HELP!!! Bulli Starving/Self-Fasting/Urinary?

[Praellwyn]

HELP!!! Scarlet Self-Fasting? Vet Stumped!!!
by Drew C (Login Praellwyn)

Hi!


Yes, this is THE 4.5 yr. old Scarlet Bulldog w/ all of the health problems. I am writing again because for the last 10 wks she has been starving? herself. I am worried about the long term effects & feeding options. She is +_ 10lbs overweight as a result of medicinal & surgical side effects (LOOOONG story. Search for Scarlet/Bulldog or e-mail. Trusted breeders & CKC). Her vet is the director of the DMV emergency vet services so when he kept insisting that as long as she hasn't been losing weight there is no concern I believed him. I also figure that his schedule is why he is "forgetful" about Scarlet. I wait for DAYS for returned calls about her not eating. This time he didn't call back this week & he won't be in until next Monday. A full week lost, worrying, because why? After 11 (wet & dry) food changes in 10 weeks with no weight loss & normal tests I am at my wit's end.

Someone on Bulldogsworld.com mentioned that her Bulli had similar problems & that urine was leeking back into her bladder & meds fixed that. I just spent yet another fortune on extensive blood & thyroid tests & an ultrasound & I bought her a drinking fountain. Her results are "normal" & she still barely drinks, from either the fountain or her regular water bowl & only at night. She has also needed to be hand fed since the food switch/meds. She
even refuses her old food but not treats or my food. Living in a small space leaves no room to eat alone,even if I had the heart to ignore her. Nothing outside of moving to a building with stairs (recent back legs reconstruction) & disconfort from THAT. No choice. Only finding slum lords "allow" pets in Montreal. Not alone in this. Can't move for now.

While visting a friend who has both a cat & a dog Scarlet went straight for her cat's food bowl & ate everything. The same when she was given the dog food. But she would not touch the Costco brand food the next day. She DID eat the sample my friend gave us later that week during her now regular every few days binge eating. She starves herself for as long as possible & then eats EVERYTHING edible. Same for every vet food change. She sometimes tolerates (latest) Hill's z/d with yogourt or if she is starving. She will eat other (Wellness, Merrick, Fromm, Natural Balance, Solid Gold) cans but the vet-tech calls this "MacDonalding", pigging out on "fast food" non-vet food, no matter the quality. With her vet bills I can't afford a nutritionalist & no one of her vets/specialists seems concerned because she isn't losing weight. Since I can't afford $200/month for canned food that she may or may not eat I need to find a kibble that can be left out & that she will eat without worrying about yet another urinary infection.

She is hypo-allergenic & reacted strongly both physically & emotionally to the Royal Canin urinary food during the 1st infection (preserved w/ BHA & BHT)the same as to her surgical anesthetics (lung & back legs reconstruction). I kept her on it because it was vet prescribed but this time she refused it from the 1st. Since then she has been put on all of the RC & Hill's vet foods (the r/d caused incontinence) which she at 1st inhales but the next time & after refuses. All have either BHA, Bht, by-products, soy,corn &/or ethoxyquin.

I read that urinary infections can be grain-sensitivity related so she switched to Natural Balance Salmon/Sweet Potato-no grains from Wellness Whitefish. Always being told fish best for allergies.? but 11ms later another urinary infection. Her vet can't explain the infections.



Pls Help!!!

:sad:

[White Wolf]

Double post: http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=36114
Closed to avoid confusion.