What are your top tips for getting a sick dog to eat?

[OblivionAndBeyond]

The pup is currently on antibiotics and anti inflammatories for an anal gland infection. He's drinking fine but not eating at all. He last ate on Sunday night!

He's just been back to the vets who drew bloods for testing and gave him an anti nausea jab because there are signs the dog feels sick, possibly due to the anti inflammatory meds he was taking.

Vet has said to keep trying to get him to eat little and often and given him the green light to be fed pretty much anything he wants within reason. But the dog is turning his head from all of the usual delicacies like steak.

Anyone have any super tips for encouraging a sickie dog to eat something?

Cat food was and still is our dog's favourite tipple....gives him the runs, so we don't give anymore (allergies), but boy, he loved it.

When mine was recovering from surgery last year I bought him a rotisserie chicken, handfed him bits during the day then he had a better feed of it that night.
Hope he's feeling better soon ❤️

Update: so far, so good.

He has been home now and on the high steroid dose for a couple more weeks and just had another blood test to see how he is doing. He blood results are in the (low end of) normal range.

Just waiting for the specialist vet to call me to confirm if we will start to slowly lower the dosage to see how he responds.

Ironically, the steroids mean I am now much less in need of tips on how to get him to eat and far more in need of tips for how to keep a ravenous dog feeling full without stuffing him full of too much food!

@Willmafrockfit - especially pleased to see some of the great tips here helped your dog. Fingers crossed she is still doing well and back to eating her food again!

So pleased to read your update@OblivionAndBeyond , when my dog was on steroids she peed for England.
Long may the results keep going in the right direction .

Dosage dropped by 25% for 3-4 weeks before testing again to see how he's getting along with the lower steroid.

(Again, only really updating here now so that this thread has the 'full story' in case anyone in the future needs to find a real life example of IMHA being treated)

Another good blood test, another drop by 25% - so we're down to 50% of the original steroid dosage. No concerns and he's doing very well.

Two more tests to go and he's clear....

Warm weetabix

@OblivionAndBeyond so pleased to see your update and it's good of you to think of others who might come across this in the future.

Nice one- and congratulations on improving @OblivionAndBeyonddog

Another blood test just done, which was good. So we have now dropped the steroids to just 25% of the original dose.

One more test in 3 weeks and we'll see if we can remove them altogether.

In the meantime, except for his voracious appetite and thirst (down to the steroids), he is doing very well indeed. It seems amazing to me now that I thought I could lose him. I think of that awful night I sat up with him, talking to him and worrying it was our last night together - and it's like it happened in another life.

so happy to hear that op@OblivionAndBeyond
thanks so much for the updates

Thanks @OblivionAndBeyond it's great to see good news.

I forgot to update a couple weeks back but we did another blood test. All looked well but the vet thought it safest we reduce the dose again rather than stop it. He now has the 25% dose every other day. Still doing fine, though. Next test is next week.

Another blood test this week and we have the OK to stop steroids altogether. I'm thrilled with that - and cautiously optimistic for the future.

We have to test again in about four weeks, just to check he's doing ok off the steroids.

The risk of relapse is always there and I think dogs who do relapse tend not to respond to steroids so well the second time. Eeek.

But, for now, he's doing very well and it's looking like we'll get another Christmas together that I didn't think we'd see when this all happened.

My hairy, stinky little miracle dog.

I'm so pleased to see your update, as Maria Carey says and I used to sing to my (heartbreakingly now departed ) darling dog, "all I want for Christmas is you" . X

A final update from me: We are now about 6 weeks off the steroids and he is doing brilliantly. Entirely back to normal. Currently curled up on my lap, snoring gently.

For anyone reading this in the future, if there are no more updates from me you can safely assume that my pup continued to live his life, free from any more IMHA. I'll only update now if he ever relapses etc.

If you are reading this because you are facing IMHA with your own dog, you have my heartfelt sympathy. It's a shitty disease and a heartbreak to face and to fight (if you are even given the chance to fight it). I hope we all get a happy longterm outcome with our well loved dogs.

Great news, they are definitely a worry when they’re not well.

I would syringe some soup, broth or some milky water into his mouth.