Help! My husky won't eat :(

gloobag

Hi all,

Just looking for some opinions here. Basically, my 1.5 yr old Siberian Husky female eats hardly anything.

A bit of background. She no longer lives with me as my own work and personal situation changed, which meant I'd be out of town for a few days at a time, so my parents took her in. She's lived with them now for the best part of a year and everyone loves her and she gets all the walks and attention she deserves.

Anyways, when I handed her over to my folks, she was well trained (by me) and had a good healthy appetite. She was actually a bit of a horse when it came to food and would pretty much eat anything, although I fed her the same food everyday, she would sometimes get leftovers as a treat.

Now that's all changed since she's lived with my parents. I think she's basically been spoiled. Despite my pleas to stop, my dad just couldn't resist the novelty of having her practically sitting at the dinner table and being hand fed all sorts of delicious human food from the table. But hey, at least she still had a healthy appetite. But this started to change. She became more and more fussy about what she would and wouldn't eat. Things she would've jumped out her skin to get weeks before no longer even got a sniff from her.

Then a couple of months ago she fell seriously ill. She was vomiting white foamy stuff and had severe diarrhea. She was brought to vet and kept in for a few days for treatment. Eventually the diarrhea subsided and she was back to her playful self again. But my dad says that he has seen her vomiting the white stuff numerous times since. And worst of all, she won't eat, anything.

Any kind of dog food is a no no (we've tried every brand at this stage from the cheapest of the cheap to the ridiculously expensive. Both wet and dry). She will eventually eat some chicken breast, but it has to be almost hand fed. She won't even eat dark chicken meat She's become extremely skinny now. You can feel all her bones through her coat (which she seems to be shedding again! Even though she had only just shed a few weeks ago), which is a bit upsetting to be honest

She's been back to the vets a few times and they say that she seems healthy and that she may just be a fussy eater or have a weak stomach. To be honest she is actually in great form most of time, but the extreme weight loss knocked me for six, as I hadn't actually seen her in a few weeks as I was away.

I'm thinking of taking her to a different vet to get a second opinion. I have my own suspicions that she just needs to be retrained with regards to her diet, but I'd much rather have that confirmed by a professional. She got her own way for so long and now knows that if she holds out long enough that my Mam will literally roast a chicken just for her (I sh!t you not! I never got that kind of treatment when I lived with my folks ).

Has anyone else ever been through something like this? Any advice would be very much appreciated.

tk123

Vets asap. I hope I don't worry you but when my cat was vomiting foam like this they did some tests and found out he had kidney failure

Irishcrx

Hi,

I have a husky myself and he is a big eater , there are some foods he is not so fond of, certain dog foods he is picky with but he is generally a very good appetite as do all other Huskys I know so this isn't normal and the vet is wrong. I would definatly get a second opinion and maybe get some blood tests run on her as it could be a severe stomach or kidney problem. The white foam is not a good sign at all, my dog had a very weak stomach when he was younger and any little thing could give him Diarea so I had to be very carefull with his diet.

I know sometimes I give in and give him left overs as a treat, but your parents cannot do this every day as much as the dog may want it , it can be very hard on there stomachs and cause them to get sick. But yes get her to a vet for tests to get to the bottom of it.

jen_23

Hi, Sorry to hear about your husky

If dog food is a no at this point would you try feeding her a raw diet or BARF.
It's exactly as it says on the tin. When starting you feed raw chicken to keep it bland while they are adjusting and eventually add in other things like beef, offal, fish etc.

Most dogs love it. And it's natural to them as if they were in the wild it's exactly what they would eat. Also it would help with the coat problem.

You can find more info on it here
http://www.topdog.ie/showthread.php?t=1771&highlight=barf
http://www.topdog.ie/showthread.php?t=7570&highlight=barf

Also you can use something called satin balls to try and put a bit of weight on.
Satin Balls

This recipe is intended to be fed raw.

10lb hamburger meat
1 jar wheat germ
1 lg box of oatmeal (uncooked)
1 1/4 Cup vegetable oil
10 eggs
10 sm pkgs unflavoured gelatin
1 1/4 Cup unflavoured molasses
A pinch of salt
1 lg box Total cereal (ie cornflakes)
(You may also add a pinch of garlic powder to add flavour)


Mix all ingredients together well, much like a meatloaf. Put into separate freezer bags and freeze, thawing out as needed. It puts weight on in a very short time, not to mention the gloss in their coat. You can use it every day and it does not produce diarrhoea.

Also I know you can get a high calorie paste from the vets to give an underweight dog. For the life of me I can't remember it at the moment

smartie pants

I have a Samoyed who went right off his food at about 5 months old.
Since then I've been feeding him a raw food diet and he is thriving on it. He is full of energy, a good weight and has fantastic teeth and coat.
I'd recommend you give it a go. It's not actually as expensive as you would think so don't let that put you off.

Those links Jen provided are great, I used them at the beginning.

gloobag

Thanks all. I'll defo look into the raw food diet. She has actually been known to catch the odd crow in the garden and make that her dinner, so maybe a raw food diet is for her

smartie pants

We started the raw food diet after our guy caught and ate a rabbit!
He was so happy with himself after it.

Irishcrx

Could someone give me an example of a raw food diet, where to get what, cost etc please?

smartie pants

Follow the links Jen posted above, they will lead you to all the info you need. They are really useful.

Basically we primarily feed chicken - wings, carcasses etc, the cheapest you can get. It's supplemented with muscle meat, heart e.g. now and then. Some raw egg, lamb, minced meat.
There are guidelines on the site mentioned above re amounts to feed etc.

lorebringer

OP - ask your vet to do bloods, make sure to check for liver and kidney function. Good on you for getting a second opinion! If everything is ok, then it really sounds to me like she has been spoiled. If you start her on whatever food you want (start as you mean to go on, pick a food and stick with it for a while), put the food down for meals then take it up after 15/20 minutes and don't give her anything (nothing at all, no treats or bits of anything) until the next meal time. Eventually, she will realise there is nothing else coming and she will eat (it can take a while but usually after a few days they gobble it all up). Def get a vets opinion on the whole situation though, she may just need some time to get used to her new eating regime but best make sure first. Good luck!

my guy is not a big eater to be honest. Huskys in general are not big eaters. They just eat their food when they like.
My guy does throw up foam at times , sometimes followed by a sock .

I would get him checked by the vet just to make sure .

Paul91

try and take some "pee" in with you for the kidney tests, they can't be checked from blood, it could be that the rich diet was too much for her kidney's, does she urinate alot?