[Naturella]

Hey, guys! So, I am dog-sitting the dog that belongs to the family for whom I also babysit. Her name is Snowy, a shitzu-Maltese looking mix, maybe Lhasa Apso mix, don’t know, but it is one of those fluffy ones. She is adorable, incredibly submissive to humans, but likes her personal space when it comes to dogs. She is okay with Bruno as she is around his size (if she were a bit fitter, she would probably weigh as much as him) and has met him before, but I was worried that my roommate’s dog would eat her, lol… They had met once before but both were leashed and Snowy doesn’t like having her butt sniffed, so she growled at Casey and Casey growled back and Casey being around 60lbs I was worried that they wouldn’t get along. But, I brought her in, and they were both free (unleashed), with me and Casey’s alpha (my roommate) around and after the initial sniffing and slight fussing they were fine around each other. Casey is now in her room (my roommate’s room), and Snowy and Bruno are hanging out between my room and my bathroom. Bruno is being a tad of a bully and every time Snowy lays down on her bed that I brought from their house, he goes over there and tries to rub his smell on it, thus pushing her out, lol. She acts like a grumpy old lady (albeit only 4 years old) and fusses and leaves.

Now, I am so excited because I have permission to bathe Snowy tomorrow and I can’t wait to because she’s a tad smelly and also because I can condition her hair with my blend of oils and she will be soft, shiny, and smell good! I will also wash her bed tomorrow so it matches her cleanliness.

I have a question though – I have been in charge of her menu (foods) and feeding so far, but today one of the daughters had put a ton of food in Snowy’s bowl, and like a good piggy, Snowy ate it all! She ate at least a day and a half’s worth of food! I am really thinking about a giving her a fast day tomorrow, with a small breakfast just because I will be feeding Bruno sardines (Saturday is Sardines day!) and I want to split the can between them. I was going to give her just 1/4 cup of kibble and the 1/2 can of sardines and call it a day for her. Do you all think that would be okay? I would do that to Bruno if he overate one day.

Also, Snowy’s owners said that recently she had begun drinking a lot more water. And she does drink a lot! Doesn’t seem to have trouble holing it in (no excessive urination that I can tell), but is drinking a lot of water not a sign of diabetes? Should her owners be concerned if she’s not also excessively urinating? Or, is she just trying to stay well-hydrated even though I have been trying to feed her “soups” (kibble with water and coconut oil) for dinner every workday (M-F) for a couple of weeks now. The owner said the water drinking started before I switched her over to good food though. Before she was on Kibbles ‘N’ Bits, Beneful, Pedigree, and the like. Now she’s been on Dogswell LiveFree, Wysong Nurture with Quail (now), and I plan to put her on Earthborn next and I am so excited! I will try to get 4 Earthborns on sale and alternate them with some Pure Balance and Victor or whatever other deals I can find, lol. I want to get this pup to be healthy!

I also don’t know if they use any preventative as far as heartworm and other parasites go. She does get her rabies shot every 3 years. They don’t use anything against fleas and she used to have them bad in the summer. Oh, and remember how I said I thought her bumps were gone? Yeah, no, they’re still there, I found them again, and they are pretty hard and don’t move around. Each is on each of her sides, at the end of her ribcage. I wonder what they may be…