Harry is my utterlly handsome 7 year old giant mix-breed. He's been prone to bouts of stasis through his entire life, despite being seen by the vet the second he looks off and his diet is beyond perfect (I don't mean to brag, but it's been carefully planned by our vet! ;-) ).
Yesterday morning, Harry decided he didn't want to eat. Great. Because he's so prone to stasis, we have a pretty established routine to tackle it - metacam for pain, cisipride for gut motility, chasing him around to get him moving, tummy rubs and tempting him with herbs/ veggies/ anything we can think of. His tummy did feel quite distended and he definitely looked uncomfortable. We administered the usual meds and left for work. I popped back at lunchtime; he'd eaten everything and had left some lovely normal poops in his litter tray. By the evening, he really wanted his food and demolished the whole lot, then spent the rest of the night nibbling on hay, asking for treats and just being... Harry. I'd given him a little more metacam and cispride just to keep things moving, but felt confident we were over it and disaster had been averted.
This morning: not eating again. Like, really not eating. He nibbled a bit of apple, a bit of parsley and a bit of kale and then sat in his litter tray. He'd been pooping overnight and didn't look in as much pain as yesterday, but definitely wasn't eating. I had to come to work, so hubs and I made up some mushy pellets and gently force fed those so that I know he has something in his tummy.
It's one of those irritating instances where he's not quite bad enough to rush to the vets (we're going tomorrow anyway for Molly's check up, so he can be seen then), but he's not quite right. What would you guys do? Nurse him through tiltomorrow's vet appointment, or go sooner? Obviously if he shows a real change in behaviour or looks in pain I'll take him straight away, but our vet is a bit of a distance away and I'd like to avoid the stress on him of travelling if possible.
Your thoughts?
Yesterday morning, Harry decided he didn't want to eat. Great. Because he's so prone to stasis, we have a pretty established routine to tackle it - metacam for pain, cisipride for gut motility, chasing him around to get him moving, tummy rubs and tempting him with herbs/ veggies/ anything we can think of. His tummy did feel quite distended and he definitely looked uncomfortable. We administered the usual meds and left for work. I popped back at lunchtime; he'd eaten everything and had left some lovely normal poops in his litter tray. By the evening, he really wanted his food and demolished the whole lot, then spent the rest of the night nibbling on hay, asking for treats and just being... Harry. I'd given him a little more metacam and cispride just to keep things moving, but felt confident we were over it and disaster had been averted.
This morning: not eating again. Like, really not eating. He nibbled a bit of apple, a bit of parsley and a bit of kale and then sat in his litter tray. He'd been pooping overnight and didn't look in as much pain as yesterday, but definitely wasn't eating. I had to come to work, so hubs and I made up some mushy pellets and gently force fed those so that I know he has something in his tummy.
It's one of those irritating instances where he's not quite bad enough to rush to the vets (we're going tomorrow anyway for Molly's check up, so he can be seen then), but he's not quite right. What would you guys do? Nurse him through tiltomorrow's vet appointment, or go sooner? Obviously if he shows a real change in behaviour or looks in pain I'll take him straight away, but our vet is a bit of a distance away and I'd like to avoid the stress on him of travelling if possible.
Your thoughts?
His teeth haven't been examined all that recently, although the suddenness of him losing his appetite makes me think that dental problems are unlikley, having had a chronic dental bun in the past.
