Thanks for all the suggestions. All food that I give Pepper has been prepared with as little salt as possible because if it's affect on her heart and kidneys. The chicken flakes were soaked in water to remove as much salt as possible and the broth was boiled and then diluted 4:1. Many of the things I offer her she will have nothing to do with matter how I try to disguise it. She is only eating small amounts of anything I give her, essentially a few bites at a time. I believe her throat is still a little sore and dry and this is what's stopping her from eating normally. I always heat her food because that is the only way she'll eat it and she has been refusing kibble for several months now. Her regular diet includes most of the ingredients in the satin balls but altered to make it suitable for her kidney diet restrictions.
In the last day or so she has had another can of chicken flakes soaked to remove the salt, several slices of white bread (she won't eat any other kind), 3 tbsps of salt free peanut butter, scrambled eggs 2:1 whites>yolks, 4 thin slices of cheddar cheese, chicken noodle soup diluted 3:1 without the noodles (she won't touch them), 2 tbsps Hi-Cal and her geri-tab. I may have forgotten something because I give her anything I can think of. She won't touch rice at all with or without broth to flavour it. She also won't have anything to do with beef of any kind so at the moment I am just trying to increase her caloric intake and not worrying too much about her kidney restrictionsl.
Unfortunately I took the bandage off yesterday and that lasted about 10 minutes before she started licking the incision, so I was unable to take any pictures because I immediately put another dressing on. However this dressing is much lighter than the one the vet applied because there is only a miniscule amount of drainage now. I wrapped her with gauze wrap over a small gauze pad and then applied a roll of vet wrap that I had. She left it alone once the dressing was back on. So I guess I will have to wait to take a picture of her now. The dressing is wrapped right around her body to keep it in place so all anyone can see is the dressing. Yes she is much thinner without the lump and is definitely starting to move around normally. I am so pleased with the results of her surgery and I know she is pleased to be able to move more freely now that the lump is gone.
I will definitely post a picture as soon as I can get her to leave the incision alone without the dressing in place. I think the battle will continue over food because she is one of the most fussy eaters I have ever had. At least she is eating something now, which is more than she was a few days ago. I appreciate all the suggestions, I've tried the ones I hadn't and some have worked, others haven't. Since the satin balls are similar to her regular food I may make some to see if they will work with the molasses added. I know the Hi-Cal tastes like molasses so she may eat them which would be great.
Thanks again for all the help I really appreciate everyone's suggestion. You guys have so much knowledge to share it has geen great
