Cooking with Duncan

The Roo Stew we made yesterday was extremely popular, but it seemed just a tad messy to carry about in the pocket as bribes treats. So today Duncan and I did some experimental cooking. 

First we sliced up most of the Roo Stew meat and put it in the dehydrator. Hopefully that will give us something like jerky - we'll see how it turns out tonight:

Then, we made mini meatballs out of the ground roo. They're just big enough for a pill, about 1/2-3/4" diameter. We baked a cookie sheet full:

And tried frying up the rest:

Both methods seemed to work well. The meat is so lean that it makes a nice firm little ball, and doesn't fall apart.

Duncan was very helpful, licking all the plates and eating all the scraps. When there were no plates or scraps available, he sat and whimpered pathetically, so I would understand that he was starving. This diet might not be as hard for him as we thought!

Roo Stew

Duncan's dermatologist* wants him to go back on his strict diet of nothing but kangaroo and oatmeal until his environmental allergies have been stabilized with the shots, and then add foods back slowly to see if he's allergic to any of them. It makes sense, but it's not much fun - we even have to take away his peanut butter flavoured chewy toy. And even worse, how can a guy take pills without Pill Pockets? (We went through a lot of those when he broke his leg.)

The doctor told us about a place in Mississauga that sells kangaroo meat, so we picked up a package of stewing meat and a package of ground. Yesterday we cooked up the first package. It's smelly stuff when it's cooking, that kangaroo!

It must smell pretty good to Duncan, though, because he watched very attentively while Megan hid his bright pink pill in a bit of meat, and gobbled it down happily:

We put a spoonful of the "gravy" on his kibble, and that was a hit too. It was so good, he had three helpings! Well, let's call it 2½, it sounds better, doesn't it?

* - be sure to click the "dermatologist" link if you missed the pictures of Duncan trying to make friends with Rupert - they're posted now!

Duncan and the Dermatologist

Duncan went to the dermatologist yesterday for allergy testing. He liked the car ride there, and all the interesting smells in the waiting room. He really liked looking into the room where the blood donor cats live - he wagged his tail at them to try to be friendly through the glass door, but Rupert swatted at him to make him to away. 

Then things went downhill. He got a needle to sedate him, and then they shaved his side and gave him 50 needles to see which ones made him itchy.

50 needles - one on each of the little black dots.

Turns out, a lot of things make him itchy. 

Duncan is officially allergic to 3 kinds of trees (including the maple tree he likes to pee on), lots of grasses, several weeds, quite a few moulds, gnats and houseflies, staphylococcus, dust mites and especially storage mites. Oh, and  cats. Maybe Rupert knew it was a bad idea for Duncan to hang around the "donor boys"!

He didn't feel so good after, and he just wanted to snuggle for the rest of the afternoon. He's still not back to normal today, and just wants to nap. He'll be starting on allergy shots soon, and hopefully they'll make him feel a lot less itchy.

Cuddling on Megan's lap

Catching up with Duncan

It's been a while since we caught up with Duncan, but this morning I have computer, phone, USB cable, and spare time all in the same place at the same time. So here's how he's been spending this long, snowy winter:

Well, with Erin gone, he moved into Evan's room:

Moose and Blue Bear moved in too. And Crocodile, sometimes.

And he's been playing in the snow a lot:

Outside? Why, yes, I was. How did you know?

He's been defeating archenemies. Well, one archenemy, at least. A little girl up the street built a snowman, and we discovered that Duncan doesn't like snowmen. He glared at it every time we walked past, and barked at it sometimes. But luckily it melted in the single, brief mild spell we had, and he was able to triumphantly carry home its remains. Fortunately, he was willing to leave it in the garage, where it quickly ended up in the green bin!

All that was left of the snowman was its
(rather unpleasant looking) nose.

 One night he sat on Daddy's shoulder:

We wondered if he was pretending to be a parrot, but it turned out he was just helping with the crossword:

You got 42 down wrong...

But a lot of the time he's just been lazing around napping. This is his favourite chair, and apparently this is a comfortable position for napping:

 
And we discovered that he had a little stash of kibble tucked under its cushion. After all, a guy needs a snack sometimes, and it's a long way to the kitchen!

Big Brother Duncan!

Duncan has just found out that he's a big brother! In addition to his 4 brothers and 4 sisters from his own litter, he has 4 new baby brothers and 3 new baby sisters who were born a couple of weeks before Christmas.

Head over to the Urneybrae Wheatens blog and check out these adorable puppies!

When the Weather Outside is Frightful

It's no fun going outside to pee when it's –24˚C with a windchill of –41˚. Or when it's freezing rain. Or even when the snow's too deep to lift your leg over. So this winter has been tough for Duncan in some ways.

Academic consultation

On the other hand, Erin's flight back to Halifax on Friday only made it as far as Montreal before Halifax basically shut down. Porter gave her a free flight back to her dog, and it looks like she may not get another flight until this Friday, so at least some good is coming out of all these storms! Duncan has scritched her duvet into a cozy little nest at the foot of her bed and has taken over as her academic supervisor for the week.

Where Did Everybody Go?

It's been a wonderful two weeks for Duncan, with all three of his siblings home for Christmas. But sadly, real life is beginning to rear its ugly head. Evan went back to Toronto yesterday, and Erin is on her way back to Halifax this morning (weather permitting). Megan is at work, and Daddy is threatening to go back to work on Monday. It's -21˚C with a windchill of -30, so it's even too cold for a walk. All a guy can do is curl up in his hiding place behind the big chair, and nap.

This is really the only one of his puppy napping spots that he still fits, and he likes to curl up back there. It's a good hiding spot, and it's just the right size for one: