# 12 Year Old Girl Eating Issues



## hamnilles (Mar 18, 2014)

Hello Everyone,

Just looking for anyone who is in a similar situation. My 12 year old girl had been throwing up bile 3-4 times a week. It kinda gradually increased to that. Went in for a vet check: urine was fine, blood fine (red cell count a little high). Vet (who was not her normal caretaker) suggested maybe it was billius. So we tried feeding her a little extra at night so her bile could work on that instead of multiplying. It didn't seem to work.

A month later we went back because she was still throwing up and the vet (this time we saw her regular vet) took an x-ray of abdomen area. Everything seemed fine on x-ray. She was 2+ pounds down from the prior visit. Vet said perhaps an allergy has developed, so we started her on a new food last Monday. She has thrown up twice since then (one from getting into the bathroom garbage (bad girl!). 

I should also mention that she has taken clomipromine (don't judge) since she was about a year old. But, like I said, all her levels were fine. We do give her peanut butter to eat her pill so that is the next thing I am removing from the diet. She is eating less and less and I think she does want to eat, because she doesn't want to throw up. :-\

She had "anorexic" issues as a puppy (when we first got her from the breeder) and we had to force feed her to get her to eat. She was never motivated by food in training. She's my quirky girl. I fear this is the beginning of a long starvation thing.

Thanks


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Hello, hamnilles, and welcome! I'm sorry you're joining the Hungarian Vizsla Forums under such stressful circumstance. I have not gone through the exact thing you are experiencing, with the dog throwing up bile, etc. 

I have had a number of older dogs, though. At 12 years old (and I hate to say it) your dog is getting closer to the end. My dogs also typically lost their appetite as they aged. I'm not ashamed to admit that what I did was pretty much give them anything they wanted, as long as I could keep them eating. Got some left-over people food? Add it to her kibble, along with some warm water. Give her small meals, but more of them. I can't really give you any medical advice, though.

I'm hoping other members will be able to help you more. Best wishes to you and your "pup". Twelve years forms a strong bond!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

> give them anything they wanted


 mswhipple Is right on the mark.

You might even consider making her boil chicken and rice.
Its easy on the stomach, and I haven't seen a dog that doesn't love it.
Not judging on the clomipramine, but have you asked your vet about cutting down on the dosage? It can cause a loss of appetite. 
Next I would consider if she has any arthritis at her age.
Just gotta try and keep the old gal happy in her senior years.


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## hamnilles (Mar 18, 2014)

Thank you TexasRed and MsWhipple. 
We changed over food. I browned up some beef and cooked some brown rice. We are giving her a mixture of the beef (tablespoon), rice(tablespoon) and kibble (2/3 cup-ish) 3-4 times a day. The number of times will depend on if I am working that day or not.
I got quite scared Friday as she threw up 3 times and the last two were rather large. I thought I saw green bile in the second one, so that really scared me. 
We are on the second full day of the new food regime and she seems to be o'kay. She loves the food combo, but I'm nervous when I go to work tomorrow we will fall back. I'm not quite sure what to do if she can't wait 8 hours, but I am hopeful as she seems to be able to wait 8 hours over night. If she loses interest in the food, I will try and switch over to the boiled chicken and rice. 
I guess that now she's a senior, she gets some special grub.
I appreciate your input.
RE: clomipromine, that's tough on the wallet these days. They seem to be able to charge whatever they want. I will speak to the vet about the amount when she goes in for her spring check up. Thanks for the heads up.
She does have arthritis, at least I think she does, she seems to run around the back yard once in a while and hurt herself.


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## Vizsla Baby (Nov 4, 2011)

Our 14 year old dachshund throws up bile at least once or twice a week. He's done it for a couple of years. 

You could try giving her some pro-biotic yogurt a couple of times a day if you are really worried about it. 

I'm sure she'll be just fine.


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## CatK (May 29, 2013)

You could bridge the daytime food gap by stuffing a mini meal into a Kong?


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## hamnilles (Mar 18, 2014)

Well, I think we fed her too much last night. 4 meals might be too many. 3:00 am clean-up. Good grief. 

