Looking for input, fur baby on the decline...

[sarahb]

Thank you all for your input, your many terrific suggestions & ideas. I called the vet just now, had a good discussion of the digestive issues, oral issues, food etc.

They did check his oral cavity, everything good in that department, knock on wood. As far as his digestive system, she felt his gall bladder, pancreas, kidneys, liver (except for liver values), spleen etc, all ok, all tests combined point to good health in that regard.

She really thinks the liver values are the fundamental root. I relayed my concern re his weight & food intake. She suggested I bring him in for a weight check, which am doing this afternoon. His weight she said has been pretty stable, right around 16.5 lbs give or take. If he's lost a pound, then we should do a blood draw to check liver values. We're scheduled to recheck liver values end of Feb. I felt she may have thought I was over-reacting to his food intake, & hence the request to get a current weight.

I discussed the food options, she strongly asked that I not introduce human food yet. She said human diet opens up a can of worms in the context of his issues. Today, I'm also not entirely sure 'if' he is transitioning just yet. Last week we thought for sure....the last day or 2, he seems so much better. Its so fluid! So that's where we are at the moment. I'll keep everyone posted on progress. Thank you so much for all your thoughts & wishes. Snowing today & 12 degrees, its winter in the upper midwest! And he just finished his breakfast, hooray!

 

[Austina]

Sorry haven’t had a chance to read everything, has anyone suggested fish & potato, more digestible than chicken and rice?

Our girl loves sardines in tomato sauce, it reeks to high heaven, but may stimulate Jacks senses if it’s not something he has regularly.

I hate it when they get old

 

[Calliecake]

@sarahb , So happy to read Jack is doing better the past few days. Stay warm this weekend.

 

[TooPatient]

Weight check is a good idea. Home scales are often less than completely accurate. Being off by half a pound or more on people is not a big deal but could make a big difference in a dog or cat.

 

[Queenie60]

Awww Queenie, am so sorry your fur baby is going through this--it is so incredibly hard to watch, and loosing his companion surely is not helping matters. Maybe he will come out of it in a few months, it definitely took a while for ours to recover from loss...keep up the hope!

Yes, we can 'see' their gradual physical slide, & I wish we could hear them tell us 'relax, I'm having a good day even though I look like I'm not' on the good days, & on the bad, 'I need x, y, or z to help me feel better'....egads, if only! Hang in there, I am sending you & your baby tons of dust!

Thank you Sarahb. Ditto - sending thoughts and prayers your way. Take care

 

[sarahb]

Sorry haven’t had a chance to read everything, has anyone suggested fish & potato, more digestible than chicken and rice?

Our girl loves sardines in tomato sauce, it reeks to high heaven, but may stimulate Jacks senses if it’s not something he has regularly.

I hate it when they get old

Austina, I so wish they could live longer...wouldn't that be perfect. When he begins to turn down the dog food, my plan is to go to the recipe that 2neezers posted--& then just work through the list of suggestions. Thank you for suggesting sardines, I never would have thought about sardines for a dog. Appreciate it....

 

[sarahb]

Posting a Jack update: he had a very good day yesterday, in fact the best since this whole chapter began. The good news, he had a full breakfast & dinner yesterday as well. Fed him wet, no kibble. The not so good news, stopped by the vet on our errand run, & he's lost .5 pounds, so now weighing in at 16.

I missed the 7p vet call last night, (vacuuming the floor), & her message was to bring him in for a blood draw & chest X-ray as a result of the weight loss. So that's next. He just ate more breakfast, the same wet again. I'll post a pic of the type. Thanks everyone for your thoughts & suggestions, we really appreciate it. Stay warm & enjoy your weekend....

 

[2Neezers]

I’m so happy to hear Jack is eating better. Stella & Chewy’s is an excellent brand. We give our girls their freeze dried beef Carnivore Crunch as a treat and they love it!
One other thing I wanted to mention is that my pups have been very lazy and sleepy the last month or so since winter really set in. They only play around 10-15 minutes a day right now. I was curious so looked it up and apparently dogs can have seasonal depression just like humans can. It sounds like Jack was pretty active and outdoors a lot before this weather hit our area. Do you think he could be experiencing the winter blues?
Thanks for letting me know about the new vet! I’ll be sure to ask about her the next time we make an appointment.

 

[LJsapphire]

aww what a lovely boy, I hope he is better soon Sorry I have nothing useful to add, also a kitty person. But sending him get well thoughts.

