[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

I know my vet tends to disapprove of Tramadol as a pain med for greys for some reason. But at this point, I'm considering it anyway.

 

Anyone know offhand if Tramadol has any interactions with Cipro and/or Metoclopramide?

 

I'll be calling my vet again in the morning.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

I have Deramaxx, Rimadyl and Tramadol on hand (all leftover from Chancy), but none have been suggested by my vet. I'll be asking again about it tomorrow.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

She didn't even wag at me when I came home from work today. She just stood in the hallway and hung her head.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

I'm starting to feel like Marla has given up altogether the will to live.

 

I syringed two jars of baby food into her mouth, and she barely even made the effort to swallow. I've given up all pretense of tricking her into eating pills. I have to force them in every time now. I believe I'll have to bring her to the vet again this week. It just kills me that there are still no other apparent symptoms.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

Geez Aimee I just got on GT today after weeks away. I vote for a playdate at our house too...

 

Thanks Carole. I'm sorry to sound so bleak. But I've about given up on buying or making anything in large amounts for Marla, since she doesn't seem to like anything more than three times, not even necessarily in a row. So far we've been through satin balls, raw diet chunks (pre-made frozen raw-diet food, bought at a pet boutique), many and sundry canned and dry dogfoods, thin sliced ham, thin sliced turkey, thin sliced beef, fresh boiled turkey, peanut butter, yogurt, frozen yogurt, various cheeses, scrambled eggs, fresh boiled rice & beef, pasta noodles, several varieties of grocery store "potted meat", canned sardines, canned tuna, canned chicken, various flavors of meat baby food, breakfast sausage, ribeye steak...

 

Seriously, I can't even remember now all the things I've tried.

 

A playdate sounds nice, but Marla doesn't play anymore. When we've had other hounds over for playdates, she just lies down in the grass away from the others.

 

I'm exhausted and frustrated. And very very sad.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

She did wander up to the dining table last night during our dinner. So I gave her small pieces of my bread and acorn squash until she stopped wanting more. Hubby jokingly said I was breaking her (we don't ordinarily encourage table-begging), but I said if she wants it, I'm giving it to her. So he handed me the bread from his plate too. :

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

I'm feeling bleak. I feel like Marla is slowly fading away and there's nothing I can do about it. I resorted to using a turkey baster to force baby food into her this morning, because nothing I offered was tempting to her. Not even the yogurt which she has always loved. The new prescription I started on Friday that was supposed to help stimulate her appetite does not seem to be making any difference.

 

She has lost some weight, but she's not skeletal... yet. Her gums look a little pale. And she's listless as ever. Only gets up when I ask her to. Otherwise no concrete symptoms. No limping, no fever, no coughing, no vomiting, no diarrhea (soft stools due to the weird foods, but not the liquid diarrhea I'd feared). Eyes look bright, fur is shiny, though thinning.

 

[Polli Update]

Don't think of it as $$$ for xrays; think of it as $$$ for your piece of mind.

 

I agree. Better $1000+ to learn she's fine than $5000+ to discover she has something horrible and untreatable. Glad she's okay!

[Maggie Mae Went To The Vet Today For Routine Exam]

Heeeey, welcome to the wiggly-poo club! (You don't wanna know what the secret handshake is...) I thought Droncit was the tapeworm med of choice too. Chancy had tapes when I first got her from her previous owners. Gross gross gross! But thankfully they were pretty easy to get rid of. Good luck to your pretty pretty girlie!

[Need Immediate Answer--update # 14]

Yup, agreed with everyone else. Esp since the weekend is here. My luck has been that things often get worse when vet offices are closed.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

Thank you for the ideas. I know there are many things I have yet to try, and I will, it's just frustrating having to come up with new novel stuff all the time. I wish I could have my greedy drooly little Marzie back.

[Prayers Needed For Sweet Polli]

Polli has the sweetest face...

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

Marla is still holding steady. I'm not sure what to try after she tires of the rice & beef. I'm sure I'll come up with something. On a whim I offered her dogfood last night. No dice. I left a message for my vet saying I am ready to try that prescription for stimulating her appetite.

[Lacey Laine]

That is such amazing news!

[Scooter Has Cancer]

Jennifer, thinking of you & Scootie today and every day!

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

Marla's foot is feeling much better. She's almost walking normally again. I still put the Therapaw on her when we go out for walks though, until that pad heals a bit more.

