| yorkietalkjilly | 04-05-2018 10:00 AM |
Tibbe never used to be all that interested in food but as an older dog, he's become more food-obsessed. He used to be on a 'demand' basis, with kibble always in his bowl and he ate only as needed, never gained weight. As he's gotten 8 +, he eats more and more until he was 1 1/2 lbs. over his old 6 lbs. I had to start limiting his food access to two meals a day, 1/4 cup per with a few kibble pieces as needed for treats during the day. Now, Tibbe begins to spend more time nosing around his bowl couple of hours before mealtime and will then come into the den and stand and 'message mommie' by staring endlessly at me an hour or more before mealtime, eventually growling and then barking and running into his bowl in the kitchen if I try to ignore him. He can't stand an empty bowl but if I leave food in it, as I used to do, he'll eat it all! I try to placate him with more games and walkies and so far, it seems to be working. And he's lost some weight, looking trimmer. But that seems to only energize and invigorate his appetite!
His potty breaks have definitely increased as his little body can no longer retain urine as long as he used to. We go out every 2 - 4 hours. The other night around 3:00 a.m., he came whining into bed with me, waking me up, very disturbed acting. I took him outside and he squatted but only momentarily but came back into the house, still acting strange. As I was going back down the hall to the bedroom, I thought I smelled urine and went into the hall bathroom and found he'd peed in there on the floor! This from a dog whose been totally clean in the house since his housebreaking. He'd apparently had to go w/out time to wake me or something but doing so felt wrong to him so he came and fessed up and worried until I found it, cleaned it up. Once that was all over, he was fine again. Ah, the joys of old age and elder problems in our 'babies'! | 