Unexplained Canine Anorexia: My Dog is Starving

[Wilhelmina]

I’m trying to determine reasons for my senior dog’s unwillingness to eat. Multiple tests from both her regular vet and specialty vet have failed to determine a cause. She’s basically starving herself and is down from 38lbs+ to 31. She’s skin and bones. This holiday weekend she is barely eating; I’m lucky to get a tablespoon of food into her a day. I will be calling both my regular vet and specialty vet as soon as they open tomorrow.

Diagnostics from last week:

1. CBC/chemistry panel look excellent.

2. Chest and abdominal xrays are clear.

3. Ultrasound: The heart and caudal vena cava are smaller than normal, though this could be due to dehydration-- she hadn’t had any water that morning, but is drinking normally now. The vet said this could also be attributed to Addison’s, but couldn’t run the test as my dog was on a prednisone trial to increase appetite. The bladder wall is thickened and there is mild distension of the renal pelvis, indicating a potential UTI. We started ampicillin. We are waiting on additional testing to determine exactly which bacteria we’re dealing with and may switch antibiotics when those results come in.

4. The specialty vet who did her ultrasound said the next step could be an endoscopy, but wasn’t sure the risks from anesthesia were worth it. The vet said we weren’t likely find anything as my dog is not vomitting/having diarrhea.

5. She has been on trails of prilosec and pepcid for indigestion. She’s also been on the appetite stimulant, mirtazapine. None of these have increased her appetite. We also did a trial of prednisone recently, and she seemed to eat better on the maximum dose (10mg 2X a day), but when decreased to once a day, she stopped eating. I’m not sure if this coincidental.

History:

1. She’s been in good health following a cancerous tumor (hemangiopericytoma) removal in January. Currently, there are no signs of cancer.

2. She’s been incontinent for some time. She pees in her sleep. She sleeps with a child’s bed wetting mat on her bed, which we change as soon as it is soiled.

3. She will approach food given by hand or in her bowl and smell it, but refuses to eat it. I have tried every possible food you can imagine. There’s no need to suggest baby food, satin balls, liver, your grandma’s secret recipe, etc. as I have tried it all. Twice. She is not interested in anything.

4. Her teeth were cleaned in January. She has eaten crunchy treats with no obvious problems.

5. She’s in decent spirits, still follows me to each room, walks outside and wags her tail.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? Are there any questions that I should ask my vets tomorrow?

Please don’t turn this into a discussion of how I should have put her to sleep already. I am well aware that it may be time and am ready to assist my dear friend. I will be discussing this with my vets tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your help.

[CrowneDragon]

Huge jingles coming her way. What a frustrating problem!
Is there any way you could have her hang around a food-motivated dog? I used to use my foodie dog to get my other dog interested in eating when he wasn’t feeling well. He wouldn’t want to eat, but when he saw her eating his food all of a sudden he’d pick up.
I would keep offering her anything that isn’t poisonous to see if it will get her interest: bread, cat food, sugary cereal, carrots, green beans. Sometimes when you get the engine primed they will then take off and eat proper food. I would probably water down some canned food and syringe it into her mouth, too, to get something into her. Try smearing some Nutrical on her leg and see if she will lick it off.

Good luck!

[QM2]

Ask your vet about Hills prescription A/D food.
It’s VERY high in calories. The dogs also REALLY love it.

If she won’t eat it on her own at first, I would dose her with it from a large syringe. You can get both from your vet. Mix it with water and you’ll be able to get a couple cans a day in her I would bet. Just squirt in mouth NOT down throat.
Sometime the old ones need food in their belly before they feel like eating on their own.

Good luck and don’t give up on your old friend.

[jetsmom]

Have you tried warming some food, like chicken and rice, and feeding from a raised surface, while you eat?
Arthritis can make it painful to bend down. The sense of smell can deteriorate, so warming it makes it more appealing.

[poniesinthenight]

Raw meat?

[SquishTheBunny]

Im not going to suggest a food, because it sounds like she doesn’t want food regardless how tasty it is.

Sounds like your dog has hydronephrosis, maybe caused by a UTI or something else. Has she been on IV fluids at all, and did you have a culture run on her urine? Significant hydronephrosis could be enough to cause a dog not to eat.

Until you can figure out why she isn’t eating, you could always consider a PEG tube. While not totally ideal, it may help get him through until you figure out what the problem is. The worst thing you can do is force feed, a dog who doesn’t want to eat isn’t wanting to eat for a reason - shoving food down their throat on a daily basis is only going to create an adversion. At least with a PEG tube, you can get it directly into the stomach without causing any adversion or nausea.

If she has been losing weight for a while before the anorexia, unfortunately I would have to consider cancer cachexia to be high on the list. Has she had a cardiac ultrasound?

Jingles!

[In_The_Gate]

If you don’t want her to go through more tests or do a feeding tube I’d put her on prednisone after treating any infection that is present. I’d always rather get an answer… but if you can’t steroids can be a miracle for some dogs. As the saying goes in veterinary medicine, no animal should die without trying steroids.

[SquishTheBunny]

In The Gate - agree No one can not afford prednisone

[Horse_with_No_Name]

Could it be that something in one of the medications is making food taste terrible? I had this problem years ago when I needed iron injections. After the injection for the next 3 days everything I ate tasted metallicly/tinny and really just quite horrid and I just topped eating even though everything smelt nice and I was starving. Then I had a half day window of opportunity to eat like crazy before my next injection.

