Well, Yes, She Does Have Her Quirks

Late last summer I bought some crunchy treats for Reyna. I got them specifically because they didn’t contain lamb, beef, chicken or wheat, which meant she should be able to eat them without ripping out her fur later. One bag was carrot flavor and the other was apple flavor. She didn’t like them. In fact, she turned her nose up so fast I’m surprised she didn’t wrench her neck. They sat in the cabinet until a week ago. Reyna was bugging me for a cookie, so I decided to give her one of those, figuring she’d look at it and leave. Boy, was I wrong. Not only did she eat it, she asked for another one. So I pulled out the other bag to see if she’d eat the other flavor. She did. And Duncan started eating them, too. Friday, I bought new bags of the carrot and apple flavors, and I bought a bag of blueberry treats, too. Last night, Reyna started pestering for a cookie again, so I brought out the three bags. She ate all three flavors of cookies and kept asking for more. When I put them away, she sat in front of the cabinet until she realized I wasn’t going to bring them back out. I don’t know what has changed from last summer to now, but I’m glad I didn’t just toss the treats away last year.

Duncan had his annual check-up Saturday (and he’s just fine). While we were there, I talked with the vet a bit more about an FHO for Reyna. He admitted that there would most likely be damage to her other hip, her shoulder, and her knees during the recovery period because she’d be compensating for the surgical hip. He then said there’s no way to estimate the amount of potential damage; we’d just have to wait until the damage was done to see how bad it was. Gee, that’s a comforting thought. He also said that yes, it was very possible that the recovery could go horribly wrong, just because of Reyna’s quirks and other health issues. He said that, if I decide to put her through the surgery, I should assume that I’ll be dealing with all the stuff that could go wrong (infection, ripping out fur, chewing the tail, seizures, injuries to the other joints, etc), and just hope for the best. I should have asked him if he’ll make house calls when she starts trying to eat her tail.