Dog loss of appetite during heat

[Weezer]

Hello all! I have a 5 year old Australian Shepherd who is partially spayed (no uterus, but has her ovaries). So she does go into heat twice a year. It’s generally hard to tell when she goes into heat, but I try to track it. She tends to lose her appetite just before she goes into heat and it can be really hard to get her to eat for about a month. I will feed her all sorts of yummy meats, broths, yogurts, etc. She will reluctantly eat something once or twice and then she won’t touch it again. She will eagerly eat super processed treats like denta-bones, but I don’t know if it’s okay for her to live off those for a month. On hikes she is still fairly high energy, although not quite as off the wall as she is when she is eating regularly. She is not overweight, but she seems to come out of these hunger strikes having lost just a couple of pounds. I tend to stress out a fair bit about her not eating. We have a beagle so I can’t leave food out all day for her to pick at.

Her average weight is about 40 lbs. Under regular circumstances she gets 1.5 cups dry food, a bit of canned meat and a few small treats throughout the day. She goes running and/or hiking at least 5km every day. During her heat, we’re lucky if we can get her to eat 3/4 cup of dry food per day. She won’t touch the canned meat when she’s in heat.

I recently read about mirtazapine as an appetite stimulant and I’m wondering if I should try that, or if I should just let her be and trust it will work out. Any advice?

[Simkie]

I’d try pepcid before mirtazipine. I love pepcid for stuff like this!

If that doesn’t do it, I’d consider zofran before mirtazipine, too. Making them hungry if they’re ulcery or nauseous just seems really unfair.

I’ve been strongly considering an ovary sparing spay for my current girl. I historically leave them intact, and don’t have issues managing heat cycles…but it is a bit limiting with the farm sitter thing! How has your experience been with the OSS? (Other than these hunger strikes of course!)

[Weezer]

Thanks for the tips, Simkie. I’ll start with pepcid and go from there.

This is my first time having a female that was not fully spayed. We went with ovary-sparing spay (OSS) because our previous Aussie had a few health issues that could have been linked to hormone imbalance. Because we wanted this dog to be a running partner, we thought that OSS would be the best way to set her up for success. Having never had a fully intact female, I was super paranoid about the risk of pyometra and was unwilling to navigate that.

My vet was unfamiliar with OSS but after some research, he was willing to do it. Other vets in the area were going to charge twice as much as a regular spay for the procedure. My vet charged the same amount because he said it wasn’t much harder than a regular spay. He used smaller tools and said it was a bit like writing with your opposite hand, but the procedure went really well.

Pup definitely goes into heat, but it’s a very quiet heat. She is a regular at doggy daycare / overnight kennel and they don’t have any trouble managing it when she’s in heat. If a male dog seems overly interested, it just doesn’t go out with her. She is a very passive dog and that doesn’t change when she’s in heat. She sometimes becomes a bit more anxious when she’s in heat. I don’t notice any mess around the house or anything when she’s in heat. Every now and then I think her heat cycle may be stronger because our old male beagle is at her for a day or two, but that is rare. When he gets fired up, I take that as a cue to keep her away from the dog park. But I have had her at the park when she’s in heat and it’s never an issue. If a male seems interested, we leave. For future females I would go the OSS route because I think it’s best to keep the natural hormonal balance whenever possible.

[MunchingonHay]

Buma, my late Ridgeback had a heat cycle yearly (every 10 months) and she would go on strike about 2 weeks or so. I would baby her. Let her eat what she wanted/when she wanted it, (which is easy because I am WFH), I would added all sorts of yummy things like cheese, pumpkin, tinned fish, scrambled eggs, homemade bone broth, but it was chicken. Chicken and a bit of rice is what got her to eat most of the time. So I let her have it. (boiled/roasted plain chicken). I would add her cut normal food and then do the math to add the correct amount of calories of chicken and rice.

Lilly, (lab x 1/4 aussie) my current unspayed female (appointment is next week). Went on strike too when she had her first cycle.

Same thing. Chicken seems to do the trick. Buma also had a false pregnancy at the same time which was fun.

And hand feeding, the girls are a sucker for that extra bit of love I think.

[GoodTimes]

No real advice, hard to say if the inappetence is hormone related or pain related? I’d imagine some swelling of the ovaries, vulva, etc would still occur.

Let us know if you do find something that helps. I’ve currently got a senior dog who was spayed before I got her. But with the next one an ovary sparing spay would definitely be on the table.