Oh the irony

I have thought about it before... The irony of a dietitian's kid needing a feeding tube for months, and subsequently having food aversions as well as needing months of feeding therapy. But Chris's sister pointed out there are other feeding issues on the farm, especially with the addition of Buster.

Fudgy, our "rescue llama" has been a little underweight the last couple of months. We had him worked up for parasites and he was clean. He actually has gained whatever he lost back, with the supplementation of llama chews; a high calorie pellet supplementation. We also feed him in a separate area than the sheep, which helps him keep the amount of alfalfa to himself. Also the llama chews are too high in copper for the sheep.

The chickens are eating everything in site right now, but have not laid an egg in a week. This happens, I have been told, in the winter time. We have not had this flock through the winter yet. We provided a heat lamp to our other flock through the winter to extend the day's light as well as keep them cozy. This worked well for egg production but they got a little kooky as they seemed to be also insomniacs. The chickens do look quite beautiful right now, their feathers are are filled out. I should take the big camera down there and take some pics of the pretties. It is pretty muddy down by the coop.

The dane Buster has been weighed on a home scale. It was a standing weight (RD humor here, as opposed to a bed weight. I know, I know, I'll keep my day job.) I steadied the scale, Chris took a deep breath, and hoisted Buster up around his 4 legs. Chris's face turned red as he stepped quickly onto the scale. I looked down at the total, and then we did the math to subtract Chris's weight from the total. Buster weighed in at 121#.  He is getting 3.5 cups of dry food, plus one can of wet food in the morning, and 3.5 cups in the evening. Plus 4 liters of water per day. That's all.

Our sweet Owen has been eating very well. He has dabbled in new foods in meaningful amounts like~ cheese, ravioli, noodles, kefir, sips of milk, raisins, cornbread, fruit snacks, and taquitos. He has been holding his own with his weight, and we still have not used the feeding tube since July. It feels darn good too.

Other than that, Chris and I are eating just fine and our weights are within normal limits. We are trying to maintain our weights and we do this without avail. As I was getting the food ready for the animals by the barn yesterday I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the irony-- llama on supplements, starving hens who inhale the scratch, a dog that is seemingly underweight although a giant, and my favorite kid who has overcome many feeding issues. It's just part of our story.