry of Hill's LD and water (15ml).
This may sound anal, but I THINK she needs about 3oz... which is exactly 100 pieces of kibble. So if that is divided into 6 feedings, she will need to be 16-17 pieces of kibble during each feeding.
What I may do is put down 17 pieces of kibble and if she has not eaten it by the 4 hour mark, I will sit down with her and try to encourage her. When it is eaten, I will go ahead and put down 17 more pieces so that she can either nibble on it over the next 4 hours or just eat the rest of it at the next 4 hour mark (does that make sense?).
It may sound tedious, but I don't mind. It will give me a better idea on how much she really is eating. If she wants more, I will add 1-2 kibbles, like you suggested. Thanks.
Oh honey, I never wanted to give her up in the first place! She has been my favorite all along. DH and I had a heart to heart a month or so ago and he really encouraged me to "let her go". DH became a K9 officer in June (which means we also got a new black lab - Dozer!) and so my hopes of keeping a puppy was taken away.... BUT praise the Lord that Ginger is a little drama queen and she was willing to do whatever it took to come home to momma!
hahah (that's what I told DH hehe) Thank you so much for all the advice and encouragement.
Another thing. I don't want everyone to think that Max and Molly was NOT tested. They were last year (before I got them). It had not been a full year since their tests that I bred them so I didn't feel as though it was needed again (maybe I was wrong?). Both of the BATs were normal last year. I wonder if they could've changed much over the year? I will be having them tested again in the next few months just to make sure.
The research that Dr. Tobias has is fascinating. I read that she took 2 dogs that had liver shunts, repaired them, bred them and they produced 2 healthy pups. I sure hope they are able to find a genetic marker in her research study to help prevent liver shunts from ever happening in the future.
And don't worry, we are totally keeping her! DH even agrees this time even though now we will have 4 dogs and 2 cats!
lol