[BellalovesBaxter]

Bella is a 4 Y.O. female brindle. She has always had issues with her weight. We found out at age 6 months she had an allergy to chicken and has been chicken free for 3.5 years. 4 weeks ago Bella decided to give up eating. We tried all the tricks to include adding bone broth, hamburger rice, and wet food. These options worked for a meal or two but then back to nothing. Took her to the vet and ran blood test, checked teeth and stool. All tests were normal, stool was soft. Bella was given "entice" to spark her appetite, flora to put on her food for her tummy and an antibiotic for her soft stool. It's been 4 days and Bella has eaten about 1.5 cups of food total. Yesterday we bought CBD oil, first time with the hope she would get her appetite. Its been 2 doses, .05 of a dropper and she has slept and continues to be lethargic. I'm defeated as to what I can do at this point. I'm retired and with Bella all day. Has anyone experienced this with their boxer?

 

[bte2]

Do you have a full body pic? Is she underweight?

 

[BellalovesBaxter]

Do you have a full body pic? Is she underweight?

She weighed 50 lbs at her best. Last Friday she weighed 45.

 

[BellalovesBaxter]

View attachment 136033

She weighed 50 lbs at her best. Last Friday she weighed 45.

 

[mta]

this is a tough one. i don't think i have any good suggestions as i haven't experienced this issue. that's obviously not alot of food over 4 days along with a downward trend on weight. unless others on the forum have gone thru this and have experience and suggestions... i know if my regular vet wasn't making quick progress i'd be talking / reviewing with them about referral to a board certified specialist, and have all the records and lab / test results from regular vet sent to them ahead of time. maybe regular vet or the specialty center can help guide what type of specialty vet to see (internal medicine, etc). this will definitely cost some money, not just for specialist but any tests they might want to run like abdominal ultrasound, etc.

good luck to you and bella.... she's a cutie. color and markings reminds me very much of my apollo. pls keep posted of how she's doing.

 

[Lindar51]

Very cute dog, could she possibly be in pain? The last picture you shared she looks a bit hunched and holding her ears sort of funny. Though it could just be the angle. I'd probably take her to a specialist , who could do a MRI or body scan.

 

[BellalovesBaxter]

Thank you all for your suggestions. We spoke with our vet again and she gave us 3 issues that she is showing symptoms for. Before we start testing she gave us prednisone. Last night we fed her by hand baby food with Metamucil added and used a syringe to get a bottle of ensure in her before bed. She didn't fight us, pretty welcoming actually. This morning more baby food mixture and ensure and she ate a few of her treats! Our male boxer, Baxter always leaves a few kibble in his bowl and she ate those! Normally we wouldn't approve since his has chicken in it, but it was just a small amount and we were pleased to see her interest. It was a difficult day yesterday, we lost our last boxer Dezi to cancer at age 8 which is too young. The powerlessness that we felt took us back, but today is a new day. Again thank you for your thoughts. I will keep you updated. Be safe and stay well.

 

[Ibrahim00794]

Yes please keep us updated, and I have written some stuff about this in my dog recipes section too, I hope you find something helpful here: Recipes | Glamorous Dogs
And if you have any questions about any article I wrote just ask and I will answer ASAP. Hope Bella regains her full body weight soon.

 

[[email protected]]

The prednisone should make her want to eat it will make her drink a lot more too and pee more as well. Her pictures look like a dog with an upset stomach to me she is red in the whites of her eye and sucked up in the abdomen. Has the Vet suggested Pespsid ac or anything? There is some reason this dog does not want to eat and if her bloods are normal you need to look further. My male boxer is very difficult to get to eat and sometimes I just sit there and handfeed him. I feed twice a day. Does she eat treats? Maybe take some of them and break them up in the dog food or anything she likes mix it in real well. Is the area she eats in quiet? Sometimes nervous dogs will not want to eat if there is alot going on or another dog standing there watching them eat.

 

[BellalovesBaxter]

Thanks for your info. Her eyes always look red, her 3rd eyelids are pink. Our males boxer has 1 black and 1 white. She has always had eating issues and she does worry about Baxter leaving food behind. Overall her meal time is peaceful. I put dog toothpaste on their lip each day, they lick it off followed by a crunchy treat to clean their teeth. Today she ate the cookies for the first time in 3 weeks. Hopefully we are going on an upward trend. We have used pepcid in the past with good results. Thanks again.

 

[bte2]

First... just to 100% clear, I'm not a Vet.
My experience is more from working with a ton of dogs through rescues and training, at least a 100 boxers over the last few years
It would be interesting to see what 3 issues the Vet noticed.
To me, your pup doesn't look to bad. She's not skin and bone, which is a huge plus.

