Brogan is off his food. Not completely, but its a right song and dance now trying to get him to eat. He wont look at his normall wafcoll and tinned meat, but will eat some tinned meat without the kibble. He will also eat tuna in oil and kibble if the kibble is mixed in well. Vet suggested chappie. First night was a success, but hes now turning his nose up at that. He is not eating the volume he got before. Vet has looked at his teeth and doesn't think they are that bad altho he is booked in for a scale and polish tomorrow.

Temp and blood test are normal, hes bright enough in his self, but has lost almost 3kg in weight which is not suiting him at all. (He will eat a bonio with gusto, and a dentastick.....just not his dinner!)

Anyway jimmy had suggested giving him antihistamine but I don't know what type....my vet had never heard of it before! I have had a quick search of the forum but can only find reference to giving antihistamine but not the type.

Any other suggestions for a tasty complete dog food as I am wondering if its the wafcoll hes iffy with?

Can anyone help out as Im getting a bit desperate.

Hi Karen,

Poor Brogan

Can't help with the antihistamine, but we give Bootsie James Wellbeloved kibble and he never seems to tire of it .... He has a pouch of wet food with it (either James Wellbeloved or Ceasar Lightly Grilled) and has a tin of sardines in tomato sauce with it twice a week - this seems to keep his coat in great condition.

Hope this helps, and that Brogan is eating normally again soon.

Susan.

No idea about anti-histamine but, although this may sound bizarre, it worked with our previous greyhound who in the last few months of his life was an extremely picky eater due to failing kidneys. We found that he would eat just about any dried dog food provided we mixed it with yogurt. Maybe worth a try for your doggie.

You must be very worried. I changed Rex and Eva onto a complete food called Country Value Greyhound, it's a red bag, I order it from Amazon, both dogs love it and the bowls are licked clean at every meal. I don't know where you live, but if you're near me I could let you try some. I give it on it's own, or with chappie or sardines, gonna try tuna next. It got great reviews on Amazon and I have to say I'm impressed, the dogs coats are beautifully soft and shiny.

You can give them Piriton tablets - our vet recommended 1 tablet for Lucy when she had an allergic reaction to something but I don't know if it would help with his appetite. Maybe worth a try though as they're not that expensive.

Your post worries me a bit Shiela. He goes in tomorrow morning for an x ray as he has blood in his urine and the vet doesn't know why. Blood test and temp were fine, and the vet didn't seem to think it was his kidneys as it should have shown in his blood, but hes 10 this year so not a young thing anymore.

He ate a can of Tuna and a mug of kibble (all of it). He also gets his teeth done tomorrow while hes under for the x ray, so that will rule out any mouth pain.

He did quite a spectacular bambi effort on the laminate floor just over a week ago, and we identified the blood in his urine that week (only because the vet specifically asked for a test) otherwise I probably would have been none the wiser (I don't inspect dog wee as a rule!), Im not convinced he didnt do something with the bambi episode as his urine is definately not as dark as it was, but the little so and so now wont stand to let me take a sample! Then again, I have no idea if his urine was ok prior to doing a bambi or not.

Fingers crossed hes ok tomorrow, as Im worried they find a tumour or something as there doesn't appear to be anything obvious.

Hya
My two are being a bit picky with food at the moment too. Usually very greedy and eat all in one go, at the moment they are leaving half their breakfast so I have cut down to half a portion in the morning.

Although they scoff the Bakers Complete

I am thinking its down to the hot muggy weather and thats putting them off eating a bit. At the moment as they are resting much more also. i am walking them the longer walk after 9pm as its cooler.

it may be just the heat thats affecting Brogan too.

Mary (Missy and Pancho)

Brogans back from the vet and we are none the wiser! Xray of his bladder today, vet said everything was ok and looked fine. A little sediment from the blood in his urine but noting to suggest where its come from. His wee is definately a healthier colour than it was last friday. Vet now suspects a urinary tract infection has his man bits were a bit gunky apparently. They are waiting on the results of a culture to detemine if there is infection there and what it is.

Teeth all cleaned and no extractions - so that rules that one out for the fussy eating. Will buy some Piriton at the beginning of the week once hes over the anasthetic.

