I Know This Has Been Asked A Lot,,but Is It Close To Time?

[Guest FordRacingRon]

Leia turned 11 in May. She seemed to go off the rails mentally soon there after and we thought she was having doggy dementia but after countless vet trips and med changes most , all the vets feel she was just changing that way due to her age. She has seen our vet, an internist, a cardiologist and a neurologist.

 

Through meds we finally got her to be the regular Leia we all know until about 5 pm at night,,then she turned into hyper dog and would stand in front of us and pant from like 5 to 11. So she gets Trazadone to help level her out. Then we go to bed and she would settle down and be Leia again when we woke up. I would say this has been the monthly routine now.

The other side of the coin was getting her to eat which became a challenge. No kibble. Canned food or that fresh food in a tube. All mixed with hamburger. Worked fine and we got her to eat (she also has a med for appetite increase). But the canned food was only good for like 2-3 days then she wanted a different type so you know what that does to a grey's bowels.

LAst time she ate well was Thursday night. Friday she had the runs and was throwing up all day. I sort of attributed the runs to the diet changes but the entire package of everything is like you would expect if a dog ate something wrong off the ground. Saturday to the vet. Blood work, fecal exam, urine test, xrays,,nothing showed up wrong to indicate any organ failure, all blood results were normal. But she won't eat.

The only thing she will now eat is cooked chicken if I slathered with peanut butter on it,,and dehydrated chicken. She drinks fine, hasn't pooped because she hasn't eaten much. So now aside form the no eating she seems to act like the old Leia.

 

i know there is that thing about when to let go and they say take her 3 favorite things. Well number on is car ride,,if I said right now do you want to go in the car she would be up and ready to go. Number two is walking (well sniffing) in the park. We did that today no problem. Number 3 is eating. Well now if is isn't peanut butter chicken it isn't happening.

 

She seems to be in no pain at all, just won't eat. Obviously if she stops eating for no reason it must be time but I don't want to make that call until I know for sure. I think, maybe tomorrow her appetite picks up again after her stomach feels better. But how many times can I say that?

 

I am lost and will be totally lost without her but i want to do the right thing. I am not looking for someone to make the call for me, I guess I am curious as to how long do dogs last if they refuse food but nothing else seems to be wrong with them physically.

[tbhounds]

Does she have cardiac disease??? Clinicans don't know why but, often when human or hound for that matter has cardiac disease it can suppress ones appetite. I guess my other thought is she may in fact have a brain tumor effecting her appetite and evening behavior. Still leaves you with the question of your next step. I assume you have tried appetite stimulants? Mirtazapine?? I have always been told that before you make that final call corticosteroids might be a worthy try. Has a low dose prednisone dose ever been mentioned??

[MP_the4pack]

My Onyx would go several days without eating. Just when I was about to bring her to the vets she's start eating like there was no tomorrow. She did this the last couple years of her life. She made it to 15. One thing she always liked was Ensure for weight gain. And it did not bother her tummy.

[PatricksMom]

These choices are so difficult, I'm sorry you're facing them. If she's still eating but incredibly fussy, I'd give her what she wants (and of course deal with the frustration that what she wants may change). Not eating at all is different than being very picky, imo, although it can be frightening and frustrating.

[Guest FordRacingRon]

Does she have cardiac disease??? Clinicans don't know why but, often when human or hound for that matter has cardiac disease it can suppress ones appetite. I guess my other thought is she may in fact have a brain tumor effecting her appetite and evening behavior. Still leaves you with the question of your next step. I assume you have tried appetite stimulants? Mirtazapine?? I have always been told that before you make that final call corticosteroids might be a worthy try. Has a low dose prednisone dose ever been mentioned??

