Senior Pup on a Hunger Strike

[sunstar93]

First...hello from a new YT member!
And I apologize in advance for such a lengthy post...but I am desperate!!

My baby Sandy will be 14 years old next month and never in her life has she refused food (except for boxed Mac & Cheese). For the past week or so, however, she has refused almost everything. She has had "good days" where she will eat whatever I put in her bowl- she has very few teeth so her diet consists of canned food with some added canned chicken/baked chicken/rice, to change it up a bit.

She loved Wellness Chicken & Sweet Potato and Turkey & Sweet Potato...but when she began to get tired of it, I gave her Blue Buffalo Wilderness Turkey & Chicken Grill. She ate it just fine up until about a week ago. One day she just refused to eat.

Normally I would not worry so much- I would allow her to skip a meal and then she would be hungry enough to eat...but she is older now, and even in the last week I have noticed that she has lost weight. At her last vet appointment in October she weighed ~2.5 lbs. But now I can feel her ribs and spine, more so than before. The past 3 days the only thing she will accept is little pieces of a leftover roast...definitely not an ideal food. I've purchased several different brands of food to try to find something she will like (Nutro, Natural Balance...even Royal Canin)- she is even refusing canned chicken and rice. I've even tempted her with some of my other dog's frozen raw food, to no avail. I feel terrible for constantly changing her food and because of this (a little TMI) she has had very dark brown/almost black mucus-y poo for the past couple of days. This is very unlike her (in all her years she has never once had any significant allergy, stomach upset or digestive issue).

I am making her a vet appointment for this weekend to get her checked out, to make sure it isn't something medical-related. But I am reaching out to fellow Yorkie lovers....have you ever had a baby that was this finicky? And any suggestions as to what I can do in the meantime? I am very worried (probably more than I should be) and I would appreciate any advice you can give!!

[Wylie's Mom]

Really glad you're going to the vet bc this doesn't sound like finickiness to me, this sounds like something is wrong. When dogs won't eat and they're acting off, something is definitely wrong. Do you think you could get in to the vet sooner?

If you can't, try sprinkling some Parmesan cheese on the food and see if that helps; Parm is very pungent and remember that dogs eat first with their noses so the Parm can be very enticing.

[Deb1]

Wow, your baby is so tiny and not eating is a cause for concern! A visit to the vet ASAP is needed! I don't want to scare you but this doesn't sound like a picky eater...sounds like she is ill.

Maybe a little homemade chicken broth on her food would entice her too eat. Nutra Cal supplement would be a good idea to keep her blood sure up and add extra nutrients.

Cuddles and hugs and hope for the best!

[sunstar93]

Yes while at work today I was thinking that I don't want to wait to bring her to the vet after all- I am going to see if my mom can take her tomorrow when she is off work (I get off work at 6:00 which is when the vet closes, of course). But I did get her to eat finally!! Believe it or not...dry food. On a whim- still not sure what got me to do so- yesterday I got a bag of Royal Canin X-small 12+ and soaked it in some water and she ate it! After making me sound like a crazy momma on the internet lol. But she is still going to the vet!!
And I have read that Yorkies judge their food by taste & smell- not sure if it's true but I could hear her nose going 100 mph when she was checking out the dry food!! I will try the parm cheese tonight- never thought about using that!

[OwnedByJezebel]

As humans get older, they gradually use their sense of smell, and food just isn't as tasty. (Most of what we think we taste is actually smell). I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing doesn't happen with dogs. Make her food stinkier!

[Verbena]

Hello and welcome to YT. Parm cheese does work. I got the finely grated cheese and sprinkled it on the food.

[sunstar93]

She ate the dry food again last night- yay! Totally ignored the parm cheese though! I sprinkled some over a part of her food and she just sniffed it and ate around it. She ate this morning too- definitely making me feel better seeing her eat again. And she's starting to get her spunk back...happily following around my other dog in the yard and looking perky this morning! for an old girl she still has her puppy-ish moments

[kjc]

Hi and Welcome to YT!

Dehydration can put them off their food too. Adding water to anything she eats is a help. Glad she's doing better. I give mine home cooked chicken and Minute Rice occasionally on their 'off' days...