A DOG’S MEOW

At the onset of Covid, my wife went to England to ride it out with her family. Our dog, Baby, took the sudden departure hard and demonstrated her pain with a serious hunger strike. She refused to eat a thing. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. I got ahold of almost every kind of dog food known to man, but she wouldn’t touch any of it. I prepared meals; steak, roast beef, brisket, all cut into tiny, bite-sized morsels. I tried hand-feeding her, but I always had the same reaction - sniff and dismiss. I got worried, so worried I couldn’t eat. I took her to the vet, who said, “She’ll eat when she’s hungry, don’t sweat it.” But sweat I did. I placed bowls of food throughout the house. I scoured the internet for ideas. Checked on Baby all day long for signs of weight loss and other telling symptoms. I stopped sleeping, my tortured mind searching for foods I hadn’t yet tried. I thought about calling my wife in England, but she would probably just accuse me of intentionally starving our ‘daughter’.

Baby and I paid a visit on a friend who owned a small cat. We met in the backyard with masks on. Baby clung close to me, as she did in unfamiliar places. Baby’s nose came alive and started to twitch spasmodically as she sniffed the air. She leapt down from my lap, raced across the yard, and wolfed down the half-eaten contents of a bowl of Fancy Feast cat food - Halle-fucking-lujah! I blew into a grocery store, and behold, endless flavors of Fancy Feast, in minuscule cans. I spent hours in the aisle, struggling to read the tiny writing on the cans, and attempting to determine which flavors would be most acceptable to Baby. Returning home, having cornered the cat food market, I popped open a can for Baby. She attacked the Creamy Delights Chicken Feast with her tail vibrating like a sped-up metronome. Between bites, Baby glanced over at me, licking her chops. Every time Baby and I survive another calamity together, we attain a new level of love.

I don’t think cat food is ideal for Baby, and I plan to ween her off of it and onto something more sensible, but for now her belly’s full, and my mind is still. What more can a guy and his dog ask?

Jeffrey Pohn Author

jeffpohn@gmail.com

Based in Los Angeles, CA

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