Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello All,
It has been awhile since last posting but I want to through this out there to see what thoughts and suggestions come back.
As many of you may know Tahoe, 10.5 yo Golden Retriever, was diagnosed with histolytic sarcoma Feb-13, amp March-13, and diagnosed with STS April-14. We are coming up next week on 17 months ampuversary which we are very happy with as Tahoe has had quality plus quantity post amp.
Currently, and for the past two months Tahoe's appetite changed from being a ravenous Golden, devouring his home cooked meals of turkey, rice, various greens, plus as assortment of various supplements (K-9 Immunity , fish oils, vits, etc.) to where he hardly wants to eat. We changed his home cooked diet to a pre-packaged natural cooked food (bought at the pet store) which we thought was the trick, to now he doesn't even want it.
As much as I hate to admit it, we are on the downhill slide with this damn cancer. I am struggling to find some nutritious foods he will eat on a consistent basis but it seems like his appetite and taste for certain foods is changing daily. A very frustrating process ...
Compounding this situation is we have a family holiday, starting the end of August for 2 weeks. We have family coming to do Tahoe-sitting but need to find some viable options for food before we leave on holidays. I am not sure Mr T will be with us by then, fingers crossed that is still the case, but and wracking my brain as to go with a good canned food or ??
Anyway, thanks for any thoughts and suggestions! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
Stirling and Tahoe
"Tahoe" - Our Amazing Superman and Best Friend.
Dec. 01-03 to Aug. 19-14
Diagnosed with Periarticular Hystiocystic Sarcoma Feb 14-13; Amputation March 18-13, and diagnosed with STS April-14. Tahoe touched so many people while visiting us, leaving a massive void in our lives. Always Missed, Never Forgotten!!
Hi Stirling,
To be honest, I never had too much trouble with my Polly eating, with the exception of her going through chemo, but I do know when she has had a suppressed appetite, I relied on whatever I could get into her. Thinking back, there were several types of canned foods I would keep on hand to give her. She would like one thing the one day, but have to switch to another food the next time. I did the home cooking thing as well with chicken, and mix that in the canned food.
I know you want as nutritious as possible, but there are several canned foods that are appetizing as well as decently nutritious, the most important thing is getting him to eat. I know others will join in and have several more ideas, but wanted to share what worked for Polly.
Keep us posted on Tahoe, and also keeping you and him in my thoughts,
Bonnie & Angel Polly
Hey my friend....we've been communicating so.I won't be repetitive...well....except to continuously send my love...that's repetitive!
Did you ask your vet about Prednisone? I can't remember. It WILL stimulate his appetite in a matter of days.
Do you have access to EVO canned food? It's pretty much straight chicken but may be more palatable because of it's consistency.And it's very high value. Now, do you have "Chef Michael" dry (or canned)....sorry Chef, but I think it's pretty mich junk but I know one of my seniors ate it when nothing else worked.
And you know...even if he's being picky, and eats one thing one day and nothing the next...he's still eating. Gosh, who was it that just recently went on vacation..their dog was NOT eating anything..not just being picky...but he ate everyday for the dogsitter! We need to get that person's name and fly her up to Tahoe to dogsit!
One more thought...and somebody else will have to help me out here...(aka Jerrrrry), but there is siome sort of gel or paste that you can get at GNC. It's loaded with vitamins and you just basically squirt it in their mouths and they like it! Liz used it with Roxy andsome others have too. Don't know if you have GNC in BC, ubt it's a Vitamin Shop, so I'm sure you have something similar. At least it's a way of getting nutrition in Mr. Tahoe!
I'll keep checking back to see what Tthe tripawd commuity can pull out of their bag of tricks.
Holding you and Tahoe safely in my heart. And remember...always remember...Happy Hannah is always protecting Tahoe and watching over him.
Love and hugs and sausage biscuits to you and Tahoe...or has he turned his nose up to then now too?!!
Sally and Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Look into raw goats milk. You can get it frozen at many high end pet food stores. They can live on that. For canned food, Nixon loves Wild Calling. At $3 a can, we use it as a topper.
In older dogs, as kidney function starts to decline, they lose their sense of smell which makes food much less interesting.
I used Satin Balls on my dog Kitty her last few months. I just used hard boiled eggs instead of raw. She loved them. I would make a 5 lb batch in a kitchen aid mixer.
I used canned goats milk and even puppy replacer when Ty would eat nothing. I got it at Tractor Supply and the pet store. He seemed to like the goats milk better. My vet also gave me , no sold me, some Hills diet recovery. Now, I am not a Hills fan, but he ate it. Baby food chicken and turkey, canned cat food. Scrambled eggs. He also ate pet fresh. it is a rolled, refrigerated bologna smelling food that is actually rated pretty high by Dog food advisor. I also found that if I poured the goats milk over food, he would eat some of it. Keep us posted on how he is doing. Lori and Ty
TY GUY, Best Black Lab ever! Diagnosed and had amp in January, 2014. Kicked MRSA's butt. Earned his angel wings on April 16, 2014. Run Free my boy and don't forget a shoe. Ty is a proud member of the " April Angels". Ty sent us Daryl, a Tripawd rescue in Sept. of 2016. Daryl is 5 +or -. We are also Pawrents to Chandler, a Border Collie mix who is 15 and 1/2, Lucy, a Corgi who is 7, 2 minis, 2 horses, and a feisty cat named Zoe. Zoe had a non skeletal Osteosarcoma removed in July 2015. No Chemo, she was at least 16. She is going strong although she is now completely blind. She is now close to 20 and her hobbies are eating and sleeping in front of her personal heater.
