Prednisone and Hunger

[Stella]

My friends dog has been very very sick. She started with gastro-enteritis, which triggered an abnormal immune response and she developed Immune Mediated Polyarthropathy.  Unfortunately, while they were doing the work-up to find out what was wrong with her, they also found a heart defect (DCM) and only gave her one year.  This is a three year old previously very fit agility dog.  Anyways, she has been put on Prednisone and was told she will likely be on it for six months.  Poor Kirra is absolutely starving, to the point where she is trying to eat the walls, carpet etc.  Her mom is so upset about this.  So, any tips on how to keep her feeling full without increasing her food intake - because of the heart condition they want to keep her fairly lean.  

[Brittney & Cally]

Green beans would be my first choice!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I agree with Brittney. I hope this dog has been seen by specialists. So sad.

[Stella]

F, she was in an emergency hospital for over two weeks while they tried to find out what was wrong with her. It is very sad, she is such a young dog. One of my other friends has her sister, so now she has to go get her heart checked.

[Stella]

I know Karen had done a good piece in a reply somewhere else about how to work out how many green beans to give. Because this whole thing started with a gastric problem, should she worry about giving too many ??

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm hoping they are planning to taper the dosage once they get it under control, and perhaps they are using another immunosuppressive drug such as azathioprine, which is recommended rather than relying on prednisone alone to get the disease into remission: http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/recognizing-and-treating-immun...

JD went through the crazy hunger when he was first diagnosed with the IBD, and it was very hard to see. A formerly picky dog who turned up his nose at just about every kind of human food and never once counter surfed was desperately licking empty soup cans in the recycle bin and vacuuming the floors for any stray crumbs. But as soon as the pred dose was lowered, he stopped all that. 

It's pretty hard to feed enough green beans to cause weight gain; a whole cup of them contains only about 40 calories. 

I also wouldn't worry about green beans causing any gastric problems. They're very bland and mostly water & fiber.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

What kind of kibble is she feeding? Maybe we can find something similar with fewer calories so the dog can have more. 

[Stella]

I'll try to find out. Thanks Karen, this is just an awful situation. I'm not sure what other meds she is on, I know that she is on a lot because they started heart meds too.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I know how hard it is. :(

Maybe it will make your friend feel a tiny bit better if you tell her that the dog isn't really hungry, it's the effects of the drug. She could feed the dog all day long and she'd still act like she was starving. JD had lost a ton of weight before he was diagnosed and we were trying to get some weight back on him, so he was being fed extra, and he still acted like he was starving. The point being, it wouldn;t make the dog feel any less hungry if she did feed her more, so she shouldn't feel guilty. 

[Stella]

She feeds Hilary Watsons Complete and Balanced, it is a home cooked diet. So, I'm thinking that the best she can do is add sweet potato, green beans etc to bulk up the food? One of her cardiac meds has to be given on an empty stomach in the morning and evening, so it makes it more difficult for her to give smaller, more frequent meals.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, there's not much she can do with a homemade diet that won't increase the calories, other than adding low cal veggies like green beans. 

[Stella]

Thanks for your help, as always!