Skippy and Binge Eating

Skippy is a very devoted dog. When I come home from work she is very excited to see me. Now this may because she wants a belly rub, but she wants it from me. My wife is home with her all day, but it's me she is waiting to see. Sometimes I'll come in and sit down in my chair and put my feet up on the stool. There's just room enough for on that stool so she jumps up and curls herself next to me feet. Other times I will come in and lay down on the kitchen floor and talk to Anna while she's making dinner. Skippy curls herself up close to my side and waits impatiently for a belly rub. All this lasts for about five minutes until Skippy is secure in the knowledge that I am home and not leaving again. Then the real reason why she was so eager for me to come home becomes apparent: my loving and loyal Jack Russell has starved herself while I was away.

This is something that has always confused me about Skippy: she will only eat when I'm home. And now comes the binge. For the next ten minutes or so she will polish off her food dish and then yell at us for more. She polishes off another. Sometimes she vomits. Sometimes she'll wait an hour and demand more. I can't imagine that this is at all healthy. It also makes no sense, given that she is an animal with survival instincts.

I apologize for writing this in the present tense, as I myself find too much of this narrative style tedious to read, but in this case it is very appropriate. I am not talking about an isolated or even occasional incident. This is ongoing; and a perpetual conundrum.