How to get an ill dog to eat?

[sanke]

Our 6 year old poodle is very poorly. Suspected cancer and or kidney failure. 2 weeks ago she was completely normal and like a loon. Now she’s very tired and extremely skinny. Her bloods aren’t looking good but we are having scans and further tests on Wednesday to figure out what is wrong and what can be done if anything.

She really won’t eat. She sicks anything up. She is completely off her food, won’t eat her usual favourite things like salmon or liver. But she needs to eat until we see if there’s anything that can be done or she will get even worse.

Any tips? 😢

I've been through this with a cat rather than a dog, but things that worked a bit were (I) microwaving food and serving warm - smells more pungent and tempts them to eat (ii) high calorie pastes that you can buy from Amazon (iii) medical appetite stimulators - I think we were given something called Mirtzapine or similar. Best of luck.

Bland food like chicken or rice? Something quite liquid like brother or gravy?

Oh, I'm sorry, how worrying for you.
Have you tried small pieces of cooked chicken with some rice? Maybe a bit of ham?
Little and often worked best when one of our dogs was very unwell.
What about something like Royal Canine wet food - again in very small amounts.
Is she drinking water? You don't want her to get dehydrated.
I really do wish you all the very best.

Also when our dog had kidney failure he had to be put on a drip to be rehydrated at the vets. He had been vomiting repeatedly.
The treatment actually made him feel a lot better and he started to eat again.