Poorly dog - not eating anything, waiting blood test results

Birker2020

Birker2020

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My partners dog Candy, beagle bitch in signature, who is 14 in May started getting fussy about what she would eat on Tuesday, to the point that when I saw her on Friday she had lost a significant amount of weight. She gradually ate less and less over the week to the point that we were tempting her with chocolate (I know!) and caramel wafer and smoked bacon which were the only things she would eat. Over the course of the weekend she barely ate anything, she was still drinking fine, and wanting to go for walks, stopping and sniffing and raising her head in her basket and interested in her surroundings. My partner took her to the vets on Monday and they checked her over and gave her three injections (one was an appetite stimulant, one was a broad spectrum antibiotic and I'm unclear what the third one was for). She never regained her appetite. The vet took bloods the following day and we should get those back on Thursday.

On Sunday all she ate was half a slice of ham and a bit of chocolate. She chased the dog up the fence in the garden and barked at it. On Monday night she ate half a sausage and about seven very small softened bites of caramel wafer. Last night three small bits of caramel wafer and that was it. Today is Wednesday. I am about to ring partner who has had to dash home in his lunch hour to try to coax her to eat to see if she has taken anything. This morning he had to syringe milk into her mouth.

The vet yesterday didn't appear phased by the fact she is not eating and said it was quite a positive thing that she was happy to go for walks.

Obviously we will get our answers on Thursday as to what is wrong with her. She suffers from allergic rhinitis and has been on medication for this. One of the side effects is liver failure, but the vet doesn't think she has this. She doesn't have a tender stomach, or anythign wrong with her throat or mouth.

I think we will have to have her pts Friday or over the weekend. Its heartbreaking.
This is a photo of her http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9693&d=1318844161
 
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Poor girl. What did the vet say about her heart? Was that OK. When our elderly lurcher stopped eating it was her heart and liver that were the problem. At her age, if she was mine I would be starting to think about where this is going. We decided to have ours put to sleep rather than put her through lots of test and treatment as the vet could tell that her heart was really struggling and it was pretty much only a matter of time before it gave up. I hope it does not come to that for you but it is worth thinking about it now rather than being ambushed by it while you are at the vets.
 
Elliesmemory1 said:
Dont feed choc, its very bad for dogs! fish,chicken, scrambled egg, pasta or rice might tempt her
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I realise chocolate is bad for dogs which is why I put (I know!) in brackets. But its at the quantity of 1oz per KG of body weight when it becomes life threateningly dangerous. I was giving her less than a square of dairy milk so I really don't think it will kill her which equates to about half an ouce, and she is about 15KG.

We have tried everything to tempt her - at the end of the day if all she will eat is chocolate at such a small quantity then I hardly think it matters. We have tried chicken, ham, steak, beef, prawn, salmon, kipper, smoked bacon, rice, scrambled egg, chicken soup, beef stew. The only thing she was slightly interested in was the smoked bacon and caramel wafer.

Last night she wouldn't eat anything and my partner was syringe feeding her honey water and sugar as recommended by the vet. When we get the results today we will know what direction to go. She went for a very small walk yesterday evening but she is very weak.

I think we will have to have her pts tommorow.
 
Shes a very good age and obviously had a marvellous life with you, If you have her pts, it would be the kindest thing..I had mine pts a few months back, she was 15 and a half, heartbreaking but knew in my heart it was the right time.:(
 
Thank you for your replies. Its now midday and we are still waiting for the results of the bloods. I rang the surgery earlier but they are still not in. :(
 
Sorry to hear about your poorly dog, hope you get the results soon so you can make the right decision for her.
 
So sorry to hear about Candy, hopefully the bloods will give u some answers. I took my 13 year old BC in to vet this morning as he has been off his food for a few weeks, eating one day then not the next, he has lost 3kg but vet feels it may be sore tummy and suggested change of food and we have tablets to give him 30 mins before feeding, we have to wait till Monday for full blood results to see if it is liver, kidney or pancreas, we have also tried tempting him with almost everything.

Fingers crossed for candy, x
 
UPDATE - Sadly we got the results back from the blood tests which showed Candy had chronic kidney failure as she was pts later that day, with us both at her side.

Thank you for all your kind replies. It was a very hard thing to do but we didn't want her to suffer.

Run free Candy xx
 
So sorry, RIP candy, sending u virtual hugs. ..... We got the results of blood back Friday, treatable pancreatitis but when scanned Saturday huge growth in stomach so our BC was pts within half hour of results sat night, we were with him at the end, v peaceful. Sounds like we can both be grateful they didn't have a long illness and led long happy lives xxx
 
meesha said:
So sorry, RIP candy, sending u virtual hugs. ..... We got the results of blood back Friday, treatable pancreatitis but when scanned Saturday huge growth in stomach so our BC was pts within half hour of results sat night, we were with him at the end, v peaceful. Sounds like we can both be grateful they didn't have a long illness and led long happy lives xxx
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So sorry to hear your news Meesha.

It breaks your heart doesn't it?
 
So, so hard but getting easier day by day, we were lucky we have lots of good memories. Managed most of today without crying, hope u r both OK x
 
meesha said:
So, so hard but getting easier day by day, we were lucky we have lots of good memories. Managed most of today without crying, hope u r both OK x
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Not coping as well as I though I would tbh. Doesn't help that partner tells me it wasn't my dog so I am not or should not be as upset as him, Dad saying that he will not show any sympathy because it is hard enough for me to cope and if he does it will onlly make me worse??? and my line manager at work questionning me about why I had to leave work last Thursday (day we got bloods back and knew she would have to be PTS and I ended up sobbing at my desk), asking me how long I had known Candy for and whether she was mine or not.

One would asume from this that you are only allowed to grieve it is your pet and you have known it many, many years, and you have to be on an level less upset than others higher in the chain who are more deserved than you. :rolleyes:
 
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