Pecking At Food, Particularly Dry

[jshell]

Betty Joan was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure. About a month ago, she was off the scale (over 300). She was started on Enalapril, 10mg a day (single dose). The drug seemed to work without any noticeable side effects - in a followup a couple of weeks later, her blood pressure was averaging around 240 (we want it somewhere near 120, if I remember correctly). At that time, the vet said to double the dosage to 20mg a day (two doses, one at morning and night). That was just over a week ago. Betty’s appetite has nearly disappeared since then. This seems like a pretty high dosage, and I’m hoping it’s temporary.

 

She is still interested when it’s time for breakfast and for dinner - she’s quite insistent about dinner time, actually. But she doesn’t eat much, particularly of the dry kibble. Some days she eats more than others. She digs around and around and around and moves things around with her nose and even puts food into her mouth, but a lot of it then falls out the side of her mouth. She may be taking in an average of 1 to 2 cups equivalent of dry food a day, maybe a little bit more, in comparison to her usual 3.

 

We are experimenting with new dry foods after intestinal problems earlier this year; she’s often been finicky with any dry food that isn’t Purina Beneful, but she’d usually eat it. I don’t want to go back to Beneful, but am starting to wonder if I should get a small bag and mix it in to see Betty’s response.

 

We have a vet appointment scheduled for this coming Friday for another blood pressure check. I’ve let our vet know about the appetite situation.

 

She seems normal otherwise: stools are normal, no vomit, energy level is pretty close to normal. Betty hasn’t seemed to lose any weight. In fact, she’s probably still weighing the most she’s ever weighed, after losing 20% of her weight earlier this year when sick.

 

Is there anything I can do until that appointment to make sure she’s getting her nutrients? I’m planning on getting another case of the wet I/D food tomorrow since I know we don’t have any digestive issues with it; I plan on giving her more per day since she seems more interested in the wet (but this morning when I gave her a full can, she was slower with the final 1/4 of the can than the rest).

[Batmom]

I would probably try the Beneful and see what happens. Lower salt etc. might be better, but a girl has to eat.

 

I would probably also recheck BP in the next couple days. IIRC that is the dose my vet wanted Zema on, but she could only tolerate a very low dose. She hadn't had a stroke, tho, just high BP.

 

FWIW, I also wouldn't expect too much of a vet's office BP reading. My vet was happy to see Zema's at @ 180-190 there in the office.

 

Best luck to you and your sweet lovely girl!

[TheFullHouse]

When I was having issues with eating here, I added water, let it soften and then stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stunk like heck to me but boy did it work.

[jshell]

I tried both options . I mixed in some Beneful, for better or worse (I really don’t like its ingredient list after spending a good part of the year learning about such things) and dry I/D, going with about 3/4 cups of each. Betty picked out ALL of the Beneful, leaving most of the I/D! I had just boiled some hot water for hot chocolate and used it to heat and soften the I/D kibble and Betty seems to have eaten about half of that. I’ll consider that a minor victory. At least I won’t have to wake up to the screeching squeaking sounds of an empty greyhound tummy like I did this morning!

 

This definitely helps. Vet doesn’t come until Friday, but this (and some new wet food) should help get us by until then. Thanks!

[tbhounds]

The enalapril dose sounds right to me. My little 50# girl used to take 10mgs twice a day (for glomerulonephritis).

Maybe try mixing some canned I/D into the kibble or another yummy canned food like one of the flavors Merrick offers (Grammy's Pot Pie is a winner here).

[Burpdog]

If you can, mix in some boiled meat. It'll make up for the Beneful and give her much needed calories!

 

Hug that pretty girl for me

[jshell]

So I’ve landed on the following formula and it’s been working pretty well so far: 1/2 cup Beneful dry, 1/2 cup Avoderm dry, 1/2 can Prescription Diet I/D wet. Betty eats almost all of it, leaving about 10 pieces of the Avoderm kibble behind. Much better than the practically untouched bowls or 1/2 cup of left-behind-food like late last week. I’m mashing the wet food into the dry a bit more and that seems to help. I used to do that, but had gotten a bit lazy with it.

 

I reviewed this with my vet yesterday when I stopped by on my own to get a few more cans of I/D. I’m glad to see these results as our enalapril dosage is going to go up to 30mg a day when he visits later this week, so if it is enalapril causing this it’s good to have found a combination that seems to be working.

 

I’m just glad to see her eating again.

[Guest HHHounds]

I had a hound on enalapril for a long time and he was a great eater - would eat anything anytime....