[RackNRoll]

[QUOTE=SquishTheBunny;7653583]
Im not going to suggest a food, because it sounds like she doesn’t want food regardless how tasty it is.

If she has been losing weight for a while before the anorexia, unfortunately I would have to consider cancer cachexia to be high on the list. [/QUOTE]

^Agree with this.

[GraceLikeRain]

Have you tried an anti-nausea medication? Approaching food but being unwilling to eat sounds like maybe she is hungry but the thought of eating isn’t appealing since she feels poorly. Another thought, I knew someone whose cat lost his sense of smell and stopped eating. She syringe fed him for the last couple years of his life but he was otherwise a normal and healthy old guy to the best of my memory.

[Ethan_amp_Ella_s_Mom]

My neighbors dog went through the same thing. She just stopped eating and they couldn’t find anything wrong with her. They tried everything and it eventually got to the point where they made “the” appointment. I told her to squirt baby food down her throat with a syringe, force her to eat. It took about a day but then she starting opening her mouth for the baby food and then eventually started eating and that was 3 years ago and she’s fine.

Good luck.

[Wilhelmina]

Many thanks to everyone for their insight and well wishes. I can not tell you how appreciative I am.

Unfortunately, my darling dog is not doing well at all this afternoon/evening, so much so that I took her to the emergency vet. She was laying flat out on her side and would not move. When I got her the vet, the adrenaline kicked in (she’s terrified of the vet at this point) and appeared more alert. The emergency vet wanted to try pain medication and fluids (they administered fluids, cerenia for nausea and buprenorphorin for pain) and said to wait for the additional urinanalysis results to come in (tomorrow or Tuesday- so far away!). They also recommended a neuro consult, but given her condition, I don’t know if we’ll make it that far. She’s 15 and frail and has had problems with anesthesia previously, so I worry about the peg tube. If it is cancer, I would rather not put her through the trauma. I wish I knew definitively what was going on, but that isn’t to be at this point. (Squish-- she only had an abdominal ultrasound).

It’s very overwhelming, especially when there are so many unknowns and even the vets aren’t certain on next steps. I will talk to my regular vet tomorrow a.m.; I have a lot of faith in them and respect their guidance.

To those who offered suggestions to get her to eat-- thank you. I also have 2 other dogs, who are food obsessed and they don’t motivate her to eat at all. They are more than happy to eat all the treats, wet food, people food, etc. that she rejects.

Please keep jingling for my heart dog. Thanks again for everything.

[Beethoven]

You can place a nasogastric feeding tube without anesthesia and get her some calories if you are going to try and continue with her. I agree that since she approaches food, but doesn’t eat it that she may be nauseous. I also agree with Squish about possible cancer cachexia. Just listen to her and she will let you know when she is ready to go. If she wants to keep fighting then support her in the fight.

Jingles for your girl!!

[littleum]

Have you tried making her a very warm, smelly gruel of canned food and smearing it on her gums?

When a syringe is too much trauma/drama and they won’t eat, I’ve had success just smearing it on their mouth/gums so they lick (either to get clean or just as a reflex). Frequently by the 3rd smear their blood sugar is up a little bit and they’re a bit more interested in food and it will get them eating again, usually if offered the gruel on a spoon at head-level (making it super, super easy for them to eat)

Sorry to hear about your pup. It’s so hard when they suddenly go downhill so swiftly and with no obvious explanation.

[MunchingonHay]

I am sorry your sweet girl is putting you though this, … Sometimes its better a day too soon than a week too late.

I had a cushings dog that decided that he had given up the fight after 3 years. He just stopped eating one day no matter what I put in front of him. Cooked, raw, cat food, baby food, people food,…everything. He couldn’t hold his bladder any more…its horrible, as you know since you are experiencing something similar.

[CrowneDragon]

Jingling louder and louder! Come on, pup. EAT!

[Wilhelmina]

Thanks CrowneDragon! That post was the best boost!

[GoForAGallop]

That’s how I lost my Beagle. He was 16, and just stopped eating one day. Shit gets real when a Beagle stops eating. :lol: He didn’t eat for about three days (except nibbles from our hands) and I spent over $2k at the specialty hospital running all sorts of tests and xrays and ultrasounds and diagnostics. Then he just laid down and died. We had put him on a diet three weeks earlier, and it’s still a running joke that old Jasper decided that if he was going to be on a diet at 16, he just wasn’t interested in living anymore. :lol:

I second the prednisone and the Nutrical. Miracle workers for more than one of my old, feeble creatures. And I’m not above syringing gruel down someones throat either.

Hugs, and all the good wishes sent your way. You’re being an excellent owner, and I hope you figure out what’s making life so hard for her, and I hope it’s easily fixed once found.

[SquishTheBunny]

Im sorry you aren’t getting an actual diagnosis. Its hard sometimes, making decisions when you don’t know what you are dealing with.

I have been through similar with my dog, although only 7, he developed a gastrointestinal bleed. We did endocscoies, and several surgeries - however his gut just kept falling apart and bleeding out. Everything came back “normal”, although he was far from it. I tried, and I put him through a lot - because there was a reasonable chance he could make it. In the end, after the third time his gut fell apart it was time. No answers, it was just time.

You will know when its the right time. Its never wrong to give them a chance at recovery, because dogs do rally all the time. You know her best and you will know when she is asking you to stop.

Jingles for some good news.