cbmcts
Well-Known Member
All advice welcome!
I rehomed a dog right at the beginning of lockdown. Well, he was meant to be a foster but you know how it goes...
Approx 5 yo entire Rottweiler who had been a yard dog often on a chain all his life. Spent 4 months in kennels a bit lean but eating well. Fine for the first month I had him. Unusual for a rottie but not a great eater, tended to pick at his Arden Grange (same as the rescue had him on). Really good boy, learnt not to eat the cat and after spending the first week cocking his leg on everything, was housetrained. Has to be watched if there is anything new in the house as he will consider a piddle on that. Fabulous temperament, very sweet but quite sensitive, not a dog you can shout at or he is devastated.
Since the week before Easter he has had terrible diarrhea (sp!) (brown water, no blood)and become more and more reluctant to eat. Starved him for a day, started him on pro-kolin (2 syringes worth) and chicken and rice. Will not touch the kibble, sometimes will eat chicken but quite often turn away from it. Chappie tinned is also a no, no. Forget rice, that's evil. He will sometimes eat Lidl pate dog in 300g tray but half the time he throws that up. Cat food eaten mostly but again, not reliably.
Took him to the vets the week after Easter and he had blood test and an examination. Both the vet and I expected a diagnosis of pancreatitis due to the gurgly belly and other symptoms but no, liver, kidney and pancreas all came back well within normal levels. At that point, no obvious mass or obstructions on examination. Also did a blood test for pholates which was fine. He had a week of antibiotics (metronidazole) which improved things while he was on them but his eating was even worse once they stopped. This week he had an xray to check for masses as sadly, his age and breed make him a likely candidate for tumours, luckily all clear. Ideally he would have had a scan but due to lockdown the visiting scanner/ specialist is not available for the foreseeable future. While he was sedated the vet checked his month and throat for anything odd but nothing obvious. In less than a month he has lost 20% of his body weight now 32kgs and looks like a bag of bones.
Unsurprisingly he is lethargic and often appears to want food but as soon as has it is almost scared of it if that makes sense? I need to get a faecal sample over 3 days to test for giardia but his is so watery that I haven't been able to do that yet. The diagnosis by elimination is IBS so he is now on steroids (37.5mgs per day) with omeprazole to protect his stomach. He also had a b12 injection which he'll have every week for 6 weeks. The vet wants him on 5x400g tins of Royal Canin hypoallergenic dog food per day but no chance of that as he will not even look at that. All he has eaten over the past two days is 3x300g Lidl trays (one made him sick) 4 raw eggs and about 100 mls of bone broth that I syringe into him.
Has anyone got any ideas? My dog is starving to death in front of me.
I rehomed a dog right at the beginning of lockdown. Well, he was meant to be a foster but you know how it goes...
Approx 5 yo entire Rottweiler who had been a yard dog often on a chain all his life. Spent 4 months in kennels a bit lean but eating well. Fine for the first month I had him. Unusual for a rottie but not a great eater, tended to pick at his Arden Grange (same as the rescue had him on). Really good boy, learnt not to eat the cat and after spending the first week cocking his leg on everything, was housetrained. Has to be watched if there is anything new in the house as he will consider a piddle on that. Fabulous temperament, very sweet but quite sensitive, not a dog you can shout at or he is devastated.
Since the week before Easter he has had terrible diarrhea (sp!) (brown water, no blood)and become more and more reluctant to eat. Starved him for a day, started him on pro-kolin (2 syringes worth) and chicken and rice. Will not touch the kibble, sometimes will eat chicken but quite often turn away from it. Chappie tinned is also a no, no. Forget rice, that's evil. He will sometimes eat Lidl pate dog in 300g tray but half the time he throws that up. Cat food eaten mostly but again, not reliably.
Took him to the vets the week after Easter and he had blood test and an examination. Both the vet and I expected a diagnosis of pancreatitis due to the gurgly belly and other symptoms but no, liver, kidney and pancreas all came back well within normal levels. At that point, no obvious mass or obstructions on examination. Also did a blood test for pholates which was fine. He had a week of antibiotics (metronidazole) which improved things while he was on them but his eating was even worse once they stopped. This week he had an xray to check for masses as sadly, his age and breed make him a likely candidate for tumours, luckily all clear. Ideally he would have had a scan but due to lockdown the visiting scanner/ specialist is not available for the foreseeable future. While he was sedated the vet checked his month and throat for anything odd but nothing obvious. In less than a month he has lost 20% of his body weight now 32kgs and looks like a bag of bones.
Unsurprisingly he is lethargic and often appears to want food but as soon as has it is almost scared of it if that makes sense? I need to get a faecal sample over 3 days to test for giardia but his is so watery that I haven't been able to do that yet. The diagnosis by elimination is IBS so he is now on steroids (37.5mgs per day) with omeprazole to protect his stomach. He also had a b12 injection which he'll have every week for 6 weeks. The vet wants him on 5x400g tins of Royal Canin hypoallergenic dog food per day but no chance of that as he will not even look at that. All he has eaten over the past two days is 3x300g Lidl trays (one made him sick) 4 raw eggs and about 100 mls of bone broth that I syringe into him.
Has anyone got any ideas? My dog is starving to death in front of me.
Stolen wet cat food was a treat but it made him sick - mind you, if the cat had caught him stealing her food, his lifespan would have been seconds...