 

[sarahb]

I’m so happy to hear Jack is eating better. Stella & Chewy’s is an excellent brand. We give our girls their freeze dried beef Carnivore Crunch as a treat and they love it!
One other thing I wanted to mention is that my pups have been very lazy and sleepy the last month or so since winter really set in. They only play around 10-15 minutes a day right now. I was curious so looked it up and apparently dogs can have seasonal depression just like humans can. It sounds like Jack was pretty active and outdoors a lot before this weather hit our area. Do you think he could be experiencing the winter blues?
Thanks for letting me know about the new vet! I’ll be sure to ask about her the next time we make an appointment.

I've never heard of that brand before, until the gal at the dog food store recommended it, glad to see your endorsement. He loves it, we just had our 2nd day of both meals consumed, so feeling very positive right now. It could be SAD, the walks had to stop as the weather was just too brutal, besides being so treacherous on the ice. Hubby took him to work Thurs afternoon & made a few stops along the way, so he was quite 'busy'. Friday I took him for his weigh-in & we made a few other stops, plus took him in to the dog food store. So very busy the last 2 days for him.

The lethargy & lack of eating that began this whole chapter was quite significant. Those issues combined with SAD could've been the issue. I'm still in watch & wait mode. Trying to decide if I will take him in for the blood draw & X-ray right now. If he continues to behave & eat like this I may not. Its worth a day or two for observation I think.... (We still have the scheduled draw the end of Feb, which I want to keep.)

And @Neezers, the vets initials are BS. If you go the web site, you can figure out who she is.

aww what a lovely boy, I hope he is better soon Sorry I have nothing useful to add, also a kitty person. But sending him get well thoughts.

LJsapphire...all and any kitty person get well thoughts are also greatly appreciated Thank you for posting...

 

[Dandi]

So happy to hear your beautiful boy is eating better @sarahb! What a dear little guy he is Sending you both lots of love and healing vibes!

 

[sarahb]

So happy to hear your beautiful boy is eating better @sarahb! What a dear little guy he is Sending you both lots of love and healing vibes!

Dandi, thank you for your post...the new wet seems to be appetizing to him & he's been eating full meals 2x daily now Fri, Sat, Sun. This morning he did not eat, just finished eating his breakfast now at 4p. I used to feed & once he ate, took the plate away. Now that we've entered this uncharted territory, I've just left it on the floor for him. So we'll see how this progresses...at least he is eating & behaving more like himself...

 

[sarahb]

Greetings from the arctic upper midwest. Although temps have moderated a bit to 3 at the moment, we've made it through the worst & are counting down the hours to the warmer weekend coming up.

I wanted to let everyone know that Mr. Jack has been on the rebound. He's been eating normally now since last Friday, a full week. His behavior is completely back to his old self, etc etc, so all in all, we are back to our normal routine, thank goodness. The next vet visit will be for his blood draw the end of Feb to re-check his liver values.

I am somewhat embarrassed to have come out of the lurk-dom woodwork like the little boy crying wolf. I really thought he had reached the no return point. I wanted to thank each of you for your posts of supports, ideas & suggestions. For the time being, it looks this little guy is not going anywhere anytime soon, thank goodness. Have a great weekend coming up fellow PS'ers--and thank you all once again!!

 

[amoline]

No worries re: feeling like "crying wolf" - definitely is a not fun experience to watch a beloved animal go through any of that, so no doubt we are just glad to hear of the rebound.

 

[TooPatient]

@sarahb so glad!! I have had several furries convince me we were in the final days only to bounce back and have several more healthy years. Scared me each time! I hope your boy is healthy and happy for more years to come!

 

[missy]

Yay!!! Such a wonderful update!!! Thank you @sarahb for sharing such good news. You’ve made my day. I’m so thrilled and happy that your sweet baby is improving. Continued healing dust being sent your and furbaby’s way. XO.

 

[MissyBeaucoup]

Thanks for the happy news! Hoping Jack has turned the bend and will have many healthy days ahead. He is lucky to have such a devoted family. Enjoy your time together!

Hugs from another cat person! Be well, Jack!

 

[sarahb]

You guys are great, thanks again for the love and prayers, he is quite a personality & well loved indeed. And MissyBeaucoup, thank you for your post & wishes--if hubby was not allergic, I would love a cat in the house!

 

[2Neezers]

@sarahb Thank You for sharing the great news! I have been thinking about you and Jack and have been wondering how he is doing. I’m so glad to hear he is feeling better! Please give him a scratch behind the ear for me . He is adorable

 

[junebug17]

@sarahb, thank you for posting this update! I'm so happy your furbaby is eating and feeling so well It's great to hear such positive news. And omigosh, he is adorable!

