What's a canini?

Hannah update, week of 6/30The Brown One continues to be in good spirits. She has been presented with a number of physical challenges but she is generally in a good mood.I spoke with the vet yesterday and we are continuing the Denamarin. That is good because her liver values have improved since she has been on it but bad because she has to have it one hour before breakfast. That means getting up earlier. These days I have to let Emma out, bring the pill and a treat up to Hannah, get Hannah up and pill her (lovely way to wake up, I'm sure), giver her a Yummy Chummy to make sure that she really swallowed and then go back down to let Emma in before she barks and wakes up the neighbors at o'dark thirty.Hannah is not eating all the food given to her at meal time. She is allotted one can of food, twice a day. We are trying to avoid giving her more pills so the vet suggested that we give her some carbs with her meals to see if she tolerates that or not -- mashed potatoes with flax oil, rice with butter or oil, bread.

Last night Hannah had only about half of EN dog food for dinner. The EN comes out of the can in a solid block that kind of resembles corned beef hash. I slice it for her into rounds and then I put the pieces that she had left into the fridge for her pre-bedtime snack. At about 10:00 last night I got it out and sliced a few thin pieced of buttermilk bread for her. I put the EN rounds on one piece of bread and topped it with a second piece of bread. Then I pressed down hard to smash it all together in what Crowzma has dubbed a "canini." Hannah loved it! She took her sandwich and ran off with it, ate the whole thing and came back for seconds. Since she has not been eating well, I made her a second canini. She ate that one too and was very excited. We have been eating homemade bread at home but caninis seem to call for something with more of a Balloon Bread structure so I purchased some of that type of bread on the way home.Hannah continues to go out the front door because the steps are easier there. The last few times she went out the back door, she got "stuck" at the bottom of the steps. I either carry her up or we walk around the garage and take the opportunity to check the tomatoes and peppers. This morning, she had problems coming down the steps from the bedroom. She hesitated and I encouraged her. She made it down on her own but it was an effort. I don't know if it was the vestibular or her eyesight or what. She had no problems when we went out to get the paper this morning. She asked for a canini for breakfast and got one.Hannah has an appointment for blood work next Tuesday, July 8th. Whenever we go to the vet, we weigh her. If she has lost a significant amount of weight, we'll figure out something else with her food.

Hannah's current medications: osteoarthritis (Tramadol 50 mg (3x daily), Zubrin 200mg), urinary tract infection (Amoxicillin 500mg, FortiFlora probiotic), Denamarin 425 mg, Actigall 300mg, Famotidine (10mg, 3x daily); Purina Veterinary Diets EN GastroENteric Canine Formula dog food