Dog not eating properly for weeks - vet booked but….

[CoffeeWithHer]

Hi all

Our dog is booked in for the vets next week but just wanted to get a heads up of what might be the issue.

She has always enjoyed her food but has a sensitive stomach so for the past few years she has had kibble from Tails with random meat thrown in and obviously bones / treats.

She started turning her nose up at her food about 6 weeks ago to the point she has now stopped eating. I contacted Tails and they did a new mix to see if that would help. She wouldn’t eat that either. The weather hasn’t helped but she was like this for a few weeks but she has got so skinny really quickly.

I’ve been in the pet shop, kept to all their advice and bought a weeks worth of raw food - I’ve tried it for 5 days and she just looks at it and walks away. Different dog foods I know she likes - also no. Normally I’d say fine, don’t eat it then…and know that she’ll eat the next day or later in the evening but she must be starving. She is drinking as normal.

My DH just has a steak and she ate some of that but I can’t give her a steak every day 🫠

She will have to be put under at the vets as she is so scared when she gets there and gets so stressed. I have to give her pills to make her docile just for her yearly jabs but the vet can’t examine her, even docile and muzzled. So at least this way they can do her bloods and give her a proper check.

She is 7 and never been ill. She is a rescue / mutt so cross breed but approx a collie size.

Any insight would be really helpful! Thank you x

You give her steak every day until she’s seen at the vets. Next time take her quicker. Six weeks is too long to wait.

I agree
Mine would have been at the vet around 3 days of no food and I would have given steak or chicken if that is what he would eat

Oh god! She has been eating but it’s been getting less and less over the 6 weeks! I haven’t let her starve 🙈

Apologies if I didn’t make that clear!

Until you get to the vet, I’d give her whatever she wants to eat and if that was steak, mine would have steak. Roast a chicken, or chicken thighs, and see if she’ll eat that. If she’s unwell, sometimes really bland stuff is better. Have you tried her with an ice cream? Or dog ice cream if she can’t tolerate milk? Smelly stuff is good sometimes, garlic sausage is something my boy liked and would get him eating when he was poorly, similarly a fresh bone from the butchers. Try anything and everything until you get to the vet, although I’d be prepared to hear that something is up with her. Hope you get some luck.

I’ve just reread and sorry, that isn’t clear! I’ll see if I can edit it!

I agree with the other my dog would be given caviar and châteaubriand if it was the only thing they would eat after weeks of not eating.

In context, my cocker spaniel has never had a massive appetite, but she has been on enough her food lately and I’m pretty sure it’s related to the heat

She’s very happy in herself when she’s not eating for 24 hours I make a freshly cooked chicken and rice because she absolutely loves it and she wolfs it down without fail and I slowly reintroduce her regular food

hope she is ok

She has been well in herself, still wanting to walk (not in this heat), having her ‘chew’ treats and will eat what I call scraps - chicken / steak / ham but this just isn’t normal for her.

The vet said as she was drinking as normal and was ‘picking’, her toilet is as normal not to worry too much but something obviously gong on - and they’ve booked her in on Thursday.

DH has fired up the pan and doing another steak for her.

Thank you - she hates the heat anyway so I expect her to drop a meal most summers but then not to get full bowl of food at least once a day is worrying.

I’ll try the smelly sausage. She doesn’t like the ice cream / yoghurts unfortunately as they’re good for calories but Tesco is delivering shortly and I had some precooked thighs in there for her so hopefully they’ll do this evening.

Bone broth! I swear by it for sensitive tummy’s. Great for getting fluids in to.
get to the butcher and get some marrow bones, slow cook for 36hrs with a splash of apple cider vinegar in it. Give 100ml per day (or more if you like)!
For food I would try scrambled eggs, lightly cooked beef mince or lamb mince (I would avoid chicken to start with)

Amazing thank you - its full of nutrients as well…I’ve seen that at the farm shop already done - great idea thank you!

Egg was her favorite (and buttered toast!) but didn’t want that last week but will try again.

Any reason not to try chicken atm?

if you use pre made broth make sure you check the ingredients first. Most broth made for humans will have onion and herbs in it. Dogs should not have onion it’s toxic to them. it’s much cheaper and safer to make it yourself. (I have just made 5litres for about £2.50!)

Chicken is one of the meats that dogs are actually most likely to be intolerant of! It’s in most dog foods which makes it hard to avoid but it’s VERY common for dogs to be intolerant of it!

