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Bella won't eat

4223 Views 41 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  SamuelWatson
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?
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Dog Vertebrate Canidae Mammal Dog breed
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Do you have a full body pic? Is she underweight?
She weighed 50 lbs at her best. Last Friday she weighed 45.
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
Thank you for the info, I will check on that. We have done the bland diet, the problem now is she won't eat anything. I am putting a protein gel on her tongue for nourishment. It dissolves quickly so if she vomits, the nourishment stays
I spoke with the specialist a few hours ago. He will do an ultrasound at 8am tomorrow. He gently stated that it sounds like stomach cancer. She is only 4 years old. Our hearts are breaking. There are no words.
Bella was diagnosed with advanced lymphoma. Even at age 4, her prognosis was not good. We had to say goodbye earlier today. She is no longer sick. Our hearts are broken, but we will heal although it will take time. Her brother Baxter was there as she passed so he wouldn't search for her. We loved our Bella so much, and she knew how special she was to us.
Thank you for your kind words. We couldn't put her through the chemo with a poor prognosis. She is no longer sick. Our prior boxer was 8 when she had cancer. Boxer's come with health issues. Baxter, our male is 1.5 years old. We pray he lives a full life. He has been in service dog training for some time now and doing well.
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Thank you all for your well wishes. We have pictures of Bella everywhere since we do not have children. Our dogs are so spoiled! The joy their clown like behavior is endless. Baxter is feeling the loss. We are taking him to our land today in Jasper AR to enjoy some hiking. We will keep you posted on his continued training as a service animal, he is doing great and has the perfect demeanor for that job. Thank you again.
Thank you. The depth of our love for our boxers run very deep.
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