As Shooters appetite was declining, I cooked up ground beef and heavily seasoned it with seasoning salt to give it some taste. That seemed to do the trick and he was even back to eating well the last couple of weeks. There were a few days I had to hand feed him, but it worked and at least he got a little nutrition.
We were all part of a group that joined here about the same time and you are all special to me for all that has been shared. Thinking of all of you and big hugs to Tahoe.
Take care-
Luanne and Spirit Shooter
Spirit Shooter was a Miniature Australian Shepherd who was diagnosed with a MCT and had a LF amp 1/28/13 at 13-1/2 years old.
Shooter crossed the Bridge on 8/28/13, his 7 month ampuversary and two weeks from his 14th birthday.
Be sure to check the blogs and existing forum topics for some helpful tips...
nutrition.tripawds.com: get-your-dog-eating-after-amputation-surgery/
nutrition.tripawds.com: improve-your-dogs-appetite-during-chemotherapy/
nutrition.tripawds.com: goats-milk-perks-up-finicky-tripawd-appetites/
nutrition.tripawds.com: ice-pups-a-cool-tasty-treat-and-appetite-booster/
forums search results: title = appetite
forums/eating-healthy: stimulating appetite
forums/treatment-and-recovery: Post Amputee Surgery Advice: Appetite Loss
forums/treatment-and-recovery: won't eat
Hope this helps. Please keep us posted!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and gracious suggestions for appetite enhancement and alternatives.
Great idea on the goats milk, as I never thought about that. It seems as though his desire for food, and they type of food is changing daily. We have been cutting up the rolled Pet Fresh meat and adding some yoghurt on top and he seems to like that.
This is a very tough journey downhill, which I know most of you can relate with. My guts are torn on what to do with Mr T, as we are supposed to leave in 2 weeks on holidays, all across the country, for 2 weeks. Do we try and hang in there, hoping and praying he does Ok while away or make a very difficult decision before we go away. God, I hate this …, asI know I have to do what is best of my buddy!
Thanks again,
Stirling and Tahoe
"Tahoe" - Our Amazing Superman and Best Friend.
Dec. 01-03 to Aug. 19-14
Diagnosed with Periarticular Hystiocystic Sarcoma Feb 14-13; Amputation March 18-13, and diagnosed with STS April-14. Tahoe touched so many people while visiting us, leaving a massive void in our lives. Always Missed, Never Forgotten!!
Hi Stirling,
I just now got a chance to catch up on what's going on with Tahoe, I'm so sorry. Admin gave you all of the links I would have, I hope that you found some great ideas there and that they work. It can definitely be frustrating but try not to let it show; he just feels crappy and some days are better than others.
As for your vacation, I'm so sorry about the timing, but rest assured this has happened to others before and usually things don't turn out as bad as they thought. My suggestion is to take things day by day. Stirling will hopefully surprise you and keep on keepin on longer than you think. We sure hope so. In the meantime, do talk to your vet about what appetite stimulant ideas they can come up with for Tahoe to help put your mind at ease before you go away.
Lots of hugs coming your way.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I just thought of something else. We had Ty on an appetite stimulant. Sorry if that has already been mentioned. I think it was called Mirtzapine. Took a few days but did help. I think it is actually used as an antidepressant or anxiety med for humans. Lori and Ty
TY GUY, Best Black Lab ever! Diagnosed and had amp in January, 2014. Kicked MRSA's butt. Earned his angel wings on April 16, 2014. Run Free my boy and don't forget a shoe. Ty is a proud member of the " April Angels". Ty sent us Daryl, a Tripawd rescue in Sept. of 2016. Daryl is 5 +or -. We are also Pawrents to Chandler, a Border Collie mix who is 15 and 1/2, Lucy, a Corgi who is 7, 2 minis, 2 horses, and a feisty cat named Zoe. Zoe had a non skeletal Osteosarcoma removed in July 2015. No Chemo, she was at least 16. She is going strong although she is now completely blind. She is now close to 20 and her hobbies are eating and sleeping in front of her personal heater.
We had a really rough go with trying to get my Jake to eat when he was on the downslide as well. I say give Tahoe whatever he'll eat. We did everything from canned food to cooking bacon and ordering him pizza (etc). Just like you said, it was a daily struggle. One day he'd eat something and the next wouldn't touch. He seemed to prefer his food warmed up (with bits of bacon), so that might be a trick to try with Tahoe.
If Tahoe will eat at all, you could try Satin Balls. You can find lots of different recipes online. They are basically high calorie meatballs.
I'm sorry you are going through this, it is really tough when they don't want to eat. I ditto the appetite stimulant and if he's not on it already, maybe ask your vet about Pepcid which can be really helpful.
Also, GNC makes a liquid "milk", Ultra Mega Nourishdog Senior Dog Formula. Its the doggie equivalent of Ensure. Jake would lap it up sometimes but eventually I resorted to shooting it into the back of his cheek with a syringe. GNC also makes Ultra Mega High Calorie Booster Paste you can mix with food (but forewarning, it is pretty nasty). You can buy both of those at petsmart. I don't mean to sound like a GNC commercial (I promise they are not paying me), but I used both when I was struggling to get calories into Jake. I thought they were a decent alternative when Jake would no longer touch his food.
Mom to Tripawd Angels Jake (2001-2014) and Rosco (2012-2015) and Tripawd Tanner. “Whatever happens tomorrow, we had today; and I'll always remember it”
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