Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Porter has just received his third round of carboplatin, and despite having minimal side effects, he's now reached the "I don't want to eat anything" stage. We had been feeding him cooked and raw meats combined with the Honest Kitchen Preference formula. Now quite suddenly, he's refusing to eat the Honest Kitchen. Doesn't matter what I combine it with (yogurt, chicken drippings) or how little I add, he refuses to eat it if it has the Honest Kitchen in it. He still ravenously eats whatever meat we give him.
SO – question to the forum. What foods have people been successful with for their picky chemo patients? I'm find giving him meat, but it seems like he needs to have something else in there to make it more nutritionally complete. He was a little interested in apples, but mostly left them alone. Loves natural no-sugar added peanut butter. Nuts also seems a little interesting to him. We're going to try cooked sweet potatoes soon too.
I would LOVE some other suggestions. I know each and every dog is different, but there has to be some types of foods that work better. Again, still trying to avoid carbs and sugars.
THANK YOU!!
Sandy
Hi Sandy and Porter. When Max was going through chemo (6 rounds of Carboplatin), there would be times he wasn't interested in his regular food. When this would happen, we would cook up some chicken and white rice, or chicken and mashed sweet potato. You may also want to try a low sodium chicken & rice soup; that may whet his appetite a little also.
Also, I actually personally had carboplatin for awhile back in 2010. I can tell you, a couple days after my treatment, I wasn't interested in food either. I ate, because I knew I had to. But the food didn't do anything for me, I was basically just chewing and swallowing. So, don't be too freaked out if Porter doesn't want to eat every meal. Max always came around after a day or two, and I think your Porter will too!
Good luck, and let us know what works for Porter!
Thanks! We're on carboplatin too - and I have heard that humans' taste is affected by chemo too, so I'm expecting it. We've tried the chicken soup (accidentally - we thought it was chicken broth!) and he wasn't too keen on it. But that was also when we mixed in the "green food" so he might like it better by itself. He liked our sweet potato after dinner, so I think I'll try a meat/sweet potato/rice combo to see how he likes it. Thanks!
Sandy & Porter
I have no experience with chemo but I'm sure others will jump in.
Hoping Porter feels better soon!
P.S.
I deleted your identical post in "eating healthy" since no one had responded and it was a repeat post- so don't get confused.
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Hi Sandy,
This is pretty normal and I'll bet his appetite will pick up today. Try not to worry. Dogs instinctively know that they should save the energy they use for digesting food for more important matters, like healing. Check out this Nutrition Blog post for more ideas
Get Your Dog Eating After Amputation Surgery
Other foods that help:
Anything stinky! Think: braunschwager, liverwurst. Also, bison, buffalo and venison are really appetizing too, and nutritious.
Keep in mind that sweet potato and rice are very high-glycemic, high starch foods that aren't recommended for dogs battling cancer since they have so much sugar, and cancer cells thrive on sugar. It's fine for a short-term way to get him to eat but not recommended by Dr. Dressler for the long haul.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks! We have no problem with meat at all - he will eat any and every type of meat I put in front of him. My worry is that eating just meat is not nutritionally complete - and it seems like I should add some other foods so that he gets the other nutrition he needs.
And yes, my hope is that this is only a short-term situation due to the chemo, and that once the chemo is done I can get him back on the Honest Kitchen!
Sandy & Porter
Glad to hear his carnivore instincts are strong. You're right, a diet of nothing but braunschwager and cheese isn't the healthiest, but in the short term it's a great way to perk up his appetite when chemo makes his taste buds feel icky.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I thought it was strange - Spencer never really had any appetite issues after vincristine, or mytox, or adria; but he definitely did with the carboplatin! I had to kind of change up his diet often. He also was on a grain free diet because I found he threw up more when he had grains. So I always tried to have a number of grain free canned foods on hand and would mix those in with his dry food. I also could get him to eat greek yogurt almost anytime. And he never stopped liking just straight meat. Spencer did LOVE apples, so those were usually added; but he stopped liking carrots while on the carboplatin - which was strange since they had always been one of his favorites. (he also stopped liking french fries!!!).
Jac and Angel Spencer. Spencer was 5.25 years old. He fought a grade 3 fibrosarcoma, started on his shoulder. Left front leg amputated in August 2011. 15 weeks of chemo finished 12/22/11 (mytox and adria). Lung mets found on x-rays 12/28/11. Started carboplatin 1/6/12. Went to Heaven on 2/27/12. I miss him like crazy every day. See his blog here: http://spencer.tripawds.com/
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