My Dog Seems To Have Anorexia.

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fredthoroughbred

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Over the last couple of months, my greyhound has become quite odd in his behaviour. He has gone off his food, he seems a bit depressed and a little unsure of himself, like he's lost his confidence. I re-homed him a year ago and since then he has broken his leg, had an allergic reaction to something (the vet had to do lots of tests and he had to be put on a drip) and contracted a mystery illness that rendered him scarily skinny (not a good look when you're a greyhound) and really weak.

So he has had a tough year but he seems healthy now and the vets certainly can't pinpoint anything. He won't touch his food. Currently he gets Iams and an apparently "extremely palatable" build up meat but he turns his nose up at it. I then try him with tuna, sardines etc but to no avail!!

Any advice to make him happier?? Having a depressed dog makes you feel really guilty!!
 
One of my best whippets always looked light of weight. She was a good eater, but not greedy. One food that dogs seem to find irresistable is tripe. It smells awful to humans, but I have never found a dog that didn't like it. It seems to put weight on them too.

He might prefer some raw food, you could try some minced beef. Warm, cooked chicken is rarely refused.

You also try him with a little goats milk.
 
Thank you!! I have a niggle that the reason that he has stopped eating might be because when he was really ill, I fed him a lot of meat, vegi's etc to get him to eat and he may have become a little spoilt!!! I've been trying to get him to eat dog food again...maybe I should get the tripe out yuk : )
 
Obs he eats something:D, so what be that be, is he fed treats/human foods inbetween turning his nose up at the dog food?
Tripe is always a good place to start, or raw, or even the small bags/blocks of beef, chicken, fish u can get and microwave them till nice and warm for fussy eaters (I get them at whole salers) pets at home may sell them, or obs just straight from the butchers.
Do u have any pics of him?
 
I can sympathise with OP. I had a dog that stopped eating when he was 16 weeks old and didn't start eating again voluntarily until he was 3! Originally I put it down to changing his teeth but it was a complete phobia. I gave up trying to tempt him and used to spend a couple of hours every evening poking tiny pieces of green tripe (nice) down his throat. I developed a large callous on my thumb from his canine tooth holding his mouth open. He kind of grew out of it when he was just coming 3.
 
Bloody hell Faithkat. Three years!! It is really frustrating. It does seem like some weird phobia though. He used to love his food when he came out of kennels and into a home but then has become more and more fussy. He now takes a mouthful and walks away looking very scared and slowly eats it, I always think of someone with an eating disorder when I see him do that : )
Cayla, I don't have a recent photograph of him but he is a tall greyhound and should weigh about 33 - 35kgs but he only weighs 29kgs. He does eat human food and dental sticks but if I mixed chicken into his Iams he would just pick out the chicken and leave the biscuits. I am loathed to make some spaghetti bolognaise (quorn I must add because I'm a vegi haha) with a sprinkling of parmesan for him : ) Aside from the obvious reasons, my other, more rotund greyhound would get very jealous. Should I just stop giving him any treats whatsoever and risk him losing even more weight or get the bolognaise on??? All my other greyhounds have been brilliant eaters.
 
How are his teeth?

Make sure you aren't putting too much pressure on - dogs interpret our 'pllleeeaaase' eat vibes as stress and can associate meal times with an unpleasurable experience so do try and leave him alone/don't be checking up on him or 'coaxing' or 'encouraging' - because they're not kids and don't see it like that, they see it as pressure/stress.
 
I tried everything to tempt him even to the stage of putting his food onto one of our plates to try and fool him . . . . but no, he would have a look and then just walk away. I have no idea what his problem was but he was a stunning show dog so I decided that if hand feeding was the only way, then so be it. Interestingly though, although he won a fair bit as a puppy/junior, once he started eating voluntarily he "blossomed" and then won loads. It seemed to be a case of the anorexia also led to poorer absorbtion even though I was poking as much food down his throat as he would have eaten himself.

You say yours ate when you first got him but seems "scared" - had he been bullied by the others, do you think, which might have made him phobic?
 
Do you feed him in with your other dog? Ours have tended to be fussy until competition kicks in and then there heads don't come out the bowl!!!

Might be worth trying a different food.

Definately agree with CC though. It's quite easy to find yourself eagerly leaning over them deperately wanting them to tuck in!

Hope he ges his doggy appetite soon!

Elle
 
Faithkat, you poor thing, that sounds awful. At least he's eating now...phew. I don't know if Fonzi was bullied before but because it is quite a recent issue, I don't think that can be it. My other dog is never horrible to him but does like his new "condition" because she gets double now. Elle123, I tried that too but by other greyhound just eats hers and then his and she is turning into a bit of a porky greyhound now : ) Cavecanem, I think you might be onto something. Last night I resorted to picking out his bloody specialist "extremely palatable", extremely expensive meat out of his biscuits and hand feeding him : 0 I'm just worried if I don't do that, then Millie (the other greyhound) will eat it and he'll just get skinnier and skinnier. What to do???
 
