Brit I have to be honest, I backed away from posting on Jackson's thread because it was becoming tiring with all of the food advice you were being given. I haven't posted but I have been reading just about every day to keep up with how Jackson is recovering. All I could think about was you becoming more and more confused with these suggestions albeit out of concern for Jackson's future health and caring for his future health.
So with that being said on my behalf I'd like to agree with what Kristin posted and could not have worded it better myself. I did not take what Linda posted as being toward you and your love of Jackson
that is very evident. But with the use of one word within a post it can change (unintentionally) the tone of all previous used words and from my view that is exactly what occurred. We can all tell from your posts that you really love him and are trying to do what is the very best for him. There have been so many suggestions for you in what to feed it was just becoming a little overwhelming for me to keep reading.
I can't imaging what it must be like to try to sort through all of this but I can relate it to my professional life where I see cancer patients who are frightened from their diagnosis looking to friends, family, internet forums for the answers. What happens is they just become more confused by what they are trying to sort through.
For the sake of Jackson everyone needs to just focus on what his blood work is telling his doctor and what the next step in his treatment will be. Take all of this with baby steps. From what I have read it Jackson might need to stay on his current treatment plan for a while to make sure he is fully recovered.
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Originally Posted by Maximo  Brit, everyone knows how deeply you love Jackson and that is why you see the level of concern on this thread. Please don't take opinions on diet as judging you personally or questioning your level of care for your doggy.
People questioned why I didn't take my doggy to a specialist and I know they did it out of concern for his eyes and not because they think I am a bad caretaker or person. I was also questioned about the medications and protocol and I had to eat my words about never using an eyedrop with steroids. That's okay because I know people here want my dog to have eyes.
No one wants to see Jackson relapse or worse. I interpreted LJ's comments as exasperation over all the talk of chews and foods that she knows would/could put Jackson back in the hospital -- not just now or until he recovers from this episode, but in the future.
She also repeated her feeding philosophy that if it isn't necessary, she doesn't feed it because it isn't worth the risk. Everyone has strong opinions on diet, including you, and food is always a huge topic of very emotional debate because everyone wants to do the right thing for their pups.
I also have to agree with LJ that our feeding habits are more often about ourselves rather than our doggies' needs. I too am guilty in that regard. We all need to ask ourselves relative to everything that goes in our dogs' mouths if we are nourishing and rewarding them, or are we harming them? Is this food or treat really necessary?
Everyone understands that this is a huge change in lifestyle and experience for you. No one is suggesting living in a bubble or living in fear, but the reality is that every morsel of food that goes in Jackson's mouth could have serious consequences. That applies to all of our doggies, but more so to dogs once they have suffered their first bout of pancreatitis.
Relax and take care of yourself. You know how our doggies pick up on our stress and anxiety. Keep things simple. One day at a time.  |