Kuma isn't eating
Hi guys
For the past 2 days or so(maybe since that skipped meal), Kuma hasn't been eating properly. First he started leaving slightly less than half his food, which I thought to be kinda normal. That might even have happened before the skipped meal. Since the skipped meal, he's been leaving more of his food in his bowl. Las night at dinner i though i'd start getting him used to his new food, and I mixed the two. He took a few pieces of the new one, nad that was it. He didn't want to eat anymore, went to have hs post meal poop and went sleepy. He woke up at 2am and wanted to eat. Again he ate a small portion (I mean, really small. just a few pieces) and went back to sleep (I know I shouldn't have given in at 2am. But I don't even think I was thinking clearly, this was the first night i got some real sleep in a while). So this morning, at around his normal breakfast time, back to the food bowl. Even less of the new food, to see if that was the problem, although he seems to like it. Still nothing, just a few pieces and off he goes to his post meal poop.
Other than that, behaviour wise, everything seems normal. He plays more than he did at the start, even tries to steal his blanket and run form me, goes crazy on his chew toys, sleeps a lot, and drinks normally, actually I was even thinking he was drinking too much and peeing too much, buI think that's me beeing paranoid.
Health wise, his poop is loosing a bit of form, but I guess that might be cause he's eating less. The poop thing is worrying me, I'm probably going to the vet this afternoon to check that up. He's also sneezing a bit, but it seems to be because he just snorkels his water bowl and then gets is nose full of water. I already started putting less water in at a time, but it doesn't really seem that better.
Do you guys think I'm making too much of a fuss?
Comments
Are you feeding him the same food the breeder fed him? If not, perhaps she doesn't like the food. Some puppies are fussy, If I remember correctly, Mika didn't like the food we bought her initially. I also remember reading that some breeders fed their puppies kibble with some water in it, maybe Kuma would like that better.
Since there has been so many changes I suggest holding off on changing his food. If you are really concerned that he is not getting enough food maybe get some wet food. Easier to eat and hard to resist....
How was he drinking water? I know Niko's breeder gave water through rabbit bottles and the concept of learning how to drink was very difficult...
He was drinking water normally, but sinking his nose too much into the bowl, so he eventually got some up his nose. I reduced the amount of water that's in the bowl at all times. It just means I have to check it more often for quantity and to see if it's clean, and change it more often.
The wet food is an option, yes. Thanks for the tip. I sent an SMS to Silvia, and she told me to leave him without food until tonight, and then see what he eats...
Well, I don't want to speak too soon, but it seems better already. Today, at around his normal lunch time, he got hungry and ate almost all the food I put in the bowl, including a bit of Acana. Actually, the Acana he ate all of it, what he left was Purina.
I'm still taking him to the vet though. I think the sneezing is something, and not only the water thing, cause a bit before he ate, I pulled a bit of light green snot out of his nose, and his poop is starting to loose form adding to the previous loss of firmness. I'm sorry about the gross details.
Not sure about the fever. His nose is not very wet, and feels a bit warm, but they are warmer than us. The only way to be sure would be to stick a thermometer in his butt, but he's sleeping and in a bit we're going to the vet.
I'll keep you guys posted.
I would take him to the vet - and keep us posted on what the vet says...
Having said that, Akita are kinda picky eater, even as pups. Hilo would voluntarily fast himself as young as 4 months. He still does that. They eat surprisingly little for such a large breed... but as a puppy they should be eating more than as adults (obviously). I remember having the "Hilo is not eating" conversation with my vet several times and her telling us "nothing is wrong with him, he may just not be hungry".
Never the less, we always took him to the vet just to be safe, you never know - ya know, yo?
You guys seem like good parents, and you seem super observant - so (due to you observation skillz) I would just be prepared to take him to the vet a lot. We take our dogs all the time... we just prefer to know for sure nothing is the wrong than to find out we should have taken them sooner. We were especially paranoid w/ Maui, our first puppy... he was at the vet all the time. lol
So, we've been back from the vet for a while now. He didn't have a fever, he was 38,7ºC, but she was concerned about the green snot and the soft poop. She gave him a shot of Clamoxyl, and told me to stop by on Saturday to check him up. I'm to hold back on the Aana for now, to see if it's not the Acana that's softening his poop. I doubt it is, since it was already soft before, although it was maintaining shape. Now even the shape is kind of gone.