 

A playdate would be fun. Marla would likely just choose not to participate. That's how she was during the pupsitting of the last few weeks.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

Marla has had no fever, no vomiting, no coughing. Yes it's very odd. : That's precisely why I debated so long about whether the not-eating was just behavioral, or if something was actually wrong.

 

Marla slept on our bed between us last night (barely needed encouragement to hop up there this time ), and I was actually encouraged by the fact she grumbled at hubby every time he shifted in his sleep. That's normal for her, and it's something she hasn't done in a while.

 

I tried a new recipe on her last night: Boiled ground beef with brown rice and a touch of garlic salt. She ate it so eagerly, I gave her a second helping! : I also discovered she really likes plain yogurt, so she got large dollops of yogurt for dessert after her beef/rice meals last night and this morning.

 

It made me happy to see her eat something with relative zeal (though I know this may not last either), but I'd be even happier if she ate actual dog food. One thing at a time, I suppose...

 

Upshot is, she's hanging in there, and doesn't seem worse.

 

Thanks again everyone, for caring about my little mopey Marsie-doates.

[Kelsos Jitters]

What an utterly lovely little girlie. I'm very sorry for your loss.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

The vet returned my call. He agreed that my choice to decline the ultrasound is reasonable. So we'll continue on with the antibiotics, and possibly add in a new prescription on Thursday to help stimulate her appetite. I can't recall what it's called, but it's an anti-nausea med that has an additional effect of increasing appetite-- I hope! He said that prednisone wouldn't be the best choice for Marla right now because of her high WBC (pred would suppress her immune system, which is not what she needs).

 

I'm home now. Marla ate a hotdog and part of my pita bread snack (I chose not to offer her my hummus). :

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

I just left the vet a voicemail saying unless I misunderstood him yesterday, (if it's cancer, it's untreatable, if it's not cancer, we continue with the cipro as we already are), I see no point in doing the ultrasound and biopsy. I did ask about adding a light dose of prednisone to stimulate her appetite. This vet is usually very responsive, so I expect he'll call back within a few hours.

[Scooter Has Cancer]

Still thinking of you and the Scooterman every day Jennifer...

[Freddie Is Home]

I feel your not-eating woes. Hope Freddie finds something he likes soon!

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

She gets a Pepcid once daily. FWIW her appetite was lousy for a month before even starting the cipro. I have sucralfate left over from Chancy, but my vet said he didn't feel that's necessary yet. I can ask him about using Chancy's prednisone. Hell I have a well-stocked geriatric dog pharmacy left over from Chancy's last few weeks.

 

She still acts like she is hungry, still comes in to watch me prepare food. But just doesn't want to eat it. Not in her dish, not on a plate, not from a spoon, not from my hand. She will not eat Green Eggs and Ham...

 

Guess I'm getting punchy. The not eating is soooo precisely like Sissy and Chancy in their final weeks, every time Marla snubs food I want to cry.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

That was the second opinion. The vet saw "pockets of fluid" and the radiologist saw fluid and a mass. I just feel sick and worthless.

 

Marla still isn't eating much. She's decided she's had enough canned dog food of any variety, enough kibble, enough cheese, enough peanut butter, enough eggs, enough meatballs, enough lunchmeat, and I can tell she's already getting tired of the boiled turkey...

 

Poor Tipper is getting loose stools from eating Marla's various & sundry leftovers. I'm going to have to start just throwing out whatever she chooses not to eat. That will be a LOT of wasted food.

 

 

I know how you feel about the tests. How old is Marla?

 

When Shadow's tumor showed up on xrays, we decided to treat him with pred to help his breathing and do nothing else. Shadow was already 14 however.

 

Marla is ten. Her breathing seems fine, except slightly faster than normal. Not panting though, and not coughing. She is pretty listless. Only gets up to go outside or get a drink, drags behind on our walks, doesn't play anymore.

[Marla Seems Slightly Depressed, Sometimes Won't Eat.]

Oh no Aimee....

 

I am so sorry they didn't have better news.....Has her breathing gotten a lot worse? Is she coughing a lot?

 

No words of wisdom...just lots of hugs....

 

No her breathing seems fine to me, only a little faster than normal. And she doesn't cough. If I didn't have xrays, I'd still wonder if the non-appetite is just behavioral. There are still virtually no other symptoms.