Gracie Stopped Eating Her Raw Food

[GraciesMom]

Okay, here’s a puzzler, my formerly voracious gobbler stopped eating recently. She was on some oral meds for yeast so I figured those might have upset her stomach. The vet took her off of them but her appetite didn’t return. So back to the vet. Among other things, the vet prescribed Hills Chicken Stew. Gracie’s gobbling that up. I figured she was better so tried her Answers Detailed Beef raw. She walked away from her dish, wouldn’t eat it. I’m at a loss. I know the Hills isn’t good and she already has loose stools. I’ve tried the Answers chicken but she doesn’t do well on that. I’ve also tried the pork with mixed results. Should I consider another brand of raw? I’m not sure where to go from here.

 

[Frenchie Grrrl]

If you want to try another raw brand, I say go for it. Personally, I would probably fast her for a day and see how she reacts the next day, or just offer her the dish and if she doesn't eat in 15 minuets, put it back in the fridge and offer it at the next meal.

Have you ever tried the Answers' raw goats milk, or the turkey or fish stock? That might be another option to make it more enticing.

Some raw fed dogs choose to self fast, and will routinely skip a meal or two, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Do you have her on a good probiotic, or rgm, or kefir? Maybe the meds did a number on her stomach.

 

[FroxerMom]

Oh no. Poor Gracie. It's a puzzler for sure as I can't imagine mine walking away from her bowl of raw?! She eats hers in seriously less than a minute. Could you perhaps disguise the raw as more of a "stew" by adding bone broth? If the raw is soaking in that, maybe she'll be more inclined to start eating it again?

Good luck - let us know what you decide and how Gracie is coming along.

 

[Dreamer]

I don't wish to scare you, I just want to throw this out there... I had a cat recently pass from pancreatic cancer. We found out because it caused her to stop eating.... we did bloodwork which then cause us to get an ultrasound and then we found out.... so it could be some kind of issue with the pancreas? I certainly hope it is not though and that it turns out she is just becoming picky =)

 

[GraciesMom]

If you want to try another raw brand, I say go for it. Personally, I would probably fast her for a day and see how she reacts the next day, or just offer her the dish and if she doesn't eat in 15 minuets, put it back in the fridge and offer it at the next meal.

Have you ever tried the Answers' raw goats milk, or the turkey or fish stock? That might be another option to make it more enticing.

Some raw fed dogs choose to self fast, and will routinely skip a meal or two, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Do you have her on a good probiotic, or rgm, or kefir? Maybe the meds did a number on her stomach.

Thanks Frenchie Grrrl, maybe she is self-fasting. This all started when she was in heat. Instead of dashing to her bowl she would walk over leisurely and eat slowly. I read that dogs will go off their food during heat. But about a week ago (done with her heat) she wouldn't even bother to walk over. A few minutes later she would approach the bowl, sniff and walk away. There was a day or two that she only ate about two Tbs of food and only if I hand fed her. She really hasn't eaten with gusto until the Hill's stew. I do have some Answers Kefir and also the fish stock in the freezer. I'll thaw it out and give it a try.

 

[GraciesMom]

Oh no. Poor Gracie. It's a puzzler for sure as I can't imagine mine walking away from her bowl of raw?! She eats hers in seriously less than a minute. Could you perhaps disguise the raw as more of a "stew" by adding bone broth? If the raw is soaking in that, maybe she'll be more inclined to start eating it again?

Good luck - let us know what you decide and how Gracie is coming along.

Good idea FroxerMom, I could make the raw more like stew like by adding something. I do have both the fish stock and kefir Frenchie Grrrl mentioned.

 

[GraciesMom]

I don't wish to scare you, I just want to throw this out there... I had a cat recently pass from pancreatic cancer. We found out because it caused her to stop eating.... we did bloodwork which then cause us to get an ultrasound and then we found out.... so it could be some kind of issue with the pancreas? I certainly hope it is not though and that it turns out she is just becoming picky =)

It's good to know Dreamer. The vet did mention pancreatitis as a possibility. The plan was to see if she would eat the stew and then do more diagnostics if she still wasn't eating. But she is quite enthusiastic about the stew so we're probably okay in that regard.

