Saturday, November 20, 2010

Before and After and Some Treats

To those of you who weren't reading us last year and to refresh my own memories of  how far we've come in a few months, I'm posting some before and after pictures of Samba.

  After she was diagnosed with MMM, she was taking very high doses of Prednisone and her thyroid was also failing. Because of this combination of assaults on her body she lost most of her hair.

 At first I documented the hair loss on her legs, but as it got worse I stopped taking pictures of it. She eventually lost all the hair on her tail and legs and enough on her body that you could easily see her skin thru her pathetically thin coat.

We started her on thyroid meds and as we continued over the following months to reduce her dosage of Prednisone, her coat started to grow back.

Here's Samba today. She has a nice thick coat again. It doesn't have the curl or the luster it used to have, but it's soft and full and we're both very happy with it.

 Look at those shaggy legs and feet! I'm so proud of her.

Now I promised some treats.  A couple of readers have asked about the Apple-Peanut Butter Cookies I made last week. All my dogs like them, but Tsar, my picky eater, says they're his very favorites.

 Ingredients: 
        1 cup whole wheat flour
        1 cup all purpose flour
        1 tablespoon baking powder
        1 cup peanut butter
        1 cup milk
        1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped fine

Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl.
Mix wet ingredients, then add to dry ingredients.
Knead till well mixed
Place dough on lightly floured surface. Roll to 1/4" thickness
Cut into shapes or cut into grid pattern with knife
Transfer shapes to cookie sheet ( I used non-stick or you can lightly grease cookie sheet)
Bake at 375  for about 25 minutes or until golden brown
Cool, then ask your official tasters if they're as good as Tsar says they are
Store in air tight containers ( I put them in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator)
I got 60 cookies using three different sized cutters

These are some of the easiest cookies I've made for my pack and they like them the best. They also smell really good. Enjoy.

23 comments:

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

It was so good to read about the good reports you had on both Samba and Morgan. We had no idea that Samba had lost so much fur. She is looking so good now.

Thanks for the treat recipe. Our Mr. Picky is telling us that he really likes homemade treats the best.

Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

♥I am Holly♥ said...

That is a great report!! It's great that both doggies got good reports. They both look wonderful! Those treats look really good!!! Lots of love, Holly and mom

Stella said...

I'm happy right along with you, Sue and thanks very much for the cookie recipe. I'm gonna try a batch tomorrow.

Cheers and hugs,

Jo and Stella

Asta said...

I was thwilled to heaw about the wondewful pwogwess that Samba has made wif all youw caweful cawe..Samba looks gowgeous..she is pawfect!
Thank you fow the soopew tweat wecipes
smoochie kisses
ASTA

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

They sound great. We'll have to see if we can get HER to use the kitchen!

XXXOOO Daisy, kendra & Bella

Kerry said...

Oh Samba, you look sooo much better. How awful to lose your hair, but how nice to see you looking great again.

Those cookies look wonderful. Our dogs have been enjoying raw whole carrots lately. The vet says it's nearly as effective as brushing their teeth, and I hope that's right!

Molly the Airedale said...

You surely have come a long way, Samba! We are so happy for you!
Thank you for the recipe!

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

Lola and also Franklin, too said...

Oh, it's a good thing Samba has her furs back. It's getting cold! Doesn't matter if it's curly or shiny as much as if it's warm, right? Those cookies looked very good to Blog Mom. She said if she made them she might just eat them herself. As if we'd let her do that. As if she's going to really start baking, too.

lotsa licks, Lola

Thor and Jack said...

I'm happy to hear about the good reports on Samba and Morgan. Your girls look great!

How yummy treats!

Thor x

SissySees said...

You're beautiful, Samba! Congrats to you and your "team" on a great recovery.

Luckily, my girls are asleep and missed the biscuits. I think I'm going to make some for Christmas.

Two French Bulldogs said...

Yea for momma for getting Sambas hair back and Yippeee to Samba for getting better
Benny & Lily

Dexter said...

Hooray Samba! You look beautiful. And those cookies! What lucky dogs you all are.

Slobbers,
mango

Marjie said...

Tell Samba I have stick straight hair, and it works out just fine for me. We straight haired girls don't have to worry about suffering from the frizzies, ever! I'm so glad that she is doing well.

Kristine said...

Yikes, those photos really make it clear on what she went through. I'm so glad she has come so far. She looks so healthy and happy now. You must be so thankful every day.

Thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the recipe. It's great to hear about Samba. I was at my cousins over the weekend and noticed that her dog was blind. It was caused from a medication he was given for his weight. All of those medications seem to have so many side effects. I'm so glad Sambas could be corrected. I dread the day when Charli will have to be on medications. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

Life With Dogs said...

I remember your posts from some time ago - what a remarkable improvement!

Miss Kodee said...

I am so happy your doing much better. Prednisone is one of those drugs that can do so much good but unfortunately it comes with horrible side effects too.

Your cookies look YUMMY. Kodee is allergic to wheat, I am wondering if i can replace that with rice flour for dogs?

Lapdog Creations said...

YAY Samba! ♥

Doggy Dessert Chef said...

What a great recipe, I'm adding it to my facebook right now!

parlance said...

You know, I think one of the best things about dog blogging is that it makes us take written notes about our dogs (and photos) and we can see how time is treating them.
I just loved the positivity of this post! How lovely to see the thick, beautiful coat come back.

I have a friend who is making a good recovery from an aneurism and brain surgery, and I sort of wish there was also a photographic record of how her coat (hair!) is growing back.

parlance said...

Forgot to say, that recipe looks good and I'm going to try it. I just have to figure out what 'all purpose flour' is in Australia. I think it might be what we call 'plain flour'. I'll do a Google search.

blogdog said...

Hey Sue! Happy T-Day to you! Mind if I link to this post from my website, where I collect dog treat recipes?

Dianne said...

The change in Samba is remarkable! Hooray!