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Cannot get our dear older dog to eat! Feels like I am losing her and its heartbreaking!

7 replies

Tiggs2 · 18/02/2015 14:38

Our lovely girl is coming up to 13 years of age and has both Cushings and Diabetes now, which was diagnosed about 5 weeks ago. The vet said it was more complicated and expensive to treat as she also has the cushings but it was possible and would take time. Whenever my dh gave her the insulin injection she seemed to go downhill, losing the power in her hind legs and not wanting to eat. It was decided that it may be best to split the dose into two injections instead of the one larger dose.

The problem with her legs has continued, only sometimes can she manage to get up by herself, but once on her feet she can walk and stand ok.

She recently spent some time in the vets on a drip as Ketones were showing in her urine, she seemed only slightly more perky when we got her home, but the last two days we cannot get her to eat hardly anything again. She won't touch dog food, and only seems to eat the odd small cocktail sausage or a very small piece of meat. The odd thing is that one week she may eat chopped pork or steamed chicken but then go off it and will not eat those anymore. We have to take her to see the vet tonight along with another urine sample.

My heart feels like its breaking and I just keep crying because I feel that I am slowly losing her now and even though I know what may be coming, I wonder how on earth I will possibly cope. I cannot imagine making an appointment and counting the hours and minutes till we have to part forever.

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MitchellMummy · 18/02/2015 15:04

I'm in tears reading this, you poor thing. I have a dog the same age with Cushing's. When dogs have Cushing's they often get infections. Our fella has the staph infection (can't spell it ...). He's on antibiotics - the basic ones didn't work so he's on stronger ones. He's been on them a few times in the past year (got to the stage that we're not too hung up on giving them fairly often as we want him to have quality of life). We found this out as he had a discharge from his penis. Could it possibly be that your girl has the same thing but you haven't noticed as it's easier to see on a boy? This time last year (to the day) he was so weak he couldn't get up. A course of ABs and he was much better. If I were you I'd be feeding anything she would eat (I only ever feed my dogs good stuff but if they won't eat at all then I'd give them anything to tempt them). Good luck ... I really hope that you can have some more time with her. x

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MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 18/02/2015 16:52

We tried all sorts of things when our old boy was ill. Fish poached in milk, paté, scrambled eggs, all kinds. You're so desperate to see them eat something you'll try anything.

Hope she's ok. It's heartbreaking, I know. Flowers

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littleash789 · 18/02/2015 19:07

Ah! Vet here- if your dog isn't eating and you're still giving insulin you will be causing hypoglycaemic episodes, which may be the cause of the weakness!

Ketones will appear if you don't have glycaemic control- her insulin doses will need to be adjusted according to results from glucose curves- a day where she stays in the vet clinic and has her glucose levels monitored every couple of hours throughout the day- she will need to be having these regularly to start with, until your vet is happy that her blood sugar is in a safe range, and yes, she should be on insulin twice daily, not once daily, and please do not change the dose without talking to your vet!

I don't want to contradict what your vet is doing, or criticise them when I don't know your dog's history, or talk down to you if you've already gone through all this with your vet so-
Please go back to your own vet and explain how unhappy you are with her progress, I would normally recheck diabetics no less frequently than every ten days when newly diagnosed and unstable, and at five weeks I would be wanting to see good improvements in quality of life from diagnosis.

There are lots of treatments and dose changes that can be made, please don't assume you have to carry on watching her struggle as you are, and as Mitchell said, underlying infections (especially in the urinary tract, as uncontrolled diabetics have lots of sugar in their urine- infection fuel!) in cushings, and diabetes, will throw your control right to hell- please go back to your vets and get her checked over!
Yes, it is more difficult to control diabetes when a dog also has cushings, but it can be done!
Also, write down any questions or concerns you have before you go to see your vet and talk them through, diabetes is a complicated disease to manage at the best of times, and you do have to work as a team with your vet. We would rather answer your questions properly and put your mind at rest that you're doing the right things, whether that be change doseage, start antibiotics, or, sadly, make a decision if the time has come.
Good luck Flowersx

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EvenBetter · 18/02/2015 19:55

Apart from the good advice above, our old girly sometimes wouldn't eat in her final few months, we let her have sausages and liver and all sorts of foul things, and a few times I stood a few feet away and threw a biscuit from her dry food into her mouth. For the whole meal. Yep, about 100 throws!! She enjoyed it and ate a dinner that would've gone in the bin. Would your dog enjoy this? I know low blood sugar is bad for dogs, sometimes we rubbed golden syrup on her tongue/gums, but I wouldn't do this if your dog has diabetes/other health issues.

I know it's really fucking hard, and they break your heart every day, but cherish her while you have her, take big sniffs of her paws and ears, massage that familiar neck, kiss her and tell her wee stories, cheer her along and do NOT let her see you sad or cry. She's relying on you being the strong one, keep it together. (((Hugs)))

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Tiggs2 · 20/02/2015 13:36

Thank-you all for the advice and support. Our poor girl doesn't seem to be improving any and she just looks so sad. We are back and fourth from the vets and I've just had a call to say her latest blood test isn't great as there seems to be a problem with her kidneys now aswell. We have to take her for another test tonight, to double check I suppose, but I also wonder if its because she won't hardly eat and what she does have is mainly protein, as she will only have sausages or chicken and ham, and I know a protein only diet is not great for humans!
My husband is convinced that it is the cushings that's causing all the problems and that she may not be diabetic at all, as she goes downhill after the insulin.

We have had her blood tests done regularly with the cushings and she would be due her 3 monthly one soon. I still cannot get used to the fact that this could be the end. I keep looking at her and trying to imagine what it will be like not seeing her in the mornings and her waging her tail for me, and I just can't stop crying!

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MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 20/02/2015 15:41

Oh god you've got me crying now. We went through exactly the same thing and also had high liver enzymes with the cushings and lack of appetite. It wasn't till the vet scanned him and found that his liver was actually one big mass of tumour that we got to the bottom of it. Unfortunately that was kind of game over for Barney, there wasn't really anything we could do but whilst you've still got a chance of treating it and keeping her with you, you have to give it everything you've got.

My dh was just as upset at the sight of him clearly giving up as he was at the thought of losing him. Poor Barney just looked so miserable that last weekend that we knew in our hearts that we had to let him go. I really hope this doesn't come to you yet but when it does, you'll know you've done the right thing for her.

I'm so sorry you're going through this now. Flowers

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ObsidianEagle · 22/02/2015 23:19

we've sat spoonfeeding our last dog pureed chicken and rice before to keep her strength up when she wouldnt eat her own food. it helped, i dont know if the vet would approve, but i thought i'd suggest it :)

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