Progress!

The other day I stopped by our small local meat shop just to see what they had.  After asking for beef liver, beef heart, chicken feet, kidneys, spleens, etc, the guy looked at me and said, "You're not really going to eat all that, are you?"  Ha!  I told him it was for my dog, who is on a special diet, and asked if there was any really cheap "junk" meat he could sell me.  About five minutes later, I'd paid $0.64 for a slice of beef liver and was walking out with a box of scrap meat he'd give me for free!

I should have taken pictures, because when people say they get scraps I always wonder what they mean.  Well, this box contained a big black trash bag full of trimmings and bones.  There was a lot of chunks of fat, a lot of connective tissue with small bits of meat attached, and a few chunks of ground meat.  I also got two meaty shoulder blade pieces that I figure I can give her as a treat... Let her work at the meat on it and then throw the bone away.  Unfortunately, the bottom of the bag was full of chili.  Of course, Mona can't eat that, so a lot of the meat on the bottom I didn't even bother going through because it was covered in chili.  I rinsed off a few pieces of fat that only had a little bit on them, and will hope that Mona handles it okay.

So, while a lot of the bag wasn't usable, I still managed to get at least a dozen meals out of it!  It will be interesting to see how she handles a meal that isn't one large chunk... These are mostly bite size chunks all thrown together to make a 10 ounce portion.  But because it was free, I'm sure not going to waste it!!

Also, remember that beef liver I mentioned?  Mona loves it!  Hooray!  It's been such a struggle to get her to eat chicken liver, and half the time the cat steals it and eats it because she ignores it.  I was really nervous that liver in general was going to be a struggle, but I fed her a piece beef liver today and it was gone in seconds.  Thank goodness!  The liver is a little more expensive than I'd wanted, $1.89 a pound, but since she needs so little of it I don't think it will really be a problem.

Introducing: Liver!

Cue the Sad Trombone.  That sums up our first experience with liver.

Today's meal consisted of a drumstick, a couple gizzards, some extra skin, and her very first chicken liver.  I served it all up in a bowl, and she went straight for the skin the second I put the bowl down.  Next came the gizzards, then the drumstick.  Then she examined the bowl, still containing the liver, very closely.  She licked all around the bowl, even licked in the bowl, but would not touch the liver.  After a couple minutes of licking around it, she left it.  Over the course of half an hour, she kept going back to the liver, but would not eat it.  At one point, the cat even snuck up to it and enjoyed a little nibble, but even that didn't entice her to eat it!  After 30 minutes I gave up and put it back in the fridge.  We rested for about 45 minutes, then went to the dog park.

Back from the dog park, round two: The liver reappears.  I set it back out, and she did the same licking/circling/revisiting routine.  After probably another 20 minutes and no progress, I picked up the liver and tried to coax her to eat it.  After much hesitation, she eventually, ever so slowly, took the liver from my hand and ate it.  Ugh.  All that for a piece of liver no more than half an ounce!

Tomorrow I think I'll try a different approach.  I'll feed the liver first, and only serve her "main course" once the liver has been eaten.  Fingers crossed!

Otherwise, Mona's been doing great!  I've bumped up her meals from 8 ounces to about 10, and have been giving 3-4 ounce "snacks" if her meals are going to be particularly far apart.  She seems to be happy, and hasn't shown me any signs of being hungry at all.  All seems well to me!