I'd give her a mini meal CatK, if she'd eat it. She doesn't like to eat when we are not home. She's a high-maintenance girl, always has been.

Will try 3 time feed today. 

Will add in some probiotics on the next step if she continues. It's like a great mystery.......


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

For the days you have to work… look in the cat section of the pet store. They have automatic feeders with 4 spots that rotate on a timer. The bins are big enough to hold a dog-sized snack. On a day you are home, you might try putting a tasty snack (as opposed to a meal) in one or two bins. Stay in the vicinity while she eats. Hopefully, she'll equate the sound of the platter rotating with a tasty snack (my older cat has) and she'll snack even when you are at work.

You might also check to see if there is a senior formula canned dog food that meets with your approval that could help with her age-related issues. As an example (which may not be applicable for you), some canned food now contains glucosamine/chondroitin. 

Savannah is still several years away from these challenges, but I’d appreciate any postings you have regarding what has worked for you and what hasn’t. I’ll apply anything I can to keeping my aging cat comfortable and keep the rest in mind for Savannah later on.

Thanks.


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## hamnilles (Mar 18, 2014)

:-[ Update: Today has not been a good day. We have a call into the vet. She threw up in the am, ate, threw up what she ate. She did sit out and watch a squirrel in a tree for 30 minutes. But since then, she has had small tremmers, she is lethargic, doesn't want to eat, barely wagging her tail (she was not doing this at all earlier).....I think this is a bad night......


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

hamnilles said:


> :-[ Update: Today has not been a good day. We have a call into the vet. She threw up in the am, ate, threw up what she ate. She did sit out and watch a squirrel in a tree for 30 minutes. But since then, she has had small tremmers, she is lethargic, doesn't want to eat, barely wagging her tail (she was not doing this at all earlier).....I think this is a bad night......


I am so sorry to hear that. It's so hard when an old dog has a problem and you can't do anything to help.

Bob


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## Vizsla Baby (Nov 4, 2011)

Praying for your fur baby.


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## hamnilles (Mar 18, 2014)

Upswing, downswing, upswing. Although my furbaby is very hungry this am. Thank you for your kind words. I do love my vet, as he met me at 9 pm on a Sat. night. By the time we got to the clinic, Flash was feeling better and more of herself. Thorough exam found nothing but another 2 pound loss. He thought maybe the gall bladder was hiding something and we've never tried antibiotics, so we're giving those a try. I gave her some last night. Well, tried to. Up they came. She seems o'kay this am, will just give rice and beef - no kibble. Next step is ultrasound. Ah, my high maintenance girl.


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## Darcy1311 (May 27, 2012)

I hope your Girl is okay, my thoughts are with you , and my Darcy is wishing you all well...take care..


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## hamnilles (Mar 18, 2014)

Thanks Darcy1311. Well, we are still here trying to figure out my girl. We went for an ultra-sound of her lower abdomen and nothing of significance showed itself. They guessed it may be something like Inflamed Intestines (due to thicker intestinal walls), which to verify would need a endoscopy for $2,000. Ouch. No thank you. We don't want her to starve to death either. So, more and more table food is going in, but that doesn't mean it won't stay down and then she won't want to eat for a while if it comes up. Typically I'm quite positive, but I'm finding it harder to remain positive when we keep hitting brick walls. We are going to try steroids and something else....prevacid? We'll try starting that this evening.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

If you're not opposed to trying a raw diet, I think it's a good option in this case because you've exhausted other ones. Normally people start off with chicken, but I'd recommend green tripe for her. It's unbleached, natural tripe, as opposed to the bleached stuff they sell for human consumption. Fair warning, the stuff is god awful smelly, but dogs love it. It's got 1:1 calciumhosphorous ratio, which is ideal and contains lactobacillus acidophilus (same probiotic in yogurt) as well as some important essential fatty acids. I don't believe raw is a miracle diet by any means, but if one were going to make that claim it would be because of green tripe. I get it pre-ground from a local pet store, but there are a few online places that sell it if you can't source it locally. Just a thought.


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