I am so sorry to hear about Zeke!  He is such a big sweet boy.  Is he on prednisone yet?  That often makes them feel better and can increase appetite.  He was on a lot of antibiotics before when pneumonia was suspected and those may be causing anorexia so ask your vet about stopping those if he doesn't need them.

Pam

Hello,

Here is a copy of a post I did in another thread.  It was for Alexander, I didn't change the reference- just copy and paste.  These are just some things I learned dealing with a pug who didn't want to eat:

I can really relate to how frustrating it is when the pups won't eat.  Maggie had several medical issues which made feeding her a chore for her last 3 months.  As I recall she ate OK after her amp and through chemo.  But those last months were tough.  Here are a couple of things I learned, maybe they will help.

Make sure your hands are clean when feeding, no scented soap, no lotion.  Mag would turn away from my hands if I had put lotion on them.

Don't show your frustration in front of Alexander- he will react to it.  And don't force too much.  Mag could read when I got too uptight and actually went outside to avoid me trying to feed her.  So I would offer food and if she didn't eat it I would just try the next thing.

Is there someone who doesn't usually feed him available to try?  Sometimes Mag would eat for my dad but not for me.  She would eat cookies from the vet techs- but when I brought the same cookies home she wouldn't take them from me.

Try a change of scenery-feed him where he doesn't usually eat.

Never hide meds in food.  If Mag found a pill in cheese as an example, she wouldn't eat cheese for weeks.

Sometimes if I put a piece of food in her mouth she would start eating.  Don't force too much though…

For the foods she would eat- it was really hit or miss.  One memorable day she refused chicken but ate turkey!!

I did find that she would always take pub cheese- I got it at Trader Joe's.  Basically its whipped cheddar cheese.  I could put a bit on my finger and she would lick it off.  Sometimes a little cheese was enough to get her to eat on her own.

I ended up syringe feeding her for most of the last two months.  I tried several foods but she would almost always eat canned food from Merick (I think).  I ran it through a blender to make gruel and fed her that way.  She actually really liked it most of the time.  Of course she was really small- you would need a pretty big syringe for a Dane.

Karen