During the first few days after she arrived, Salma was – not unnaturally – a little unsettled and even confused. Where am I? Everything is new here! New people, new dog, cats… She needed to follow us around whenever we moved as it appeared that we were her anchor in this new environment.
After a month she is now quite settled and confident about her position. She has gained knowledge of the rhythm and routine of the house and can now lie quietly in the same place while activities are going on around her.
Salma was used to eating dried food (kibble) but we feed our animals a raw diet, so we had to make the transition smoothly from one to the other. We did not find out which kind of food she was used to eating although we did find out the brand. Therefore, we bought two kinds, one more run of the mill and the other grain free. She was not attracted to the grain free and preferred the other more basic food.
The day after she arrived I started to introduce some meat. She sniffed it but did not know what to do with it and left it. The second day she did eat the few pieces of meat but did not touch the teaspoon of vegetables or quinoa.
On day 3 as well as the meat which she ate, I put in a couple of pieces of liver. She sniffed those and licked them but then left them.
Another thing which I offered to her was a bone. She looked at it as though it were an alien object and sniffed it. She took it in her mouth, probably because I offered it to her, but then she placed it carefully on the floor and walked away – a far cry from our previous beardies who would demolish bones in no time at all, but then they were used to them from the time they were puppies. I took the marrow out and offered it to her and she seemed to enjoy that.
One week after her arrival I decided to offer dry food on one plate and the meat on another. She ignored the dry and ate the meat. Progress!
The following day I offered dry on one plate and turkey on another. She took the turkey.
Three weeks after her arrival she was eating a varied raw diet including chicken, turkey, beef, fish with some rice with vegetables and turmeric. She has so far been less keen on quinoa but we shall try again.
The other day I offered a turkey neck. At first she was not quite sure what to do with it but soon discovered that it was quite tasty and began to eat. She has also discovered what to do with bones and spent some time chewing on one
She has quite a universal taste and loves olives, houmous, cheese of any kind – mozzarella, feta, Edam … – as well as yoghourt and has now caught on to how to deal with bones!
