not eating

[herbiehackit]

i fed my dog on a deers heart and liver (cooked) about a month ago. he then suffered with liquid stools. he has been on meds for this but they have not worked. he has since gone off his food. my vet changed his meds and gave him an injection to encourage him to eat. since then he has refused all food and had started being sick. it is almost a week since he has eaten. his stools have traces of blood in them. he is drinking normally but lies next to his water disah all the time and spends most of his time sleeping. normally i can not move for him. he follows me every where but he has stopped doing this and refuses to go for a walk. he is an old dog for his breed (13 yrs old, king charles)

[Jaybay]

Bless your heart.  You've apparently lost the most important things in your life, and Charlie was the last straw, right?  You did everything you could for him, and then some, and it was not only right but good to ease him out of his suffering.

I completely understand that you need to mourn Charlie's loss, but I do hope in time that you will find room in your heart for another dog - or any other animal companion.  For myself, when everything else in my life takes a dump my animals are the one thing that keep me going.  My dogs have also taught me another important lesson: the human heart is capable of expanding where love is concerned.  There is no limit to our capacity to love.  I still miss the two dogs we've lost over the years, but the two we have now keep me going and out of the pit of depression.  Call it psychology or a gift from God, or both.  I'll take it.  :-)

[herbiehackit]

thanks for your help. unfortunatly, i found out too late for charlie. he was in kindney failure and heart failure. he started having fits over the weekend and arrested twice. on both occassions i successfully carried out cpr but after a lot of soul searching and on my vets advice (she said charlie only had days left at best and probably hours) i agreed to putting him down, although i regret it now. my wife ran off with someone last year and now i've lost the best freind i ever had. no more dogs for me. but thanks for the advice.

[Jaybay]

Organ meats tend to have a higher fat content than muscle, and are also high in phosphorus content.  Serving up any unusual food, particularly in an older dog, can result in a simple upset tummy with vomiting and diarrhea or more serious conditions.  For example, if your senior dog has a kidney problem, the excess phosphorus in the organs might have just tipped him over the edge into full blown kidney failure.  If his pancreas has been a bit off, the excess fat may have triggered acute pancreatitis.  Obviously, I don't know for certain that is what happened, but those are a couple ideas to consider.

I think you and your vet need to start looking into other problems.  The problem isn't getting him to eat, it's finding out WHY he isn't eating.  Since he's a senior dog, it's time to do some blood and urine work to see how his organs are functioning.  Obviously his condition is more serious than a simple upset tummy from eating food his body isn't used to.  Please post back and let us know how he's doing.