New Hound Not Eating Well

[Guest mtnbluebird]

We feed Purina 1 large breed adult twice a day. We brought Strat home on Saturday.

 

Sat PM he ate 2 cups of food.

Sun AM ate about half his food (1 cup)

Sun PM did not eat

Mon AM did not eat

Mon PM put a "glug" of olive oil on his food (he's got really really dry skin) and he ate

All day Tues and Wednesday ate fine with olive oil on his food

 

His stool is starting to firm up too (bonus!)

 

Last night (Wednesday) at 2:30am he vomited and food was visible in the bile. It was mostly food. I fed the boys at 6:00pm. It seems like there shouldn't have been food in his stomach that late.

 

This morning he would not eat.

 

He had a vet appointment today at the adoption kennel to make sure he's up on all his shots, but there was miscommunication and the earliest we can get him in will be Tuesday now. Should I be concerned? This boy is SKINNY (you can see all his ribs, his hip and shoulder blades) and apparantly he was in a home for at least 8 months before he was brought back to the adoption kennel.

 

Our adoption kennel recommends only feeding once a day, (I called after Strat missed 3 meals) but Folsom, our other dog, gobbles his food down without chewing, and paces when he's hungry. He does really well on the twice day feeding and we'd rather not change that. Should I be concerned about our new guy?

 

[CaliforniaGreys]

Is the food your feeding what he's used to eating?

[Guest ChasesMum]

I might try some other food for him...see if you can entice him to eat. Most petstores will take back a bag of food if the dog won't eat it, even if its opened but only a couple meals gone.

 

otherwise, the oliveoil might bee too much... maybe try something else like canned food, plain pumpkin or plain yogurt?

 

 

in my experience a single vommiting episode isnt anything to get worked up about, but definitley keep a close eye on things...

Edited December 18, 2008 by ChasesMum

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

White rice and boiled chicken or hamburger. That should settle his stomach for now. If he was in a home before and the re-kenneled then he's probably going through some major stress. Try and see what food he was used to eating and go that route as well.

 

[greysmom]

Stress and new food can make the urpies happen. You don't say how old he is. My senior only wanted to eat once a day (she never wanted to eat breakfast until about noon!). If you are trying to put on some weight the twice daily feeding is going to be more helpful. The olive oil might be upsetting his tummy - I'd try plain yogurt or canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling but the plain vegetable) or a spoon of canned food to make his food more palatable.

 

If he's not eating because his tummy is upset I'd go with the plain rice and boiled chicken for now. It's easier on his stomach than kibble. Also check out where he's eating - some like to be in the middle of things and others will only eat in a quiet out of the way place. He might be used to eating off the floor or from a raised feeder and you have to opposite.

 

Good luck!

greysmom

[Dawnnziggy]

When Ziggy had an upset tummy, the vet had me make him white rice, and put in some plain yogurt with cultures. It really helps! I make it whenever one of the houndies has tummy trouble. Good Luck!

[Batmom]

Pretty much what greysmom said. Unless the food is what he's been eating all along, I'd probably switch to boiled rice and chicken (or partly defatted beef), no additives. If he can't hold *anything* down, then off to the vet.

[Guest mtnbluebird]

Strat's going to be 6 in February, so he's a little older, but not a senior yet. The kennel fed Purina Pro Plan shredded lamb and rice, and I was going to pick up a bag of that but there was drama (long story... my life seems to be full of long stories right now ::sigh:: ) and fighting holiday traffic and unfortunately the bag was never purchased, but he started eating what we were feeding with OO so I thought we'd be ok. He ate last night but didn't finish breakfast this morning. Maybe you are right and he's just not used to eating breakfast.

 

He's showing no stress on the output end now (hooray!). I'd prefer not to switch foods because we went though a 2 month diarrhea saga with my other greyhound after he got Giardia, then the food he was on switched formulas... So I spent a heavenly amount on rice and chicken for my other greyhound. So if Strat sticks his nose up at the regular food should I make him chicken and rice? Folsom only lets him have a grand total of about 20 seconds to eat, then he's off sticking his nose in Strat's food.

 

Will extras like yogurt and pumpkin (does it have to be canned? I have about 10lbs of winter squash right now that I could puree) help with his dry skin? He gets "ticklish" when we pet his back (the only place with hair!) and the dry flaky skin is all over his chest, top of tail, back, and ears.

 

[Batmom]

If the vomiting was a one-time thing and output is OK, won't hurt to stick with your preferred food. Rice and chicken would be if he continues to have upset.

 

I wouldn't let the other dog stick his nose in his food -- that could make him nervous about eating, as well as reducing his input and/or causing a fight. Need to separate them .

 

Yogurt and pumpkin and squash won't help his coat much. I wouldn't give additives until you're 100% sure you're past vomiting, not wanting to eat, etc. Then you'd probably want to give something like 3V caps, derm caps, or another form of fish oil. Might be needed, might not. Bear in mind that it can take a good 6 weeks to see results of anything you do for the skin (including just feeding your high quality preferred food).

[MaryJane]

He might still be settling in and this is causing the "finicky" eating. If you want to stay with the same dog food, maybe try putting a little bit of the yogurt on top to entice him to eat. With one of my greyhounds, I crumbled up crackers ... for another greyhound I sprinkled cheerios on top.

 

As to feeding once or twice a day, this is a "touchy" subject and I'm sure all will have their good opinions but, in my case I feed twice a day because I feel that feeding that amount of food at one sitting is too much and could cause problems but, I also have the luxury of time to do two fedings). Adoption groups will typically feed once a day because it just takes so much time to feed and water and get them outside (you get the picture) that doing this twice a day is prohibitive. In their case, the dogs are pretty sedentary and not likely to be prime candidates for bloat.

 

Eating twice a day also gives the dog something to look forward to.

 

For the skin condition, try adding one fish oil capsule a day and see how well it is tolerated or you could give a sardine each day. With my pup I give one fish oil capsule a day and a sardine. You may also want to use your hands to rub the dog down. You can put a little bit (again a little bit) of hand cream on your hands if they are dry. Rubbing the dog down stimulates the glands in the skin. I do this all the time with fosters to start getting their skin in better condition.

 

 

[crazygang]

Sending well wishes for Strat...

[macoduck]

I agree with leaving out the olive oil until he'd eating regularly.

Is he drinking water OK or throwing that up too?