Yellow Dog used to be a nightmare to feed - he would go for ages without eating anything, he even collapsed once :( We kept taking him to the vet and she said it was like he had canine anorexia (don't know if this is a real illness or if she was making a comment). He wouldnt even eat the rabbits etc that he was catching! Eventually I took him to see an iridologist? (the eye people) who suggested a totally vegetarian diet for him then after a week or so said to introduce natural yoghurt. We tried it and after a few days he was eating more than normal - he didn't like the yoghurt mixed with his food (fussy sod :p ) so had it seperately. We went back to the vets with this information and she ran some more tests and said there was a problem with the enzymes in his stomach and suggested how to deal with it. 7 years later and hes still a fussy, skinny runt but he eats and he's healthy now, no tummy upsets or anything :) Plus he eats meat etc too, we just have to avoid certain things.
 
My 14yr old whippet x had exactly the same problem recently, she acted as though she was scared of food, she would walk as far away from the food bowl as possible always averting her eyes. She has always been funny about food but this recent bout was the worst I've ever known and all tests were normal. I tried her on everything!!

In the end on my vets advise we put her on Zantac thinking it could be acid problems making her feel sicky and unable to eat. I know have a totally different dog, she is eating more than she ever has and more to the point enjoys it too. I now feed her on chudleys snippets kibble as small but highly flavoured.

Good luck as I know how worrying it is xx
 
Maybe don't feed him the iams? Our dog doesn't like dried food much at all but we feed ours mixer and meat. They also have dental chews every day and our old (fussy) dog knows exactly when his 'teeth chew time' is! However, he will often leave his dinner or look at it and then look at you like it's poison! He will however eagerly eat the expensive cat food you get in those mini tins (typical) and also likes Webbox mix and the meat roll things webbox do. I just tried it one day as saw some in a supermarket, it seemed cheap so I thought would try it - well he certainly scoffed that down (well not scoffed he bever scoffs as such!). it smells and looks vile but dogs seem to like it. Maybe worth a try.

Either that or raw as suggested. I think some dogs just aren't that greedy and I guess naturally dogs aren't supposed to eat every day. I would try not feed him any additional treats. I don't think dogs can be anorexic, they eat if they're hungry and are physically well and, if the vet cannot find any physical reason why your dog isn't eating then i would try not worry too much. The more you stress the more the dogs will.
 
Just an odd thought since you have tried everything else, might be worth trying one of the low allergen foods (Hills Science Plan do one called Z/D and another whose name I can't remember) in case he is having an allergic reaction to the food (normally he would have other symptoms, eg. stomach pain, diarhoea, etc., but you never know!).
 
I always thought that Iams was the equivalent of feeding your dog a McDonalds everyday (or was that Eukenuba?) Have you thought about going back to a more basic food and adding some oil to it? Is he actually hungry? Is he hungrier after a good workout? My dogs are always ravenous after a days work.

What happens if you just leave his bowl of food down for him to pick at as and when he is hungry - you mention another dog, would that one wolf it up? Mine wouldn't dare eat from another's bowl (except the cat's who apparently doesn't matter :rolleyes: )
 
Thanks to everyone for your help! My vet recommended Iams, Kings or Hills Science because they apparently have the least crap in them. It's a minefield out there!! I think Bakers is supposed to be the McDonalds of dog food. I've turned into a canine nutritionist of late haha! The dogs are out and about all day but I don't want to work them as such because old Millie is ten and very stiff and if Fonzi loses anymore weight he'll be a skeleton : ) The dogs food bowls are down now and have been since their dinner at 4pm. Millie the chunk inevitably eats it.
Over the last few weeks I have tried him on various brands to tempt him so i don't think it's singularly the Iams to blame. I seem to be having more luck with Iam's than others.
Zantac could be the answer, I'll check at the vets tomorrow.
I guess I just have to make the decision to be a bit of a bitch and not give him any treats or fuss where his food is concerned and risk losing more weight OR give him delicious fodder from the butchers...I'll keep you informed. Thanks : )
 
fredthoroughbred said:
Thanks to everyone for your help! My vet recommended Iams, Kings or Hills Science because they apparently have the least crap in them. It's a minefield out there!! I think Bakers is supposed to be the McDonalds of dog food. I've turned into a canine nutritionist of late haha! The dogs are out and about all day but I don't want to work them as such because old Millie is ten and very stiff and if Fonzi loses anymore weight he'll be a skeleton : ) The dogs food bowls are down now and have been since their dinner at 4pm. Millie the chunk inevitably eats it.
Over the last few weeks I have tried him on various brands to tempt him so i don't think it's singularly the Iams to blame. I seem to be having more luck with Iam's than others.
Zantac could be the answer, I'll check at the vets tomorrow.
I guess I just have to make the decision to be a bit of a bitch and not give him any treats or fuss where his food is concerned and risk losing more weight OR give him delicious fodder from the butchers...I'll keep you informed. Thanks : )
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Iams is pretty awful!

Most stuff you can buy at the grocery store is nasty.
 
have you tried fish4dogs? mine really LOVE it, when it is food time and i am taking the bowl in they spin round and round in excitement. it seems to be good for delicate tums (Chimo was always having a bad tummy) but it really stinks (of fish obviously!)
 
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