Wanted: Food suggestions for sick/convalescent dog

As some of you might remember, a little over a year ago, we adopted a black lab, who was named Mimsy, after me, because I'm wise and beautiful and in all ways great.

Anyways.

Puppy-Mimsy turned out to come with a manufacturing defect in one of her knees. It was not constructed quite right, so it popped itself out of joint at random, just because it felt like doing it. The vet said that can be fixed with surgery, so she had that surgery earlier this week. Now, as a side effect of being doped up on ultra-strong pain killers and sedated to keep her still, puppy-Mimsy has no appetite. At all. We've managed to coax her into eating by hand-feeding her food soaked in warm chicken broth. That makes the food stinky to us, but apparently more tempting to her. Also, she is a desperate people-pleaser, and when mommy puts food in front of her and says "eat this", puppy-Mimsy eats just because mommy wants her to.

There are a lot of dog owners here, so I was hoping that some of you have had to take care of a sick dog that refused to eat, and have secret recipes for food that is absolutely delicious by dog standards and tempting even when they are drugged and miserable, and standing up to eat hurts too much to be worth it. Please share them. Secrets on how to make her drink more water are also more than welcome, since she's lost all interest in that as well.

 

Sorry to hear about Mimsy V2.0.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5268047_tips-sick-dogs-eat.html

Also, the official A.S.P.C.A. manual & site:-

http://books.google.com.au/books?id...suggestions for sick/convalescent dog&f=false

The baby food idea usually works, even if you have to syringe it into her mouth. I like using cream of chicken/turkey, or some such. Peanut butter or ordinary butter works as well. ~ Depends on what baby Mimsy likes.
Hope that this helps, anyway.

 

Dog food and dog treat wise, "Grand Gourmet" canned dog food and for treats, "Beefy Tips" from EverPet, "Pup-Peroni" sticks and "Beggin Strips". How about putting a can of dog food in the blender with an egg yolk or two then warm slightly?

Human food wise, "chuck roast"(cooked/simmered for a few hours with few Beef bullion cubes added in), "boneless skinless chicken breast"(cooked/simmered for a few hours with few chicken bullion cubes), and "pork chops". Also "green beans"/"carrots", both simmered in plenty of butter. You could also try the human food in the blender with an egg yolk or two.

As Phantom already pointed out, "Peanut butter"(smooth not crunchy). I've never had a dog turn his or her nose up at Peanut butter, although there must some somewhere.

Here are some Homemade Puppy Formulas And Treats.

Nothing is to good for your four legged friend. Hope she is happy and health soon.

 

After my schnauzer had his operation my vet recommended brown rice with bullion, I used both chicken and beef worked for my guy.

Phil

 

I second the idea of (boiled) rice. Wafer thin meat from supermarkets is also a good idea.

A dog can survive for a few days on fat reserves without eating so hopefully when the sedation wears off she will have more of an appetite. Worst-case, she can go a few days without eating.

But as always don't just focus on one thing that she will eat. Make sure she gets a rounded diet so she has all the necessary vitamins and minerals to recover more quickly, so the sooner you can get her back on to her regular food the better.

BTW I have the human version of the knee problem so I know how annoying it is. Hope she recovers soon!

 

There are some pet foods that are "human grade" with less additives such as corn. The drawback is they are as expensive as foie gras at Whole Foods. You might find samples and test the kibble to see what is more palatable without soaking. I found the local feed stores had better selection of samples and staff more interested in a solution than the end of the shift.

 

On the water issue, you might try Pedalyte (sp?) or a similar baby product designed to rehydrate. I've also heard of people using Gatorade, but I'm not sure your dog will enjoy the taste of lemon-lime or fruit punch.

If you're using a beef or chicken bullion or broth, read the ingredient panel carefully. Do NOT feed your dog anything that contains MSG (monosodium glutimate). Like humans, there are some dogs who will have stomach reactions or diarrhea from it. Look for either Swanson or Herb-Ox - neither of these have MSG (advice from a human who can't stomach large amounts of MSG).

Hope your dog is feeling better and back to normal soon.

 

Sorry, I missed the water part. As previously said, a syringe full of water or possibly milk is a good idea.

Actually, now I think of it, milk (full fat) would be a good idea as a stopgap to give a broad range of nourishment.

 

Thank you everyone, for suggestions, links, and advice! After reading all responses and links in this thread I settled on the following plan of attack:

I mixed water and chicken broth (the non-MSG kind--thank you gman863!), and heated it to a slight boil, then dumped puppy-Mimsy's regular dog food in there along with baby carrots. Once carrots and kibble were soft I added pre-boiled white rice to soak up all extra liquid, and set it aside to cool to where it could be touched without any discomfort, since it was going to go in her mouth. The end result looked like something that had been pre-digested and I personally thought it reeked, but the sick dog was absolutely mesmerized by the smell. I still had to bring the food up to her mouth while she was laying in her crate, but once it was in easy reach the Mimsy-dog acted as if she actually was hungry, eyes all bright with excitement, making glomp-glomp noises, and licking the small bowl to get all of the food out.

Since she hasn't eaten in a few days we limited her to small amounts a few hours apart, but she seems so much better already. The lack of food (=fuel) obviously was a big factor for her general well-being and comfort. It's like she didn't know how hungry she was, and now that we are offering fragrant food that she wants to eat, she's trying to make up for lost time.

The Guy was working from home all day and says he was able to make her drink by mixing either milk or yogurt into the water, so we will keep doing that. Apparently yogurt and milk are delicious to a sick dog as well.

Thank you again everyone! That she is finally eating is a huge stress relief for both of us...! We were starting to really worry about her.

 

I went back to add this, just in case other dog owners read this thread, and realized I've lost my edit button:

Peanut butter has been our life saver. That's how we get The Mimsy to take her medications--we hide them inside a giant glob of peanut butter, and she greedily laps it up, pills and all. For a few days the peanut butter it was the only thing she would eat, so we fed it to her whenever we had a chance. It's high in calories and proteins after all... but it's not food. So thank you again to everyone who posted ideas and suggestions here. It's such a huge stress load off, you probably have to have been there to understand.

 

It is perfectly healthy to give puppies raw meat infact its one fo the best diets around. My girl has been on the BARF (bones and raw food diet) which was recommended by our breeder and her growth rate etc has been fantastic!
You couls also try minced chicken wings or raw chicken including bones though you should maybe wait til your pup is little older before giving her the pieces of chicken. Tripe and raw heart kidney liver etc are also good though dpeending on breed of puppy that may be too rich for them, scrambled egg with goats milk and cheese is another idea
People may say you cant give a dog chicken bones but you are only not allowed to fed a dog cooked chicken bones.