Feeling slightly at wits end re dog not eating

MissSBird

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This could be a long one...

We've had our bernie since he was a puppy and, from the word go, have had issues trying to convince him to eat. We've tried all sorts of different diets, food types etc. Either he wouldn't eat them, they'd give him indigestion or they'd run right through him.

A good 6 months ago we finally hit upon packets of minced raw meat (everything but rabbit which for some odd Lui reason is not edible), some cooked vegetables and some pumpkin puree. He was eating, he was healthy on the other end, no longer vomiting up flem and finally holding some weight! Whether normal or not, the diet was working for him and we were rather delighted. It was so nice to see him excited about his food at dinner time rather than walking up, sniffing, nibbling and walking away.

I usually end up sitting up late at night, and Wednesday was no exception. I noticed he was slightly more restless than usual. By that time he's usually very settled in one spot (99% of the time behind the sofa), but that evening he was up and down, changing where he was very frequently.

As he seemed bright, and did all his usuals come bedtime I didn't think too much of it and went to bed around midnight. Around 2am he wakes up my mum by barking. She takes him out and he has an explosion from his back end, very watery. After settling him back down, assuming he'd eaten something naughty while off sniffing in the park that day, she went back to bed. He woke her up again at 4am and the same thing happened again.

After that he slept through, but didn't bark at the paperboy that morning which is odd. Mum got up come morning and came downstairs and he was incredibly reluctant to move, really not wanting to stand up and struggling with his back end. Very docile and not himself (lay and wuffed at the postman from his bed when he'd usually go barking at the door).

So, we of course took him to the vets immediatly. She did the usual checks which showed no signs of temperature, eyes bright, gums ok - basically no obvious signs of infection. She was concerned about his reluctance to move and his walking and thought perhaps the loose bowels had either been coincidental or a sign of pain. Discussed options and, with him being such a big dog showing pain in his hips, we booked him into the big clinic for x-rays that day and took him straight over.

The vet at the local spoke with the vet at the main clinic about her thoughts, and then vet 2 examined him and phoned my mum. She felt he was actually walking quite a bit better, so suggested not running x-rays but doing a bloods work up. We trust the vets so agreed to this and the results showed raised enzymes for liver and pancreas. Vet 2 then ran a snap test which showed that he did not have pancreatitus. Vet diagnosed colonitus, and after some time on a drip to get his fluid levels back up and a shot of painkillers, he came home with a tin of expensive vet meat (forget the name but I imagine you know what I mean), some medicine to stop the dihorrea and an appointment to come back the next day.

He ate a tin of vet meat, but did not drink. He was very whiny on Wednesday night, and seemed to be struggling to sleep whilst I was downstairs. But he did quieten down when I went to bed.

On Thursday morning he was much brighter and walking absolutely fine. He even started jumping around as normal when we picked up his lead! Vet 2 was pleased with how much brighter he was. She gave him another shot of painkillers, and gave us some rehydration sachets and a syringe to force him to take some fluids if he was still refusing to drink. No future appointments were made, but we've to take him back if at all concerned.

Thursday night he ate the 2nd tin of vet meat, and drank a little. He was whinier than usual, but overall more settled.

This morning he is still bright, but whiny and not drinking a huge amount. No vet meat left so we put down his normal food and he turned his nose up at it. We tried mixing in some gravy and he still wouldn't touch it. Come dinner time he wasn't interested in eating at all until my mum (out of desperation) pulled out a tin of pedigree chum and opened that. Very excited Lui, ate the whole lot in one go and now looking for more.

Currently, we're thinking that we'll get some more tins of PC just so he's eating something, with a view to trying to reintroduce his normal food later on this week. Hopefully do it slowly so that his dinner goes 75% PC and 25% and then wean him off the tinned food and (hopefully) back onto his regular stuff.

Just feeling very anxious that this spell might have started off all this eating nonsense again. Beyond feeding him cans of rubbish, I don't know what else we can try!

Any helps/advice/reassurance would be much appreciated right now. Still feeling very anxious about my boy :(
 

Wigglypigs

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I know lots of people on here rate chappie tins as kind on dodgy tummies and good to get weight on. I think they would be preferable to the PC tins?
 

EAST KENT

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No food at all for 24 to 48 hours,just water,this rests his sore stomach.Then start again as usual.Unless he is vomiting or exploding I would just let time sort it out
 

tessybear

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When we had a poorly pup who ate something nasty, Vet told us to only give her water for 24 hours and then scrambled egg after as it is very light :)
 

Cinnamontoast

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No food at all for 24 to 48 hours,just water,this rests his sore stomach.Then start again as usual.Unless he is vomiting or exploding I would just let time sort it out

This then tiny amounts, little and often until you've built up slowly back to usual amounts. Poor boy, they're such a worry. :(
 

MissSBird

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Well the vet in this case was encouraging us to feed him so went with her advice. Tonight he's settled down and quietly sleeping with no crying, so hopefully that's a good sign.

Just very worried we're not going to get him back onto normal food now :(
 

NeverSayNever

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poor boy , sounds like collitis or similar. Id stick with a good quality raw food, either your own if you are confident enough or get the tubs from Natural Instinct. Id recommend the chicken as it is easy to start off with and some dogs dont tolerate offal well, which is in some of the others. Infact, give them a ring and ask to speak to their nutritionist Mike i think it is. He is so helpful. If your dog wont eat, give him 10 mins and just take it away. By offering alternatives and mixing in gravy etc you are unwittingly adding to his problems as things like gravy, changes in food (not to mention a change to crap like PC or whatever tin the vet gave you), will only serve to further upset his stomach. He will not starve himself and he will come to no harm if he doesnt eat for a day or 2 as long as he is drinking. Then offer the chicken in vry small amounts every 2 hours.
 
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