The other day, I noticed that Leo had started sitting down to eat. I remembered seeing somewhere that it’s easier for dogs to eat if their bowl is raised (it’s got to do with the distance from the floor to the dog’s withers, subtracting some amount—though I’d forgotten the amount). So, on impulse, I grabbed a dog bowl used by Jake or Sunny (I don’t know which one—their bowls were identical), turned it upside down, and placed Leo’s bowl on top of it (photo above). I also came up with a solution to raise Jake’s food bowl a few years ago.
Leo’s new set-up was an immediate success: He seemed to like it, and he never even hesitated to eat, something I thought he might do (dogs aren’t keen on change in routines). The next step was to get the measurements I needed so I could give him a more permanent solution.
I looked up the measurements, and the consensus was to measure from the floor to the top of the dog’s withers, then subtract 6 inches (I also heard “5 to 6 inches”). I don’t use the Imperial system and I don’t think I even have anything that measures in inches, so the first thing I did was convert the deduction amount to centimetres. I already knew that Leo is roughly 29cm at his withers, and that meant I needed to subtract 12.7cm to 15.24cm to get the proper height for Leo: 16.3cm to 14.76cm up from the floor.
All the raised bowls I found to buy (except one, which is adjustable) measured from the floor to the top edge of the bowl. The temporary setup I gave Leo is 14cm from the floor to the top edge of the bowl, so within the “correct” range.
However, yesterday morning I noticed Leo was “kind of sitting”, meaning—and please forgive the mental picture—he was kind of in the 💩 position. That suggested to me that the “correct” height may still be too high—and then I remembered that I read on one of the advice sites that small dogs (like Leo) do better with a bowl with a low edge (it apparently doesn’t matter as much to larger dogs?).
I’d already fed Leo yesterday evening before I remembered I have a low-edge bowl we originally bought when either Jake or Saibh were puppies (I don’t remember which). This morning, though, I got the bowl out of the garage and washed it (it’s been in there quite awhile…) and gave it to him to see how he got on with that. It didn’t work: He grabbed food out of the bowl, put it on the floor, then ate it off the floor. In other words, it was more work for him to eat than his old on-the-floor bowl had been.
The low-rimmed bowl is metal, and his dog tag would clink against the bowl, making it kind of “ring”. Maybe he didn’t like that? Jake and Sunny used to clink on their metal bowls, and Leo was wary of eating anywhere too close to them so it’s entirely possible he associates the sound with his wariness back then. The clinking against his ceramic bowl is much more subtle, plus it’s the same bowl he’s used ever since he came to live with us.
I have one more thing to try: Some years back, after I noticed Bella wanted to pretty much lay down to eat, I bought some small plates to put her food on, and she munched happily every time. I’m going to get out one of those plates and put Leo’s food on it to see how he likes that. It could well be the same scene as with the metal bowl he didn’t like this morning—picking up his food and putting it on the floor to eat.
If he rejects the plate, too, it could mean he wants his current bowl, and that would mean buying a new raised bowl—regardless of how deep it is—might not be any more successful, and I’d be reluctant to take the risk and end up with yet another dog bowl that isn’t used. So, if he does reject the plate, too, I may just make a more permanent stand for his current bowl.
What this whole situation is about, at its core, what I talked about back when I raised Jake’s food bowl:
What occurred to me later is that this is my strength: I see a problem, evaluate possible solutions to arrive at what I think is the best solution, and then I put it into action. In this particular case, it worked the first time, which isn’t necessarily a very common or usual thing, but what matters is that this is how I operate. And that it worked.This project (for lack of a better word) has been one of those times when my first attempt at a solution didn’t completely work, something that’s a fairly common outcome. But this tale also gets at another truth: I’ll keep working on a problem until I either find a solution that works, or I reach a point at which there’s nothing more I can do/try. When the latter happens, it means that maybe I need to hire someone to do it, or maybe I just need to buy something rather than trying to make what I already have work. Or, maybe I just need to give up, if it’s not important. Flexibility and persistence are the common elements in all my searches for solutions to problems I’ve encountered, but I’m not too proud to admit defeat when it happens.
Nigel and I were very different. He’d conduct in-depth research to arrive at the best possible solution, while I’d look at all the observable facts to arrive at a useful solution. He was more about the right solution, and mine was more about a workable and fast solution (and, to be honest, one that was cost-effective). This particular time is one where my solution may have been his choice, but it’s also one he’d have have backed, even as he looked for a different (probably more elaborate) solution. Whatever works, especially for our furbabies, is all that would’ve mattered to either of us.
At any rate, this story isn’t over quite yet. But telling it now gives me an excuse to share a photo of Leo, which is reason enough to not wait until the story’s conclusion. This is really all about him, anyway.
2 comments:
Midnight the cat has suddenly started losing weight. He's drinking a lot more water. He doesn't heart his dry kibble, even with chicken broth. So we changed the wet food from a quarter can of the shreds to a half can of pate, which he used to reject. Also, I give him a scrambled egg each day.
All of which is what I'd no doubt do, too.
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