Well,,she had been sent to a cardiologist and an internist who did ultrasounds on them and saw nothing really. The cardiologist did say the valves were a little worn but what you would expect from an 11 year old greyhound., the internist said everything was fine save for a bit of swelling in the small intestine (like her daddy man, but mine is way worse!). The neurologist did whatever the tests are they do in the office (at this time, all three were being seen so we could rule out any underlying diseases before we decided she had CCD) and he said he saw no reason for an MRI as she was normal in every respect

 

We started her on Mirtazapine 1 1/2 weeks ago and turned her into an eating machine. But after her day of heck on Friday she wouldn't even look at food Saturday (not that I can blame her) and the Mirtazapine did nothing at all. Today either. Although today I got a whole chicken breast (with peanut butter) into her along with some dehydrated chicken and a bottle of Ensure.

 

I will be talking to the vet tomorrow,,,I could bring up steroids and prednisone. I will try anything for my girl.

[maria]

I'll keep the ensure idea in mind, I never would have thought of that!

[Guest FordRacingRon]

These choices are so difficult, I'm sorry you're facing them. If she's still eating but incredibly fussy, I'd give her what she wants (and of course deal with the frustration that what she wants may change). Not eating at all is different than being very picky, imo, although it can be frightening and frustrating.

My take too. Tomorrow i am goign to Petco and buy a can of everything she has liked in the past and maybe a few others. There has to be something that she will like.

If they only made peanut butter dog food.

[Guest FordRacingRon]

I'll keep the ensure idea in mind, I never would have thought of that!

I would amke the assumption though that the chocolate flavor is a no no,,,,what about strawberry? I think the vanilla tastes pretty bad.

[FiveRoooooers]

Seamus came up with this list, adding to the one started by Pal. And Zeke-aroni. And MiMi Sizzle Pants. I hope something will appeal to Leia and help her feel better.

 

Noms I might enjoy today. But KNOT tomorrow.

But perhaps again another time (pick a day …)

Compiled by: A senior hound ♥

Kibble: pulverized; wet with chicken broth or water

Chicken: ground; breast or thigh nuked and cut into pieces; rotisserie

Turkey: ditto

Beef: ground; cheezberger plane

Sardine Saturday

Peanut butter: plane or on anything!

Scrambled eggs; plane or add cheese (cottage; cheddar, American, spray, shakey)

Scrambled eggs with ground turkey or chicken (add cheese?)

Pasta, any shape

Egg noodles, plane or with: butter, peanut butter, ground chicken, turkey, or beef

Waffles, with butter; peanut butter; syrup (small amount)

Pancakes: ditto

Oatmeal: ditto

TEXAS Toast, with butter or peanut butter

Ensure (vanilla or strawberry)

Vanilla ice cream or yogurt

Applesauce

Liverwurst, sparingly

Hot dogs, chicken, turkey, beef; boiled; sliced small & nuked til crisp; use as meal/topper.

Shakey cheese

Any cheese!

Assorted canned noms: Merrick’s Grandma’s ChickenPotPie, 95% Tripe, any flavor!;

Purina One chicken; whatever flavors they’ll eat: Alpo or Pedigree

Natural Balance (or other) rolls

Canned puppy food to keep weight on old bones

Crockpot Stew:

water, broccoli, canned (real) pumpkin, white rice, chicken breast, water

Lemon Loaf

Peanut Better Biscuits

Cereal: Chex Mix, Cheerios, Kellogg’s Corn Pops, Apple Jacks

Bananas

Apples

Green Beans

Zucchini

Sweet potato: nuked or baked; plane or with butter

Instant potatoes

Vanilla Oreos

White bread, with seedless strawberry jam (PB&J!)

Your LEFTOVERS!!

[seeh2o]

Ron, please email me at clkruzan at gmail dot com I just tried to send you a pm, but it wouldn't go through.

[Tracey]

The circumstances were different, but when our girl Cosmo was nearing the end of her battle with osteo, I had luck feeding her jars of meat flavored baby food. Also, it was summer and she'd always had a sweet tooth, so I froze pudding cups and she really enjoyed those. There's almost no actual chocolate in the chocolate flavor and that seemed to be her favorite, so I let her have those as long as she would still eat. I also had a lot of luck with the store cooked rotisserie chickens. Good luck.

[JohnF]

How worrying for you... it's horrible when they won't eat and you think they are starting to withdraw.

