No, I am not referring to Dinner & Dance. I am talking about Dodo & Durians (and medicine).It used to be very easy to feed Dodo medicine in her younger days. I learnt what I could from the books and executed it - press the sides of the jaw with my fingers in order to force the jaw open, push the tablet as far back towards the throat as I could, close the jaw, hold the jaw firmly closed in my hands, tilt her head upwards and blow down the nose.
Then came a stage when medicine-feeding became extremely tough. She would clench her jaws tight and simply refuse to open it. For fear of hurting her, I did not want to press the sides of her jaw too hard (she was after all so small). Sometimes, she would turn away. Other times, she would run and hide.
It was such a challenge to feed her any medicine during this stage. So much coaxing and patience was needed, which I had to admit was lacking in me. Her mummy had to spend a long time persuading her before she succeeded in popping the pill down her throat. Dodo was like a child who resisted her medicine – a sulking little child who tested your patience, your tolerance and your love at medicine time.
Fortunately, there was durian! Dodo is truly a durian dog. She absolutely LOVES durians. We realized the best way to feed her medicine was to put the tablet inside durians. Viola – it will be gone in 2 seconds! She would gobble the lump of durian (with the hidden medicine) from your hands. Medicine time was such a breeze with the help of durians!
Things changed in the last 2 weeks before her departure. Even without the help of any durians, somehow, it became very easy to open her jaws and pop the medicine in her mouth. I was surprised and relieved by the sudden change in her, as I thought it meant that we were back to the early days when feeding medicine was a breeze.
Looking back now, I know she was simply too weak to resist anything then. Poor Dodo.
Dodo’s jie-jie
Dodo’s jie-jie
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