|
TOPIC: What do I do when they won't eat?
You are here ~~>
Canines Corner~~>
Topics ~~>
Feeding a dog
that won't eat
As always,
CHECK WITH YOUR
VET FIRST
before following any recommendations you've found on the
Internet or have heard of.
In rescue, it is quite common to find dogs who have not had
their teeth taken care of previously. As bad teeth and
gums readily leads to heart disease and another whole host of
health issues (some fatal), paying close attention to your dog's
mouth insures a longer life.
But what do you do once you
discover a healthy mouth has few teeth left and/or the dog
refuses to eat? Difficulty in eating might have already
caused major weight loss... sometimes it is more crucial to get
'good' weight back on and quickly, without causing diarrhea in a
rescue.
Some dogs will remain on 'soft
foods' the rest of their life and if they don't have other
health issues going on, there are some 'home remedies' you might
try. Many dogs just don't care for the prescription
commercially-prepared dog foods available on the market today.
While they might be supplying all the necessary nutrients, if
the dog isn't willing to eat them, they're not doing a lot of
good sitting in a dog bowl each day.
My standards in this situation are
commercially prepared baby food (the meat products and also the
veggie/meat combos if I can get the dogs to eat those), goat's
milk (NOT cow's milk which causes diarrhea), over-boiled peas
and carrots (frozen, not canned), finely chopped up hard boiled
eggs and small bits of toast, chopped in small bites and
sprinkled heavily with chicken broth (the low salt version if
you're not making it from scratch).
This is a good example of just how
well an older senior dog can do on this requiem. Mr.
Sweetie was found at one of local shelters and released his anal
glands constantly. While this photo to the left doesn't
show the details well, his ears were filled with mite (?) bites,
he'd had dual hips operated on and could barely walk (urinating
as a female would). While he had most of his teeth,
whenever he yawned, he 'yipped' in pain, and then released his
anal glands yet again, despite having an infected anal gland
which had burst and was draining. He must have been
attacked by another dog, because he's always been a basketful of
anxieties (even two years later), and his lower rib bones had
not healed properly from being broken sometime in his past.
Even attempting to pick him up or hold him caused a great deal
of anxiety - to the point he'd scream out in pain - even if
there was none. You could not touch his head or get around
it to even put a collar on him, let alone a harness.
Examination to clean his teeth
revealed that all would have to be pulled but seven, and even
those seven were not in the best of shape. Mr. Sweetie also
suffers from hypoglycemia and idiopathic pancreatis (in other
words, they don't know what is causing the pancreatic attacks).
Once we got his mouth healthy, he stopped releasing his anal
glands.
He was almost two pounds underweight (which is a lot considering
he should have been between 5 and 6), and with all his medical
issues, we needed to get weight back on him as fast as possible,
so I used my 'old stand-by' ideas. Each day he gets one
jar of the commercially prepared baby food and as you can see,
it is almost like using a training "Kong" - good to the last
drop! However, he readily eats it off the spoon as well
(we also have another senior, Zeus, who does the same thing).
I use primarily the chicken and turkey, occasionally use the
beef, avoid the lamb (for gas reasons in the old guys) and ham
(difficult to digest for those with liver and
pancreatic/digestive issues.
Mr. Sweetie turned 15 (human)
years on January 11, 2009. And while I personally prefer
to home cook for my crew, most have special needs for their
diets because of various health issues. Everyone here now
eats this homemade diet (boiled chicken tenderloins, boiled and
drained ground sirloin, hard-boiled eggs, peas & carrots, brown
and white rice, baked turkey chopped up fine and drained of all
greases, goat's milk, etc.) regardless of their age - it is easy
to supplement extra for those dogs who need it, but unless you
can keep a dog 100% away from things they are not supposed to
have, this is what has worked best for me (60% protein, 20%
veggies, 20% starch in a generalized term).
I also swear by a dietary
supplement called "Synovi
G3" and with Mr. Sweetie, while he could not lift either one
of his legs to urinate initially, within a month he could --- as
well as going up doggie steps, hop small distances, etc.
This can be gotten through your vet (it does not require a
prescription however), but you can also purchase it online as
well (Amazon seems to be the cheapest usually). All of my
rescues are on this, regardless of their age, for it improves
their coats, helps their joints and bones, etc. There is
also a product called "BreathaLyser Plus" (Google this for
further info) that helps greatly in keeping the gums healthier
and the amount of plaque down. And everyone gets "Missing
Link" to combat the days when their health precludes them
from getting (and keeping down) a balanced diet, plus a bit of
olive oil several times a week for their coats and Vitamin E.
Bottom line, is sometimes you have
to 'think out of the box' when the usual methods aren't working
for these older, senior guys in poor health showing up in our
shelters. Previous poor nutrition causes the greatest
amount of havoc on their overall health, and if they're not
feeling good or can't eat properly to start out with, it will be
a difficult recovery/rehabilitation period. While you may
not necessarily get a well balanced diet into them at the start,
they have to feel like eating (and want to) or else you'll
continue to see them losing weight and becoming sicker.
Good to the last drop!
As always,
CHECK WITH YOUR
VET FIRST
before following any recommendations
you've found on the Internet or have heard of. |