Is her behavior normal, meaning does typically do normal dog stuff (play, run,etc..)?
Or is she lethargic, not interested in play, walks, etc.
To be clear I'm talking about her specifically, not compared to other dogs. (ie. if she's never been a big "playing dog" and she doesn't "play" now, then there is no change)
I guess the question is, is she acting normal (for her) but just not eating?

 

[BellalovesBaxter]

Boxer colitis, Addison disease and 1 other that I can't recall right now. The cbd oil put her to sleep so no more of that. She just had more baby food, ensure and ate some of her own dry, maybe a spoon full. Her energy level has decreased 75 % over the past 3 weeks, but today she played for a few minutes and barked. Haven't seen that in days. Thanks for your info and experience with Boxer's.

 

[nuvomax]

My dog had colitis and fever. He had it twice, actually.
Colitis can be due to allergy or food intolerance. It can happen with any new food, or a food they’ve been eating for a while: all of a sudden a change in the food, or maybe a change in the dog—they can’t tolerate it. Our pup wasn’t lethargic, but he refused his food.
It is possible your doggie needs a food switch or something.

More info: All the switching around from one food to another, and then to another, and then to another, was transitioned with boiled/steamed rice and ground up cooked chicken. Was a lot to do ;(. To give you an idea of what we had Rocket go through:
1) royal Canin boxer puppy food (October 2019 to March 2020).
Note: He had colitis end of January, and so we first had him fast, then put him on chicken and rice until end of February. He recovered enough to get back into kibble. After 2 weeks he refused to eat his old kibble...
2) rc high energy gastrointestinal
3) RC gastrointestinal (plain?)
4) royal Canin low fat gastrointestinal
5) hills I/d digestive care chicken flavor

(Our dog eats boiled rice and chicken, but I don’t have the time to do it; prefer a kibble I can serve and then go on with my day.)

 

[bte2]

I think what I would do for a few day would be to feed only rice, hamburger and beef both (mixed together).
Give her 10 mins to eat it, if she doesn't eat pick it up and offer at dinner. Give her 10 mins to eat morning and afternoon don't just leave the food down all day. Try to set a pattern.
If it's colitis, she needs something easy to digest. No extra treats, baby food, etc..
See where you are in 3 day, if she's still not eating I would ask the vet to run a few more test.
Prior to this last food strike, what was she eating? Is she still drinking OK?

 

[BellalovesBaxter]

She was eating fine. She is drinking well, I am sure the steroids make her thirsty and she is voiding. It's 7am and she is playing. Yesterday she had 2 ensures, 2 baby foods, and about 1/2 cup of dry which is more in one day than she has had in more than a week. I am hesitant to change her diet again since she is getting nutrition and obviously feeling better. Once she gets a couple of pounds on her I will return to beef, rice and broth mixture. I will keep Everyone posted on her progress. Thank you for your suggestions and stay well.

 

[[email protected]]

You say she is allergic to chicken have you tried Turkey? There are some diets made with turkey.

 

[BellalovesBaxter]

She has had some turkey on occasion. But the good news is she had 2 cups of her dry food yesterday, along with 1 ensure and 2 baby foods with rice. She played with Baxter and is continuing to get better. Spoke with vet and we will get new meds today. Thanks for your info. Stay well.

 

[BellalovesBaxter]

9/9 Bella update. She began eating her food on Thursday, about 2 of her 3 cups Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday she began to slow down a bit. Taking her meds and playing on occasion. Her diarea has not stopped, I added pepto to her pill regimen, but no change and her weight loss continued. I noticed her breathing had become labored last night and we took her into the vet at 7am. She was admitted and her exray showed inflammation in her lungs. A urine sample was sent to the lab to check for a fungal infection. Her electrolytes are in normal range so the vet feels Addison disease may be off the table which is good. Her white blood cell count is high so she has infection. They gave her fluids today and she ate a bland diet. She sat up and showed interest in the activities going on around her. So we wait. They will keep her overnight and we will pick her up tomorrow evening and wait for the fungal test to come back. This has been difficult, but we continue to fight the good fight on her behalf. Will update next week when we have more information.

 

[Matt74]

Good luck, hope everything turns out ok.

 

[BellalovesBaxter]

9/12 Bella continues to be failing. Her Fungal infection test was negative. She lost another pound this week so total weight loss is 9 lbs. We are waiting on a call back from a internal medicine Vet. We take her in for IV fluids every 24 hours and I am giving her a high calorie protein gel 4 times a day since she won't eat. Bella is only 4 years old. I am hopeful the specialist will be able to give her and us some hope.