i got her two small animal Kong toys and plugged the small hole at the bottom with duct tape which she has not tried to chew (yay). Then i stuff the toy with food and things she’ll like. Tonight i filled it 1/4 full of apple juice, 1/4 full of water, then dropped in a baby carrot and a couple of sprigs of rosemary, and put it in the freezer so the water/juice mix will freeze, holding the carrot and herb in tight, making it more of a challenge to get everything out. i’ve done it with an apple slice and juice mix, and with herbs stuffed in and the water was simply herb-steeped water.
This is a treat, a toy, and it’s cold so it helps with my warm room issue (today was the first day i’ve gone up and it didn’t seem overly warm – yay!). She’s also decided that broccoli isn’t so bad as long as it’s slightly thawed, and i’ve been putting her salads in the freezer with ice and water for about 45 minutes before giving them to her. Other than leaving some water in the bottom of the bowl with a few leaves, this is going over well, too.
She still loves frozen grapes, frozen strawberries, frozen apple, and frozen carrots as treats. Nothing new there.
Thanks all for the great ideas, and i’m feeling a little better about the situation. DH is reporting only minimal allergies, and those seem to correspond with the days i have to take her down to the garage to brush her and apply Allerpet when he comes through the garage after work. i still wish she had a real home and a real family who would treat her like the pet she deserves to be, but meanwhile she’s enjoying being spoiled some in other ways to make up for my lack of time to spend with her. And FWIW she’s found a best friend in one of my dogs, who lies by her run for long periods of time. i’ve let them meet under VERY cautious circumstances and that has gone really well so far. Checkers is roughly the size of the dog’s head. Actually smaller. i don’t trust the other dogs enough though.
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