Advice needed, head injury in dog

[Laafet]

My miniature poodle had a horrific accident on Sunday and was knocked out by a horse, I have never been more scared in my life, he never even yelped it happened so quick and I thought he was was dead. Anyway a largish vet bill later they released him late on Sunday as he had improved so much, that was the emergency vets not my vet. Yesterday I took him to them to get another check over and my vet was very pleased with his rapid recovery, the only thing that is not great is his gag reflex. I had said that I had had to syringe water into him to make sure he was drinking and as he is still peeing that is good. At the vets he ate some bits of smackos readily so the vet said just to keep going and hand feed him whatever he wants. He also gave me some metacam as he probably does have the most stonking headache. However I am struggling to get him to eat anything. He won't take bits of smackos off me and I have tried tuna too. Basically anthing that is smelly and that he might like. He can be fussy at the best of times but this is really frustrating.
I am going to phone the vets again today as soon as they are open to ask their advice on his continuing lack of interest in food. I've raised all his bowls so he can help himself to food/water and he is really bright in himself. Has anyone had any experience of this type of injury?

 

[JillA]

No sorry - my JRT was struck on the head by a horse and was completely limp and lifeless when I put her in the car to dash to the vets. When I got there she sat up demanding to know where we were and what we were doing there, but she passed a health check A1 and never had any after effects, tough cookie that she is and still very much with us several years later at 17.
But don't worry, dogs can survive for a very long time without food (some buried in the Blitz went for weeks, so long as they had water) and I would imagine, like with stroke victims, it will come back in a few days.

 

[Laafet]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I have finally got him to eat some Ceasar. A friend also told me to try him with ox tail soup, so I have given him the option of raised plain water or raised oxtail soup. Hopefully he will try one or the other. Just got to see if he keeps the Ceasar down now!

 

[paisley]

Mine was quite poorly with a bug/virus (but obviously not as poorly as yours!), and to make sure he kept drinking enough, I boiled some chicken legs, and saved the water for him to drink. You can also get complete fish/salmon trays from Pets at Home that might be easier for him to swallow. Hope he picks up quickly!

 

[Moomin1]

Perhaps try him with some mushed up food in homemade gravy. Chappie with gravy on may also help as it's more a of a pate and easier to swallow for them.

 

[Britestar]

Not a dog but one of my cats was knocked clean out by my youngster. She came round as I arrived at vets. She was very wobbly and had full xrays next day. No damage apart from bad concussion.
She stayed wobbly for a good week and was very grumpy for a month. I just tempted her with nice food and kept her in for the first week.