Dental cleaning and now not interested in meals

[Rita and Fazzy]

Hi there...

We have a 7 year old cavapoo - she's always been rather funky about eating, sometimes she will, sometimes she won't and she can go a day or two and not eat - although she is always happy to eat treats.  So...she had a dental cleaning on Tuesday, that evening she ate a little bit of chicken.  Since then she hasn't had a real meal.  She might eat a bite of chicken, but that's about it.  Yesterday, finally I offered some turkey baby food and she ate the little jar and wanted nothing more.  In the evening, she ate a little bit of canned Evangers with a couple of tablespoons of kibble mixed in - and that's only if I hand fed it.  Outside of that, she will take treats, she's drinking water and is acting completely normal.  So, that said, we're going on day 4 without a full meal and no interest in eating even a bite this morning.  Should I be looking at taking her to the vet?  We are going to the beach today for a couple of hours - so, would hope that maybe she'll be interested in eating tonite.  I'm feeling really frustrated and tense when it comes time to feed her now and I'm sure she can feel that.

Ideas?

Thx

Rita

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Is she showing any signs of nausea? Drooling, lip licking or smacking? Any unusual stomach noises, especially after a snack or drinking water? 

[Rita and Fazzy]

Nope....we had her at the vet last week because on and off she has issues with weird tummy noises, high pitched squeaks, etc....and during that time she will tremble. That will last anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple of hours. Sometimes it can be resolved by going potty, going for a walk or just going somewhere. She won't even take her favorite treats during that time. Anyway...dr felt around, no tenseness, no thickening felt. We did run a panel to include a test for pancreatitis and all came back normal. She felt that it's possibly gas, so we are trying simethecone to test that theory. But that hasn't been an issue since Tuesday. The fact that she'll take treats without hesitation makes me wonder if she's being stubborn, but of course I worry about her as well. She's just a really funky feeder. I know cats can lose their appetite if they don't eat for a day or two, is that possible with dogs?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't want to alarm you, but those weird tummy noises can be a symptom of digestive disease. The blood panel that your vet ran doesn't cover that, either. There's a special GI panel that only tests for three things: cobalamin, folate, and TLi. It must be sent out to TAMU, takes about a week to get results, and costs about $200. It's rarely run by GP vets, (some aren't even familiar with it, as it's usually run by specialists) and I'm not saying you should have it done right now, but I just like to make people aware that a "normal" blood panel doesn't rule out some very serious digestive diseases. But if you start to see changes in her stool, vomiting or regurgitating, nausea, or increased bowel sounds, it's something to keep in mind. An ultrasound would also be a "nest step" if you and your vet feel that you need to pursue the possibility of digestive disease. Those two things are really the only diagnostic tools that would show something, short of doing an endoscopy. 

Dogs don't generally lose their appetites as a result of not eating. It's usually due to illness.

It's possible that this is just her usual fussiness combined with some leftover discomfort from the anesthesia or the tube used to administer it. I'd keep an eye on her and continue to encourage her to eat. Maybe try giving her an egg or two, that goes over big here. 

[Rita and Fazzy]

Thanks Karen - Dr Tracy did suggest next step being ultrasound if simethecone didn't help - looking for a possible motility issue (?).  I am afraid that Karmin almost dreads mealtime because I'm kind of in her face, offering something to eat...she'll get up and move away.  She's got another appointment coming up in a few weeks for a couple of extractions, ugh. 

How do YOU give the egg, hard boiled, scrambled ???  Hard to say if she'll bother with it.  In the meantime I am giving her probiotics even if she doesn't eat.  My husband took over feeding last night and this morning just because I'm certain that she can feel my anxiety over her eating/not eating and that can't be helping.  :-( 

The add on to her bloodwork was a "cPL" - what is that looking for, pancreatitis?

Thanks again - totally appreciate it!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, that test is for pancreatitis and measures pancreatic lipase ( an enzyme) levels.

Jack loves hard-boiled eggs, I think he's attracted to the smell, lol, but he'll gobble up scrambled eggs too. Eggs are great because they contain the most available source of protein and they're easy to digest, so when you can't get much into them, an egg has a lot of bang for your buck. 

[Pam Lawrence]

I had the same problem with my Goldendoodle after he was on some meds. He was always a really good eater and then just wasn't interested, except for treats or canned dog food. My vet said to just keep giving him whatever he would eat and that as long as he would eat something I shouldn't worry (of course, I worried anyway). I was really stressed about it and was pretty sure that he picked up on that. I ended up buying a couple of different kinds of dog food and leaving a small handful of each on the floor. It was kind of like a food tasting! He ate one of the handfuls and ignored the others. So, I put a little in his bowl and miracle of miracles, he started to eat again. I also feed him scrambled eggs, which he gobbled up. This "not eating" episode lasted for over a week. I chalked it up to some nausea or discomfort from the meds that ended up being associated with eating.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

There are meds that control nausea and stimulate appetite....maybe talk to your vet about trying that approach.

[Rita and Fazzy]

Thanks, that's an idea as well  :-)

[Rita and Fazzy]

Well, after a day of running on the beach today, if she refuses to eat tonight, we'll probably go in for a vet visit tomorrow - just to see if there might be anything else going on.  I certainly wish they could talk to us!!

[Rita and Fazzy]

And.....she ate  :-)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Great!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Could her mouth be sore?