Pepper is boycotting all dog food

[J.Ryan]

Hi everyone. I have an 8.5 year old pittie mix named Pepper who was diagnosed in May 2020. He has done fairly well since diagnosis, but he is prone to UTI’s. His most recent one was a few weeks ago. This one was a particularity bad one and he ended up spending all of Labor Day weekend in the hospital being treated for that and ketoacidosis. He came home for 3 days and ended up back in the hospital for another 2 days with fluid treatment and was given an injection of antibiotics which should last through this week. He is also currently anemic with very low energy. He can walk about 4 blocks before he is too tired to go any further. This is up from 2 blocks last week. He is normally an active dog with the energy of a 6 month old puppy. He has been hardly eating and the vet suggested chicken and rice to calm his belly. That got him eating and I slowly started mixing his kibble back in. Within 4 days of being back on kibble, he stopped eating again. So now it’s back to chicken and rice. He has snubbed every variety of canned food that my pet store offers and will not eat if I put any of his kibble in his food. He current food is Acana. I switched him to Acana in May from Taste of the Wild which he ate most of his life until he decided he hated it. Personally, I am thinking there is something in dry food that makes his belly upset which is why he will only eat it for a few days before he stops. I ordered The Farmers Dog this week as it is literally my last option. Chicken and rice is obviously not a sustainable option even though it’s the only thing he eats enthusiastically. The good news is that his blood sugar has finally stabilized. I do test at home. Does anyone else have this experience and have any advice? Has anyone tried the farmers dog for their diabetic? He is currently underweight due to my struggles to get him to eat. I am so heartbroken and worried for him and would appreciate any advice.

[Bellandanny]

Re: Pepper is boycotting all dog food

A few things my dog liked along the way:

Rachel Ray wet food
Blue Buffalo Turkey pate
Purina One Turkey pate

We settled on the last one, and slowly started mixing in Ketona dry food kibble until we got to about 50/50 mix. She's done well on that for months, and devoured it every meal.

[jesse girl]

Re: Pepper is boycotting all dog food

I fed my Jesse a homemade diet once a day for most of her 11 years being diabetic . Also I gave her a daily dose of meil thistle for her last 5 years which appeared to help with digestion .