Prison Food?

So here we are, Penny’s one week ampuversary. She is doing very well. She still is a little out of sorts but from what I have been reading from all of the others on this site, it is just a side effect of the Tramadol. So I will just wait and look forward to having her back soon.

In the past 2 weeks I have spent countless hours scouring the internet looking for help on fighting this cancer. The most prevalent data is in the form of diet. I am learning the importance of removing grains and carbohydrates which means that a predominately protein based diet is the best defense. I have also researched the top “cancer fighting” foods and so with all this information, I headed to the market to load up on all of the ingredients that will be used in my arsenal during this battle.

Last night I spent a very long time in the kitchen preparing mini meatloaves for Penny’s meals. In the food processor, I minced a mixture of brussel sprouts, broccoli and garlic cloves. Then I added to that diced tomatoes and shredded carrots. I threw in a few raw eggs and cottage cheese then mixed the whole disgusting thing into ground beef. I then loaded up every muffin pan, cupcake pan and mini loaf pan that I had in the house (after watching me do this, my poor kids will never trust me with a home baked cupcake again) and baked them until they were medium done.

I was feeling so proud of myself because I have always fed my dogs nothing more than dry kibble and now I was doing something very good and very important in our war on cancer, and then my husband asked me what I was making. My husband is a detective in the sheriff’s department and upon hearing what I had made he proceeded to tell me that those are called “Jute Balls” and those are what they feed the inmates who are being punished, however, they get to have have beans in theirs. Oh great! I am feeding my poor little princess prison food with the exception that she isn’t even getting the beans, so that means the inmates who have gotten in trouble are getting fed better than her. Uugh.

I have not been able to get her to eat much since coming home. The only thing that I have been able to entice her with are hotdogs and scrambled eggs. No matter what I add to her food she will not touch it. Last night she sat with her  bowl in front of her face for at least 20 minutes and would not touch it. After we finished dinner, one of the kids had not finished their lasagna, and so after removing the noodles I fed her what I felt was still good for her because it was meat, cheese and tomato sauce. She devoured the entire plate in a matter of seconds. This is when I had an epiphany. What if I prepared her meals on one of our dinner plates, took it to the table and then after we finish our dinner, I remove the plate from the table and give it to her. Would she think it was our leftovers and devour this as well?

I won’t get a chance to try this theory out until Sunday as we have a busy weekend planned and the family will not be eating together at the table until then. Tonight, I warmed up a couple of the meat muffins that I made for her and added to it some avocado and beets. To my delight, she ate the entire thing and then looked up at me as if to ask for more. She patiently waited there while I quickly warmed up 2 more of the meat muffins. These she ate as well. Our other dog Rocket was very jealous but if this method of feeding Penny works well, he will soon be joining her in consuming my homemade meat muffins.

In a couple of days I will have to come up with a recipe which incorporates fruit that I can feed her for breakfast but for now I can sleep a little easier knowing that she has finally had a good meal and I have won one small battle in this war on cancer. Maybe she’ll get lucky next time and I’ll mix the meat muffin with some beans, only if she’s on good behavior that is.