 

[Honeys Owners]

Gracie may not be feeling well, therefore not eating as much and being pickier. You can definitely try a different food- I'm not sure if one brand tastes much different than a different brand. Maybe try a small bag ( sample ? ) of dehydrated raw. Dehydrated raw is expensive so I definitely wouldn't buy a big bag.

 

[GraciesMom]

Gracie may not be feeling well, therefore not eating as much and being pickier. You can definitely try a different food- I'm not sure if one brand tastes much different than a different brand. Maybe try a small bag ( sample ? ) of dehydrated raw. Dehydrated raw is expensive so I definitely wouldn't buy a big bag.

Thanks Honeys Owners, I will try a few other options. We may have to go to the next step of diagnostics. We plan on getting her fixed in two months (per the vet's suggestion) and would be doing blood work, etc. just prior to that. But we may have to go ahead and get blood work done now.

 

[2bullymama]

[MENTION=4]davidh[/MENTION] would heat cycle cause this?


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[davidh]

It could be the heat cycle. Some just get picky for a while, then go back to eating everything. I would try something different or add a little Feta cheese to her meal and see if that helps.

 

[GraciesMom]

It could be the heat cycle. Some just get picky for a while, then go back to eating everything. I would try something different or add a little Feta cheese to her meal and see if that helps.

David, can that last a while? Her first day of heat was 9/7 so she should be completely finished. Her vulva, while a lot smaller, still hasn't gone back to normal though. She is eating the Hills stew and I've started mixing some canned Fromm with it and she's eating that as well. I'll wait another week or so and try the raw again.

 

[kristynvarghese]

This is the first time we have given our boy raw beef (we usually go the fish route) and he too ate it for a few days then stopped. We are using OC raw dog rocks. Luckily we still have some honest kitchen left and he ate some of that and his Answers goats milk. Now we don’t know what to feed him bc after a few days he will turn his nose up at the HK too[emoji21]. Not much help but I was surprised when ours didn’t eat the raw as well...


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[Honeys Owners]

This is the first time we have given our boy raw beef (we usually go the fish route) and he too ate it for a few days then stopped. We are using OC raw dog rocks. Luckily we still have some honest kitchen left and he ate some of that and his Answers goats milk. Now we don’t know what to feed him bc after a few days he will turn his nose up at the HK too[emoji21]. Not much help but I was surprised when ours didn’t eat the raw as well...


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You could try a different dehydrated raw, eg EasyRaw or Spot Farms. If he doesn't like those you will have to go back to kibble eg. Acana or Orijen or Zignature, or if you are in Canada Carna4 duck.

 

[GraciesMom]

At the moment Gracie is enthusiastic about Fromm canned beef and barley pate. I'll go with that for awhile as I believe it's a good quality food. I'll try some other raw options later.

 

[davidh]

[MENTION=3106]GraciesMom[/MENTION] sorry it's been so long I responded. Sometimes they get picky to what they eat. Henri went through a spell of this when he was younger. He would like his food for a few days then get tired of it. We would put toppers on it. Feta cheese, Stella and Chewies freeze dried food, and others thing. Plus change his food every once in a while. After a year or so he grew out of it and now eats anything.

 

[GraciesMom]

Thanks for the reply David. I'm hoping that's the case. Now that she's back on prescription science diet she has much more flatulence. She had none on the raw. The eating behavior might also be the result of liver issues. Her latest blood work came back with a high ALT. She had a similar problem at 5 months. Just prior she was on oral meds (an anti-fungal and antibiotic for a yeast infection) so I suspect that. We have a bile acid test and an ultra-sound scheduled for Wednesday.