The loss of Tate means that we get to give extra love on our other greyhound, Tate’s older brother Garrett.
Every day this week, we have taken efforts to spoil him, including taking him to the greatest place on the planet, the park, for his walk. There he gets to go at his own pace, to snack on his favorite, fresh grass, and even to give him “high value treats“.
Tate was somewhat of a butthead, and would dominate the best toys, the ones with food in them. Once, early in the time Tate was with us, we bought these toys that you put some kibble in, and as they work on it, the kibble would come out in ones and twos, a treat for working on it.
However, that caused a fight, and some staples for the poor Garrett. So we had to limit the exposure to those fun toys.
Now, Garrett gets to play with them.
Yesterday, we also made a trek to our local pet store, a Petco Unleashed, where we have been bringing the boys since we moved here, and we let Garrett pick out some toys. He got a 5″ marrow bone, something he has always wanted, but we never bought, because the butthead would just take it.
He also got a large crinkly/squeaky toy, and we picked up some fabulous high-value treats.
Garrett is approaching 11 years old, and he has been losing weight. At his heaviest (his “thick dog” days) he was north of 75#’s, but yesterday, he was a svelte 61#’s. Alas, much of his muscle mass is going, but that is to be expected in a senior dog.
We have been modifying his diet, adding in higher calorie food (he seems to LOVE puppy wet food mixed into his kibble), and are back to adding in his Natural Balance Duck and Legume diet. One of the problems with Garrett is that he has a large list of food allergies that we have to work around, many of the better foods are littered with things we know will not work.
Bummer.
But so far, Garrett is handling being an only dog like a champ, still sleeping 20 hours a day, and getting lots of lovin’.
Note: Petco Unleashed is not a bargain place to shop, but the staff have become friends, so we don’t mind spending a few extra dollars there.