Poor boy is spaced out and sleeping the anasthetic off. He has antibiotics for the suspected infection and anti inflams for everyting else.

I have never been so relieved to get my dog home. You see, today was my dads birthday, he died two years ago on my birthday and I had myself convinced that the vet was going to find something nasty. Phew!

Thaks for the messages too :)

Promising news, and fingers crossed for a quick and full recovery. As an aside, when I took Kell to the vet last week I mentioned he'd been quite miserable and off his food and he (the vet, not Kell!) said that it's not unusual for dogs to lose their appetite with the hotter muggy weather.

A urinary tract infection does sound a real possibility - and will be treatable. Good news, I'd say.

Lucy been off her food a wee bit too recently and we put it down to the hotter weather. She is sneaky enought to eat whatever we have mixed in with her dry kibble though! We used to feed her Country Value food from Amazon, but changed to Supadog for retired greyhounds. Lucy is already 34 kilos and didnt want her to be a chubby retiree!!

Glad to hear the vet is pleased enough with Brogan. It should put your mind at rest that he is otherwise healthy.

Reply to Susan, Mo & Bootsie - No wonder he looks so sleek and black and shiny and well beloved!
He is, of course, the Rover Reporter, so he's worth it!
Hope Mo's recovering well.
Marion

Reply to Karen,
I do hope that the antibiotics sort Brogan out. It's so distressing when your normally ravenous greyhound won't eat.
On your first post you said he was still keen to have treats. I don't know how you feed him but I just wondered if using a raised food bowl might help. My eldest greyhound, Kim, lies down to eat and Bryn has a raised bowl or he tends to suffer from reflux.
It's a long shot but if there's nothing obviously wrong medically, it might be worth a try.
Best wishes,
Marion

Eddie lost a drastic amount of weight at the beginning of the year so I bought him Barking Heads fusspot food. It's salmon and potato flavour and it seems to go down a treat.

Thats been nearly 4 weeks hes been very fussy over his dinner. The vet gave us a sample of a senior food they are selling....went down a storm last night (it was only 100g so not too much for his still groggy state) but at £52 for a 12 Kg sack, its just a tad out my price range....

He has always been fed out of a raised bowl ever since we got him. My other grey is eating the wafcol and tinned meat, but brogan seems to be completely un impressed with the kibble. He ate a can of tinned meat tonight but I had to hand feed him a couple of bits of meat just to remind him he did actually like it. I also gave him a couple of priton tablets just to see if we can kick start the appetite again.

Thanks for all the suggestions...I think hes secretly planning to live on tuna, chicken and ham if he can get away with it!

Hi Karen.

I'm currently training as a veterinary nurse and one of the things that I see being done all the time is heating up the food it makes the food smell stronger and dogs tend to really like it when they are not eating. Another option is if its like pate type foods is to heat in for literally a few seconds in the microwave and rub it on his gums (not a nice job).
Some vets do suggest these things but if they havent then you could give it a try and see if it works.
I hope he starts eating normally soon.

Katie

One of my dogs also gets Barking Heads. It's very good quality dry food. The other much prefers moist food, and cereals don't agree with her at all, so she gets Nature Diet. It's expensive but she loves it and it suits her. I was going to suggest that sore teeth might be the problem, but you've had the all clear there. Maybe the dog is just jaded with the dry stuff?
If it's the warm weather to blame, that problem has resolved itself for the moment anyway!

I think its back to the vet. He appears to be passing blood again in his urine and hes still not eating properly. He brought up a load of disgusting very yellow bile tonight (he hadn't eaten anything up till then today)

Bladder is fine as it was fully checked out, and vet said it may be something to do with his kidneys like a tumour or something (if the problem didn't go away). I am concerned about his weight though. I bought a bag of James Wellbeloved senior. Annie is going daft for it....Brogan is taking it or leaving it, but saying that, did eat a full can of tuna in oil and all his kibble about 15 minutes ago (he scoffed it).

I just dont know what to think

I tend to agree with you that you should take him back to see the vet. Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of it soon, and that it's nothing serious.