 

[sarahb]

Interesting find on the internet last night: right before bed, I went to check our local TV stations weather report & saw this piece of news:

https://www.hillspet.com/productlist
Its a recall of the food we were feeding Jack! He was eating the Hils i/d 12 oz cans.

It's the wet we were feeding Jack. I had just bought another couple of cases of wet at the initial vet visit early this January. The product code on those newly purchased cases are not identified as the recalled lots. My hunch is that the wet food he was eating this fall was part of the recall & the cause for his health going down hill. Primarily because of his miraculous recovery once we got him on a replacement food. Plus absolutely nothing showed up on any test, except for the elevated liver values which was due to the meds he takes for his arthritis, which we also have since changed. Besides, as I understand, the Vit D issue shows up in the kidneys, not liver.

We are stunned to say the least. A food you buy at the vet? I guess you just can't trust anything anymore. Although I cannot prove absolutely the Hills food was the cause of poor Jacks problem, it sure looks & sounds completely plausible. The weeks of emotional toil, Jacks health & what he had to go through, & the $$$ spent at the Vet trying to help this little guy....grrrrrrrrr. Anyway, I thought this was interesting to share...and for those who are using Hills, check your cans!!

 

[amoline]

That's crazy! Glad to hear that he's feeling better, to say the least.

 

[MissGotRocks]

So, so happy to hear that he is doing so much better! They carry parts of our hearts with them so no worries about the fretting. We would have all done the same thing!!

 

[2Neezers]

Interesting find on the internet last night: right before bed, I went to check our local TV stations weather report & saw this piece of news:

https://www.hillspet.com/productlist
Its a recall of the food we were feeding Jack! He was eating the Hils i/d 12 oz cans.

It's the wet we were feeding Jack. I had just bought another couple of cases of wet at the initial vet visit early this January. The product code on those newly purchased cases are not identified as the recalled lots. My hunch is that the wet food he was eating this fall was part of the recall & the cause for his health going down hill. Primarily because of his miraculous recovery once we got him on a replacement food. Plus absolutely nothing showed up on any test, except for the elevated liver values which was due to the meds he takes for his arthritis, which we also have since changed. Besides, as I understand, the Vit D issue shows up in the kidneys, not liver.

We are stunned to say the least. A food you buy at the vet? I guess you just can't trust anything anymore. Although I cannot prove absolutely the Hills food was the cause of poor Jacks problem, it sure looks & sounds completely plausible. The weeks of emotional toil, Jacks health & what he had to go through, & the $$$ spent at the Vet trying to help this little guy....grrrrrrrrr. Anyway, I thought this was interesting to share...and for those who are using Hills, check your cans!!

@sarahb This is terrible, but I’m glad you found out about the recall and everything is making more sense. Situations like this are another reason why I like to home cook for my dogs. It’s honestly scary how many pet food recalls there have been. I don’t know if you are interested, but the lady I worked with for my dogs diet came highly recommended on the Havanese forum. She can also recommend store bought food diets from companies she has researched for food safety. I’ll put links to her site below just in case you want to check it out. I’m sorry your family and Jack had to go through all of this. Best wishes to your boy!
http://www.betterdogcare.com/sabines-services/feeding-plans/

 

[Calliecake]

Interesting find on the internet last night: right before bed, I went to check our local TV stations weather report & saw this piece of news:

https://www.hillspet.com/productlist
Its a recall of the food we were feeding Jack! He was eating the Hils i/d 12 oz cans.

It's the wet we were feeding Jack. I had just bought another couple of cases of wet at the initial vet visit early this January. The product code on those newly purchased cases are not identified as the recalled lots. My hunch is that the wet food he was eating this fall was part of the recall & the cause for his health going down hill. Primarily because of his miraculous recovery once we got him on a replacement food. Plus absolutely nothing showed up on any test, except for the elevated liver values which was due to the meds he takes for his arthritis, which we also have since changed. Besides, as I understand, the Vit D issue shows up in the kidneys, not liver.

We are stunned to say the least. A food you buy at the vet? I guess you just can't trust anything anymore. Although I cannot prove absolutely the Hills food was the cause of poor Jacks problem, it sure looks & sounds completely plausible. The weeks of emotional toil, Jacks health & what he had to go through, & the $$$ spent at the Vet trying to help this little guy....grrrrrrrrr. Anyway, I thought this was interesting to share...and for those who are using Hills, check your cans!!

Grrrrrr is right. That’s is so scary. Thank goodness Jack is feeling better. Those weeks were awful for you. I’m so sorry you went thru this. I buy the dry version of one of the wet foods listed. It’s the only food that doesn’t make my dog sick. You figure it’s safe when you can only buy at the vet. Thank you so much for posting this @sarahb .