Dog hasn’t eaten in weeks

[fliperacci901]

We went away for Christmas week and my dog stayed at my in-laws. She usually doesn’t eat as much there due to anxiety but they got her to eat by putting turkey broth in her food (without our permission). She came home and was still not eating consistently. I unfortunately had to go away for a family emergency trip and left for Jan 9-17. My husband took care of her while I was away. She barely has eaten anything even since coming back. We got her yummy food and she shows little to no interest. The vet did X-rays and blood work and everything came out clean. I switched her over to a completely new food (PURINA pro plan) and she’s been eating a little when I hand feed. We have now cut her off cold turkey from any treats or topper.

Is there anything else I should ask the vet to test? They’ve been very little help because when my dog gets there she’ll eat their treats.

She’s thrown up 3 times with bile only. I’m really nervous.

TLDR: my dog hasn’t eaten for weeks and my vet hasn’t been helpful. Any advice?

 

[valda]

@fliperacci901 Sometimes an empty stomach causes nausea and vomiting so it's sort of a vicious cycle. If they didn't prescribe you any cerenia you might see whether they will. If her nausea improves her eating might improve.

 

[elnatk]

@valda I had this issue with my puppy (5 months old havanese). She didn't eat or drink and was very low and tired. The vet told exactly this: It is a viscious cycle, when they don't eat, they loose their appetite and get nauaeous. She got a anti-nausea injection and was fine afterwards.

Maybe you can try to and feed your dog with the food they're supposed to eat in order to get the appetite going..

 

[naate]

@elnatk I used to do this with my eating disorders. Starve for a bit and then it will help you not eat. The trauma dump has a point I promise;

Your dog is stuck in a cycle of feeling like shit cuz she’s not eating, so she doesn’t want to eat. People die from anorexia, and so do dogs (dogs obviously don’t do it for the reasons people do, but they still do it) . Its serious and you need to consider it as a likely culprit of her problem

 

[jmunxong17]

@valda My dog did that one am and I felt beyond awful after I figured it out. She's a perfect weight. But I figure, just like humans some days dogs may randomly be hungrier than others. I always give her a small treat just before bed now to be safe

 

[maccabeus]

@fliperacci901 Get a second vet opinion. My vet told me before “vomiting every once in a good while, genuinely means upset stomach and likely will be fine. Vomiting multiple times a month, something isn’t normal.” Also dogs don’t just stop eating. That’s a huge red flag. I hope everything works out!

 

[knownunknown]

@fliperacci901 Our dog had the same problem. We went to the vet and after an ultrasound the vet saw that the wall of his stomach was thicker than normal. He said we might have to operate to see why but he first wanted to try medication.
He gave us anti nausea medication (I don't remember which) and omeprazol. And our dog started eating again. This was around 3 months ago and he's fine now.

 

[fliperacci901]

@knownunknown Was your vet concerned that the anti nausea would cover up what may be causing the nausea to begin with?

 

[natsumilam32]

@fliperacci901 At this point the hunger is probably causing the nausea. My dog will throw up bile if he hasn’t eaten in too long. Have you tried getting a wet food that’s easier on the stomach to try for a bit?

 

[fliperacci901]

@natsumilam32 Yes she had interest for a couple bites then got over it. We bought high quality and prescription diet both were about the same.

 

[knownunknown]

@fliperacci901 No since the blood work and physical exams looked good they weren't worried about a serious cause.
Could have been anything, maybe a virus or small infection.

But I also think that he was just neaseaous because he didn't eat anything and we were stuck in a vicious circle of not eating and being nauseous.

 

[fliperacci901]

@knownunknown My vet just prescribed us a hunger stimulant. She preferred this to an anti nausea. Hopefully it works!

 

[knownunknown]

@fliperacci901 I hope so too!
Good luck!

 

[rach84]

@fliperacci901 Was it Entyce? My dog occasionally stops eating and this works within minutes to get my dog eating. It doesn’t seem to have any side effects. It was prescribed by the vet from a previous visit when he had a vomiting spell.

 

[fliperacci901]

@rach84 It’s miratazapine!

 

[8786cypress]

@fliperacci901 I was in vet med for ten years and never heard that opinion. That's super weird.

 

[fliperacci901]

@8786cypress She said that my dog is only feeling nausea when she doesn’t eat for long periods so might as well try this first. Interesting to hear that though.

 

[evnoca]

@fliperacci901 Sometimes hunger can paradoxically cause you to find it harder to stomach food. If that’s the case, and you said she will still eat treats, maybe letting her eat more treats, rather than cutting them off, will bring her stomach back to normal and she will start finding her food appetizing again.

 

[dora95]

@fliperacci901 My dog had this same issue and it took 3 months and lots of tests to figure out he had inflammatory bowel disease. Now he’s on prescription diet and is fine except for the occasional flare up.

What we did is we got a syringe from the vet and we would mix dog probiotics with water and dog wet food (needs to be smooth not chunky) and syringe that into my dog’s mouth just to force him to eat something that’ll help him feel better. We did that throughout the day for about 2 weeks and he started to want to eat again so we just put the probiotics in his food after that. The probiotics help with any tummy troubles dogs have

The vet did blood tests, fecal sample tests, swabs of his anus (that was done 3 times, all showed extreme infection from unhealthy gut flora) and they also did a urine thing? I think it was a test. They kept him there for 8 hours and took multiple urine samples to test how often he was peeing and what was in the pee. I’m assuming that was just to make sure the issue was in his gut not his urinary tract. He has no teeth so dental issues were ruled out immediately, but if your dog has teeth then ask for a full dental exam.

Not saying your dog has IBD but it sounds very similar to my boy’s journey with his IBD

 

[tracerenae]

@dora95 Also sounds like my dog’s journey with IBD, only she had pancreatitis from the flare ups as well.