 

Try feeding this Royal Canin Gastro-intestinal diet either in the bag or in tins. My dog who is a real picky eater had to have it after a gastro-enteritis/ulcer episode and just couldn't refuse it. After a few weeks on it I got her over onto Duck and Brown Rice kibble. They hate high protien greasy foods.

 

If, unfortunately, your dog is into organ failure then feed little and often anything tasty, baby food, cat food etc. But if thar Royal Canin is liked then you have a solution for a while.... I can't see ANY dog refusing their canned version.

[PatricksMom]

My take too. Tomorrow i am goign to Petco and buy a can of everything she has liked in the past and maybe a few others. There has to be something that she will like.

If they only made peanut butter dog food.

Mother Hubbard makes peanut butter biscuits that are pretty healthy (probably not that far off kibble) and they come in a variety of sizes depending on her preference. I've found them at Petsmart, probably Petco would have them too.

[cello]

What time of day are you giving her the Mirtazapine? We switched our Lady from morning to right before bed and there has been an improvement in her eating.

[Guest FordRacingRon]

What time of day are you giving her the Mirtazapine? We switched our Lady from morning to right before bed and there has been an improvement in her eating.

We sort of gave up with breakfast so if she would eat anything (this has been for the last month) we would give it to her, we planned on dinner being her main meal. So we would give the Mirtazapine about 2 hours before dinner time. After her sick day on Friday we tried her regular time on Saturday and the AM yesterday. Yesterday all I got her to eat was about 1 chicken breast,,, hand fed,,, using peanut butter as a dip. She also ate 4 pieces of dehydrated chicken.

 

Her normal,,well normal new,,personality was back yesterday. Sleep all day, pumped up most of the night. Just eating seems to be the major trouble. The vet does have me giving her this concoction I am not sure of what it is,,but I know it is to stop diarrhea, nausea and has an antibiotic in it.

 

I am goign to get baby food,,don't know why that didn't dawn on me,,and the other suggestions too.

[Guest FordRacingRon]

Won't eat any of the suggestions above as far as dog food suggestions,,,,now I am really worried. I suppose they can last a couple of weeks without eating but I would guess not much longer.

 

I am goign to call the vet and ask for the most heavy duty appetite stimulant that is made.

[Batmom]

What is the medication she's being given? Many antibiotics and some antidiarrheals and even some antinausea meds can have an adverse effect on appetite.

[tbhounds]

Have you tried cerenia???

[Guest FordRacingRon]

Have you tried cerenia???

That's for nausea? She isn't throwing up (when she did is was all bile), hasn't since Saturday. She did have diarrhea last night at 2 am but i am basing that more on the junk we got her to eat yesterday . I don't know what is is in the concoction,,he told me an antibiotic, a diarrhea preventative (I looks like pepto bismol) and something else. I am calling him in 20 minutes and will get that info too. When I find out I will post it (mainly for Batmom who doesn't know it but she is my dog's mentor).

[seeh2o]

Were you able to reach Deb?

[Guest FordRacingRon]

Were you able to reach Deb?

Going to give it a go later. Trying a vets new approach right now. Vet and a consult vet went over all the Saturday tests and no one can see any reason for her to be like this except age. He mentioned vitamin b injections too.

[greyhead]

B-12 injections can be like magic for the appetite and cognitive functions. A whole bottle is cheap, and it's an easy shot to give under the skin! Plus, results are *fast*.

[Guest FordRacingRon]

B-12 injections can be like magic for the appetite and cognitive functions. A whole bottle is cheap, and it's an easy shot to give under the skin! Plus, results are *fast*.

Glad to hear that. My vet said we can try b-12 if she doesn't eat by tomorrow but I didn't know if he was full of it or not. He mentioned steroids as a last shot at it.

[seeh2o]

Ron, Deb is one of the medical folks in our group, she has a wealth of information and has fostered literally hundreds of greyhounds over the years. She's really easy to talk to and will take all the time you need to talk to her. Please give her a call.

[greyhead]

And just give her the B-12. It can't hurt and potentially can help a whole lot!