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Originally Posted by Cherie6446  Zoey had terrible diarrhea today. She didn't want to eat before the diarrhea but after she wanted something to eat. Not interested in the RC so I made her some boiled rice. She ate it with gusto. Now, about three hours later she wants to eat again so I mixed a little of her RC with the rice. Not pleased. It was kinda funny watching her trying to eat the rice without getting the meat in her mouth. Tomorrow I'm going to speak with the vet about this. |
My vet recommends fasting for at least 24 hours after the last bout of diarrhea or vomiting. When you start to feed again, feed very small amounts - like a teaspoon of overcooked, mushy rice or boiled white potato - every hour or two. If tolerated. The food should be practically pureed, as it's easier to digest that way. You are not looking to fill her up but to slowly get her belly used to tolerating food again. If she tolerates the teaspoon of food well for a day, you can slowly increase the amount you're feeding and eventually add a little skinless, boneless boiled chicken breast on day three. Little dogs with pancreatitis can go south pretty fast, and this condition can easily be fatal, so I wouldn't be in any hurry to push food even if she seems hungry. Her pancreas needs to rest, and the way to do that is to fast first, and then very slowly introduce very small amounts of bland food and build up her ability to handle food. It's a tough concept, but food is the enemy right now and over feeding or forcing your dog to eat can make her worse. As long as your dog is well hydrated, she can go a day or two without eating. Why don't the vets tell you this stuff? It's the million dollar question. My vet didn't tell me either. But after weeks of my dog doing better, then getting worse, then doing better and then getting worse again, I was really scared and started doing my own research. I feel like I had to practically educate my vet! But eventually my dog did get better, and it didn't happen until I stopped feeding him. Now my vet is totally on board with this feeding protocol and recommends it to other clients. She even (with my permission) gives my email address out to other pet parents of difficult patients to walk through the process.
Take that feather blanket off your bed to save a lot of laundry!
Diana and Scooby