weight loss and anorexia

[LisaS]

a friend has a GSD bitch about 1.5 yrs. old. friend went on vacation 2 weeks - dog stayed home & friend's daughter lived in house to take care. friend also has rottie bitch who stayed home.
well - after 2 wks, my friend came home and the GSD was skin and bones having refused to eat for most if not all of the 2 wks. Vet check says she was probably just 'angry' and then once she stopped eating, lost any further interest in food - reinforcing cycle. She got IVs at vets and then sent home. GSD has been hand fed this week - still thin, lethargic & anorexic. Going for 2nd opinion (another vet) today or tomorrow. Cancer, blockages, etc. are things that come to my mind - any non-scary thoughts out there?

[BigBear]

Lisa,
Im no vet... but the timing sounds like maybe she was emotionally down due to her owner being gone... and with such a drastic weight loss maybe her immune system is low...and she is just having trouble gaining again...
then again it could be something more serious in nature...and might be best for an over all check of the dog....
let me know what happens if you will... I curious to what the outcome will be...

Bear

[LisaS]

2nd vet - same opinion - just extremely attached to owner, and once she went off her food, she became anorexic. Just to give you an idea, this GSD is down to 48 lbs. Hopefully tempting food will get her back on track, and once she starts eating her normal appetitie will return.

[Trish]

I had a simmilar situation with my year old female. After many weeks of painfull thinking, we had decided to place her in another home, she was fighting with my first female all the time. So we placed her with a very good freind of ours that had a older male and she is a vet tech so would be a great home for her.. She was there also for two weeks, would NOT eat anything, no matter how hard she tried, even tried everything good you can think of to feed her, nothing, hand feeding nothing. The dog was aparently devastated, and revolted by not eating. She had also lost a pretty good bit of weight.
We decided to bring her home, It took us a week of spoiling her rotten, hand feeding her to get her to eat again. We did also take her to the vet, he saw it as all psychological, found nothing clinically wrong with her. He did give her a injection to boost her appetite, I will have to find out what that medication was for you. Maybe a injection will help with your freinds GSD.
I will get back to you on the injection as soon as I can. You can also ask your vet about it, I am shure they will know right off what to give the dog.. Im shure everything will be fine.


GOOD LUCK

Trish

[Briar Rose]

Had the same problem. The "stress" caused latent ACUTE FOOD ALLERGIES to start. Had to "GO back to nature." Took Rambo OFF ALL human food (no nibbles of treats) and took him off ALL dry & canned food. Fed only Boiled chicken & turkey, raw beef, cooked or raw liver, COOKED hamburger (because lots of bacteria), bones or bone meal for calcium. When he tolerated that, added human vitamin & cod liver oil. We learned this over a year on 2 very allergic dogs. Very traumatic. You may need to hand feed at first. NO prepared foods. No cheating. Salt the meat. It works. Good luck. If you need more details, send me an e-mail.

[JonandMichelle]

Had same problem with my Raja. We went on vacation and put Raja in a kennel for bording(mom was remodeling the house and wasnt secure enough for her at the time) so, my mother checked on her from time to time. Three days in the kennel, my mom went to visit her... she had lost over 25lbs. Mom took her out of the kennel and brought her to her Vet.. same thing basically, just missed mommy and daddy. In her depression, she just stoped eating and just withdrew from everything... She was back to herself within a week and put the weight back on. Just tell her to have patients with her and give her lots of love and she will be back to normal in a few days. Have her keep her chin up.

[This message has been edited by JonandMichelle (edited October 06, 1999).]