Not eating

As you all know, Buster was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and had his left rear leg amputated last year. He has been on a homecooked cancer diet since his diagnosis and we've gone the holistic/palliative route rather than traditional chemotherapy (diet, Chinese herbs, acupuncture/chiropractic, etc.). My dilemma is that he has recently lost interest in eating. Cachexia is a common side effect of cancer. I've gotten him to eat by hand feeding him for the last week or two but he down right refused even that this morning. I need to find something to get him to eat but I also have to be mindful of what it is since he suffers from a very sensitive tummy. Maybe a good grain free canned food like Wellness Core? I would contact his integrative vet but she is in China studying TCM until the end of the month. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

So he's turning down homecooked? Poor old guy.

I have had good luck with pure meat baby food and with the Evanger's canned. They make canned with meat and sweet potato or just meat. I get it at a local natural food store. And, I did have to hand feed too. Some scrambled eggs may work also.

Good luck. I'll say a few prayers for Buster.

I was going to suggest baby food too. If you can't get him to eat it, you can try a syringe. That's what I had to do with Hoover. I'd blend up some stuff and put it all in a syringe. Sometimes if I could get a little into him and give him a taste for it, he'd then eat some on his own. At one point, I really was willing to try anything. I found he loved McD's chicken nuggets and also filet mignon. You'll obviously need to be careful though if he has a sensitive belly.

I got some food in him last night. Only about half of his meal, but he ate. Then he refused it again this morning so I figured, what the heck...let's see if he'll try the Fromm Surf & Turf kibble that Duke, Zoe, & Yoda eat. Sure enough, he gobbled it all down & asked for more. I'd rather keep him off of kibble due to the carbs but hey, whatever gets him to eat! Let's just hope that it agrees with his tummy. Most of the other grain free, high protein kibbles that we've tried gave him diarrhea. I could be going home to a big mess at lunch time!

Good luck - hope he's eating again soon.

I was going to suggest some poached fish, perhaps salmon.

I make a large batch of lean ground turkey, rice, carrots and peas. The Jones Boys get a spoonful on top of their kibble every evening. Maybe this is something that would entice him to eat. I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for ingredient-wise, but you could alter it to fit your needs.

Maybe he just wants a change??? Try taking just a few pieces of kibble, pulverising them and sprinkling the resulting powder over his food so he gets the smell/taste without the side effects?

And, although I know how hard it is not to go to all lengths to entice him to eat, if you keep him properly hydrated a few days without food won't actually harm him and letting his appetite return naturally is probably best in the long run. You probably won't have any hair left yourself by the third day though...

Puggered wrote:
And, although I know how hard it is not to go to all lengths to entice him to eat, if you keep him properly hydrated a few days without food won't actually harm him and letting his appetite return naturally is probably best in the long run. You probably won't have any hair left yourself by the third day though...

This is true. As scary as it was, when I got Winston, I knew he had to be retrained to eat what was right for him. He went two weeks with out hardly eating at all. I got him to eat baby food and eggs some of the time. Or, he would starve. He did lose some weight, but not an excessive amount. I just waited him out, lol.