My dog started to be picky with his food about 2 weeks back. He’ll leave 1 or 2 kibbles behind and when I tell him to eat the remaining pieces, he’ll eat it but only to spit out again. Then he started to leave more kibbles behind. This actually is something I’ve dealt with before. It’s like him saying I’ve had enough of this kibbles, buy me a new one (new taste).
But then I noticed fresh blood (very little) in his poo. Not every day but 2-4 days once. I thought his current food must’ve gone bad. He was on Canidae at that time. I found from the net that Canidae has gone through some major changes in its ingredients around 2009 and some dogs eating this ‘new’ Canidae had problems (no appetite, blood with poo) similar to Chester. So I bought a new small packet of kibbles (Natural Balance) for Chester but he still has no appetite. Then I bought another big packet (Innova), still same – no appetite. Note: I mixed old kibbles with new one.
Then last week, he had diarrhea once and then the next morning he vomited. He began to act strangely too. He clings to us more frequently. Like usually he’ll just hang out beside me for say 10-20 minutes then he’ll go to another place to lie down but this time I was at the TV watching some show for 2 hours and he remains with me for 2 hours straight. Or I’ll be in my work room, and he’ll come lie down beside me for a very long time. Weird right? There are also some weird barking in which we asked him; potty? hungry? Not sure what he wanted. Sigh if only dog can tell us they’re not feeling well. He looked restless too and there was once he wake us at 2am.
Right after the vomit episode (the day he woke us at 2am), I immediately brought him to the vet. Doc said maybe he ate something dirty on the road and that leads to worms in stomach. The only dirty things that he ate from the road is sands (yup pasir) which btw really irks me. Of course I tried stopping him. At times I even put my hand into his mouth to get rid of the sands. So I guess the doc was ‘somewhat’ right because I did not give my poor dog deworming medicine for the past 6 months (this is not Heartgard btw which I religiously give him every month). My fault! Still I don’t think I’ll feed him with Canidae anymore.
So after some medicine (injection+pills) with yummy food (Science Diet’s i/d;wet food and rice) + tender loving care from the family, he got better and he’s now back to himself. Kibbles? He’ll eat all with no problem. π
In a way I learned my lesson too. Deworming medicine (very important) and dogs with no appetite is one of the signals that they are sick (very basic thing; like human when we are sick we have no appetite too) —> KNOCK MY HEAD NOT KNOWING THIS BASIC!!!
I also notice something, when Chester wasn’t feeling well his fur become rough (not the usual soft). This is another marker I guess.
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Really tough to take care of dogs sometimes, because they can’t tell you with words how they are feeling. Lucky you managed to notice the signs and take him to vet in time!
It’s heartbreaking when they are sick. π
you need to be really observant when you are rearing a dog. tiny small symptom and you need to send them to vet before anything happen.
Oh yeah. That’s why sometime I ‘molest’ him (tummy rub, massage) just to see if there are any abnormality on his body.
Good to hear Chester is back to his old self. Yes, losing appetite and being clingy is one sure sign I learned the hard way. Did Chester ate grass during the bout of bad stomach? All my dogs will eat grass when they have bad stomachs and eventually they will puke shortly after. It’s normal for dogs to eat grass before they puke.
Nope he didn’t eat grass. I was actually horrified at the clingy part coz he has never done anything like that before.
If only they can talk right? Poor chester… π
Yup if only.
Taking care of Chester is not easy… anyway, you can do it, i know it.. hehe..
It’s only difficult when he’s not feeling well because I feel helpless.