One Can of Meatballs

This morning Caine was able to swallow 5 meatballs! He is still getting the hang of it. During his evening feeding I decided to try a whole can. He will eventually need 4-5 cans of dog food a day. He managed to swallow a whole can of meatballs! We are so happy. Some of them didn't go down and ended up on the floor. We tried different techniques. I'd toss them for a while, then I'd let him pick it off my hand. I also tried holding it over his head and when he opened his mouth I'd let it fall. He seemed to know that he has to hold his head up initially just to get the meatball in the right place, then lower his head to swallow. I wanted to challenge him because the sooner he can get the meatballs down the better he will be.

It's harder to swallow when your head is up than if your chin is pointed towards your chest. The same seems to be true for dogs.

We always flush his mouth with luke warm water after the feeding to make sure there are no crumbles left and to 'water' his mouth. We tried giving him water via syringe. He did swallow it a little bit but I don't think he was very thirsty. We are going to cut back on his water to encourage drinking. He did stick his nose into his new fountain that is at eye level and tried to drink. He still doesn't realize that his tongue is not going to help him out any more.

Even though it is so cold outside, I thought a walk would be nice. He got on his Easy Walk (he's a puller!) and we just walked up and down the street. He was happy to be outside on walks again and he had a pep in his step. We came back inside and he walked around for a bit but then fell asleep on the couch. He looked very comfortable on the couch after his walk, unlike how he's been sleeping recently.

I've had so many people telling me that they are thinking of him and rooting him along. Thank you so much. Caine has such a great influence on everyone he meets and he has great friends, both human and canine. He now has a facebook club, called Caine's Cause. You can link up to it from my facebook page, because for some reason I couldn't find it when I searched. Thank you also for the generous donations we have been receiving. Caine has racked up quite large bills, but he is totally worth it and we are so proud that others feel the same.

Caine's story has also made it to the Chicago Tribune. Check out this site to read the post: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-100107taylor_briefs,0,2430924.story