Sick dog won’t eat

[Pagwatch]

Hi
Our gorgeous old English has huge gut problems, has special diet and has recently been kept in by a specialist/consultant trying to sort his problems out.
He’s got a new medication regime but is still producing liquid stools with some blood and to be honest it’s not looking good. We need to get food down him but it’s difficult because if it’s not single proteins diet he can’t process it.
So what I’m asking is do you have any tip to ramp up his appetite? We’ve got mirtazapine tablets but because we can’t get him to eat we are struggling to get them down him.

Honestly - I think we’ve got a few days to get him eating. He’s only eaten twice in the last three days and is lying down a lot - obviously. He’s weak but fussy - he’s scrounging but not for anything he’s allowed

Any idea

[pigsDOfly]

Apologies if you're already doing this, but when my dog had pancreatitis and was reluctant to eat the only way I could get food into her was to hand feed her. She just wouldn't eat from a bowl.

Also feeding wet food will be more appealing than dry food and warming the food slightly in the microwave oven to bring out the flavour.

[Pagwatch]

Thank you!
I will try warming his food - that’s a really good idea. We managed to get some of his meds down him this evening but he’s getting so weak and skinny so fast

[Emmagen]

I don't know if this would be suitable with the single proteins diet as I've just checked and it's ingredients are "meat derivatives" but at a rescue I used to work at we used to use royal canin recovery food. It's a paste and while I mainly worked with cats (it's suitable for cats and dogs) they loved it and it was so nutrient dense I saw it work wonders on sickly animals. You need to feed a comparatively tiny amount so even the most poorly and least interested animals you could normally offer them a syringe and they'd lick it off the end. You may need to water it down to offer via a syringe, we used to mix it with semi cooled boiled water to make a warm runny mush and that made it smell stronger which also helped animals to be interested in it.

[pigsDOfly]

So hard to see them unwell. I hope he improves soon.

[Pagwatch]

Thanks Pigs - unfortunately that didn’t work - he’s still refusing.

Emmagen - I’ll ask the vet about the recovery paste. He’s still scrounging at times for food he’s not allowed so we’re currently stuck between watching him starve himself to death and causing him pain and then a painful death because of his damaged gut

It’s awful. I’m just trying to find a way through.

[pigsDOfly]

What does your vet say? I think if he's that ill and he just won't eat they need to take him into hospital for a while and try to get some nourishment into him for you?

[vanillandhoney]

To be honest if he's refusing dog food I would try him on chicken and rice and see if he eats that just so he gets his strength up, if he's allowed that kind of food?

I know it's not ideal to feed human food but if dog food is causing him problems he may be refusing it to prevent the pain it causes him.

[LadyEvelynBagley]

Roast chicken? Obviously it's not a complete food so is not a long term solution and I would avoid feeing him the fatty skin - just the meat. When it's warm out the oven (but not hot) - often irresistable.

Plain white fish, cooked and flaked?

Chappie is sometimes popular with unwell dogs.

At a push, I've seen dissolved Farley's Rusks used sucesfully - just to get a little food and energy into the dog.

Alternatively, if he prefers drier, crunchier food then JR Products do chews/treat sticks that are just a single meat. No mixed meat and nothing else at all in them.

For meds, some suggestions:

• mix them into a half teaspoon of peanut butter (make sure it is dog safe - you can get some that are 100% peanuts and nothing else) and simple use your finger to 'smear' it onto his back teeth for him to lick off. Obviously, only do this if your dog is safe to have fingers in his mouth.
• dissolve or mix them with a tiny bit of chicken broth or the juices (not the fat) from roasting meat and use a syringe to squirt into his mouth. Only 1-2ml of liquid.

[Floralnomad]

Have you tried the small Applaws tins , they are very different to most dog food , my dog has the chicken breast ones most days , he’s very fussy and it’s the one thing ( dog food wise) that I can guarantee he will eat .

[suggestionsplease1]

I'd second Chappies. It worked for my dog when he had colitis (not sure what your has, but your description sounds similar to colitis) It's strange, I would never ordinarily give him that as it's a cheap dog food, but I'd heard the rumours, tried it, and it seemed to help (unless he was just recovering anyway)

[pigsDOfly]

Chappie was recommended to me by my vet nurse and she was very enthusiastic about it.

It's a very basic food and doesn't contain all the fillers that most dog foods contain.

The reason she recommended it was because, apart from have a slightly lower protein content, it's identical to the, very expensive, special diet my dog is on.

I didn't change over to Chappie because the food my dog is on has kept her free of gut problems for a long time now and she really likes it, but if she ever goes off it I'll definitely try her on Chappie.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

If you are under a specialist using a single protein diet and miritazipine it is really, really important that you stick to the diet they have prescribed and not add anything else in as other foods may cause further damage to the gut. I suspect you have had gut biopsies and may be pending those results. This far, far beyond ordinary gut upsets and trying Chappie or roast chicken is not going to help.
Speak to your specialists and they may have further advice for you.

[CallmeAngelina]

How is it going, Pag? Has he improved at all?
(Love Old English sheepdogs!)

(Name-change here, but remember you of old)

[Xiomara22]

When my dog is poorly we give him scrambled egg, but let it cool down first. When he's turning his nose up at everything else he loves a bit of scrambled egg. Maybe worth a try? Unless he can't have eggs for dietary reasons.