OP, my rescue hasn’t been eating for the past week to 2 weeks. Exactly the same as yours. Turns her nose up at everything except some treats and any meat we are eating. Doesn’t eat her usual breakfast. She doesn’t look underweight though and as she is eating something (even small) and drinking, I assumed it was heat related.

Every day is a school day - I actually didn’t know that! She is my second dog and I’ve been very fortunate to have 2 healthy dogs that had / have their issues but eating was never one so I this is new territory. Appreciate your advice - thank you x

Oh believe me I know the feeling! My first dog lulled me into a false sense of security! My second came to teach me just how much I didn’t know! Reactive rescue with tummy troubles! I’ve been on a steep steep learning curve these past few years.

Hope that helps but let us know how you get on!

the heat will not be helping either so I wouldn’t stress too much so longs as they are drinking and not loosing too much weight.

The heat always plays my dog up but this has been rumbling on

Kibble and treats nornally
Then wouldn’t eat kibble
but would eat the wet food and treats
Then not the wet food but treats
So then she had the meat and treats
Now won’t eat her treats
Willl eat slices of ham, cocktail sausages,
and STEAK

I cut her food very small as she normally is a greedy guts and wolf’s it down but today DH gave her the steak but he cut it in strips. As I’m down on the floor with her she is eating / chewing with her mouth open so now I’m thinking could it be tooth / ulcer / scratched throat.

Gahhhhhhhh she has eaten the steak anyway, I’ll leave the chicken and cook mince for tomorrow with a standby of smelly sausage.

Its just odd that everything she has loved for years and eaten without a fuss is now a no go.

Hope the weather breaks for you and he gets back to normal! X

Thursday seems a lot time to wait to see the vet. Can they not see you sooner?
a colleague dog has recently been diagnosed as diabetic after stopping eating. It was urgent

@Mirrorxxx Ive just took a look at symptoms for diabetes and the vets must of been sounding me out about that as well - she is weeing fine, drinking normally, and normal in herself, just quieter but so am I - it’s so humid! And her eyes are clear. They said if vomiting, change in toilet habits, thirsty then to phone back x TY

there are a multitude of medical things this could be. Some minor but painful (eg tooth decay) and some very, very serious. She needs to see a vet asap to rule out the medical stuff. I’m not trying to scare you OP but all this mucking about for weeks is absolutely not fair on your dog. I say this as someone who has this week had a terminal diagnosis on a dog whose only symptom was being ‘a bit quiet’

Only once you have thoroughly ruled out any medical reason can you assume it’s fussiness, heat related etc

Try topping her food with something like grated cheese , this gets my girl eating

Vet here, call vets first thing Monday and get an appointment for then, no way should this be left any longer, it’s been going on far too long already. Hopefully nothing serious but definitely something wrong, that’s not just the heat.

Keep us posted @CoffeeWithHer- I hope all is ok.

Thanks everyone.

I did call the vets on Monday to see if I could bring her in earlier but as there hadn’t been any change with her they were happy to keep today. Over the weekend she ate more than what she had been so I was feeling like maybe it was just a blip / weather / fussiness. I also had to wait for the prescription (48 hrs) for her pills that mildly sedate her before we get to the vets.

She may of lost her appetite, but she hasn’t lost her spirit. Took three of us to get a cannula in as the first injection to sedate didn’t fully take effect - she fought it like the last man standing.

Unfortunately her bloods have picked up kidney disease stage 1 so as I’m sure you know there isn’t anything they can do but have me alot of advice about diet etc.

As she hasn’t been able to have check over like this before they don’t know how long she has had it but they’ll be able to gauge it better in 3 months when I take in a urine sample; and they’ve asked for this every 3 months with a view of doing the same again today, next year. They’re also doing a urine sample this week to start the monitoring.

She is back at home sleeping on the best spot on the sofa whilst I google kidney friendly recipes - hopefully we have a long road ahead and it’s something she lives with without trouble but only time will tell x

@Dunnocantthinkofone I’m so sorry you’ve had such hard news this week x

Oh no @CoffeeWithHer- sorry to hear this update. What does this mean long term?

I‘m so sorry to hear this.

Our dog presented with the same symptom about 3 months ago. She has liver disease. No cure, prognosis anything between 9 months and 3 years. We were going to biopsy for a more accurate picture but she became more and more unwell so decided to move straight to steroid treatment. She’s now back to almost normal but any liver biopsy would be useless as we have the inflammation artificially under control for now. She’s on a vegetarian diet, high dose steroids and lactulose and doing grand.

It was a massive shock but then you rally and deal. I hope your dog has a good healthy life ahead of her yet.