Wont eat any kind of dog food/ROTTEN BREATH
 

My Marley is 10 years old and his breath is just horrible... its so bad, even when he is laying by you, you can smell it. I had taken him to the vet and gotten his teeth cleaned, 4 teeth were pulled. but nothing changed with the smell. He WILL NOT eat any kind of dog food. ive tried everything. he will only eat what i eat so I try to feed him cooked chicken, and rice. He does burp alot and when he does the smell is worse, so that makes me wonder if maybe its some kind of internal infection? He wont let me clean his teeth, He wont chew on dental bones. Im not sure what to do at this point. :( :confused:

Maybe a vet visit is in order...when was his last dental cleaning? If it was about a year ago, he might need it cleaned again. Or if he had it done recently, there could be another infection or something going on. Bad breath is not normal. Burping a lot means that something is not agreeing w/him. Just chicken & rice is not a balanced diet. Did you try canned food or moistening his kibble? Some dogs prefer it that way.

Asking your vet to do a blood workup would be a good place to start if you think that he may be ill.

Neither the rotten breath or the anorexia are normal for any dog if both persist so I would get my baby into the vet and insist on blood tests, fecal exam, etc., and a thorough physical examination to see what is going on. The professional dental cleaning should take care of any bad breath unless he's ill. Dogs are stoic and often the ONLY way we know they are having a problem is by their behavior and when it isn't normal behavior - not eating - plus bad breath, it's time for professional care. If your vet isn't thorough on his exam and lab work-up and he's still not eating and has the bad breath, I'd seek a second opinion with another vet.

What do you mean he "won't let" you brush his teeth? He's a dog and if he trusts you and you work patiently with him and over time slowly desensitize him to the toothbrush by treating him every time he sees is or it touches his muzzle, and after a day or two of his seeing it and getting a treat or having it only touch his muzzle, begin slowly touching it to a tooth one day and then letting him up for praise and treats or a play session and repeating that over and over each hour or so for a few days until he's comfortable with that and then brushing one tooth and that's all, then letting him up for praise, treats, play and then gradually keeping at just that level until he's comfortable and slowly but surely over the next month little by little increasing his amount of teeth you brush every day until you get the full mouth in one day.

Little by little and with much patience and gentleness and praise after each little session, showing him you are proud of his trust and impulse control to try to get up and by slowly desensitizing him, he will let you brush his teeth. But be certain he's well and eating again and his breath is normal after vet treatment before you try the desensitization sessions. You don't want to make a dog having any kind of problems undergo any type of occasionally stressful desensitization training until he's well. But losing 4 teeth is something he can't afford to keep doing so it will be critical to slowly work up to being able to brush that baby's teeth or he'll be toothless after a few more years. I know you can do it with just patience and gently working with him, showing incredible patience when he's reached a plateau and not moving further along until he's comfortable with that stage and gradually increasing the number of teeth you brush per session until he's comfortable with each step of the process before you move on to more. And you'll have a dog that likely won't have gum disease or lose any more teeth due to cavities.

I sure hope you get to the bottom of his problems. Please keep us posted on what you find out from the vet. And go to a second vet if you don't get satisfaction from the first one as long as he's not eating and his breath is rotten. Sometimes an owner just has to be pro-active to find out what is going on with their dog when he's not happy, healthy and behaving normally in one or more ways and a vet tells you he can find nothing wrong.

Hard to say what's going on, but something is def not right - and a vet visit in probably in order here. With the burping, you should consider whether or not he may have reflux going on, which can be quite painful/irritating and could decrease his appetite.

It's not normal for a dog to have horrible breath, nor is it normal for them to not want to eat. Are you saying, though, that his appetite is stimulated/normal as long as you're feeding him table food, ie the chicken?

Personally, I don't think the vet pulled all the needed rotten teeth.

I'd definitely ask the vet to do some blood work and check the digestive system. You want to know if something internally is causing him problems. I would remove rice from the diet and see if that helps too, he just might not like grains, and give him a human grade probiotic from the health food store to try and restore the flora in his gut. But I'd say a vet visit could be your best bet for now.