He's still playful and normally active. He does sleep a lot, but that's normal since he's growing up. He gained between 50 and 100 grams in 2 days, since our last visit to the vet. His dinner time will be in about an hour, I will see how he does then. At lunch he was asking for it, and ate pretty well, although he was eating better when he first came.
I'm not too worried about this, since he's drinking normally and he's playful and not lethargic at all, but I'll keep a close eye on him and we'll be at the vet on Saturday for the follow up.
As I write this on the sofa bed in the study, he's sleeping on my left on his bed and Nyx is curled up at my right on the sofa bed.
I think you were right to take him to the vet. Lucy, being my first pet (let alone dog), has been to the vet more often than I care to admit. I have the same philosophy that Brad and Jen have....I would rather know for sure there is nothing wrong then miss something even if its minor.
That being said, I think your vet was right to have you hold off on the new food. The skipping meals and soft stool are all symptoms Lucy had when she was having bad tummy/bowel problems. I'm not at all implying that Kuma has tummy problems, just that his tummy is upset. Moving to a new home is stressful enough for a dog and that alone can upset their stomach. Changing his food can only worsen the problem, even if you do it slowly. And, since he is being such a picky eater and not finishing his food, he isn't getting the ratio that you intend so its almost like you up and changed his diet abruptly.
I would let him settle in for a few weeks or longer before you start changing his diet. If he is still being a picky eater at the time you want to switch his food, I would essentially hand feed him. If you want a 25/75 mix of new/old, then put four pieces of kibble in his bowl 1 of the new and 3 of the old and make sure he eats them all before you put more in. That way you can make sure he is actually switching formulas slowly.
Keep us posted!
I don't mean to always compare Kuma to Hilo but, as a pup Hilo ALWAYS had loose stool, the only thing we found that could help firm it up was digestive enzymes and probitoics.
btw - You should change your signature to "I am currently one of Phoenix's pets, along with Kuma and Nyx"... lol. j/k (I don't mean that offensively at all - fyi)
LOL, I didn't take it offensively. Actually we were discussing who, of the four of us, is who's b!tc# . I am convinced that me and Nat are the b!tc#es here, right now...
As for the Hilo/Kuma comparison, by all means do it when you think you should. Right now you are the closest I have to the same experience, so your experiences are very useful to us. I know that every dog is different, but a lot might be similar. I think that Acana might help with the loose stool, since it's suppose to have some digestive enzymes and some beet fibre to help bulk up the stool. I know it's not the same thing, but I'm curious to see it. I guess I have to ask Silvia the specific formula she's using so I can buy more, to be enough for a few weeks.
As an update, Kuma ate a bit more at dinner, but still left half on the bowl, and I had to hand feed some of it. Strangely He would eat from my hand, but not the bowl. I washed the bowl again to see if it might be something related to some smell he's not liking or something like that. After he ate, I took him out as usual, and his stool was firmer than both this morning and after lunch. After we got back, 45 minutes or so later, he had a poop surprise for me. Thankfully he did it on the newspaper area, ever so clumsy, but he did it there. This one was also firmer than the first two of the day, but looser that the after dinner one. Oh, how my life has changed, I'm discussing poop, and taking notes! Thankfully I'm used to taking crap at work, it makes it easier...
All of this doesn't seem to be affecting him at all, he's playing harder, running outside, going crazy at times in here, barking at Nyx to play (I only heard him barking 3 times since he got here, all today). If his gastrointestinal situation doesn't show some improvement by Saturday, when he goes to the vet, I'm putting him on some chicken and rice, to see if that does it.
Today, something happened that could have "gone wrong" but fortunately didn't. I got out of the food Silvia gave m, and turns out it wasn't Purina, so I couldn't just go and buy it from the store. So, better than leaving Kuma without food, I mixed Acana with the leftover food from Silvia. He ate almost all of the mix at breakfast, and half of it at lunchtime, and his stool was really soft in the morning and after lunch he just wouldn't poop, and I started to worry a bit. We went to the vet for his follow up, he's not 100% yet, so he had another shot and we're going back there on Monday. I told the vet what happened and she understood although she agreed when I said I would have to keep a close eye on "El Gordito". When it came to dinner time, the mix was getting richer in Acana as the other one was down to the last bits of kibble, but he now ate it all and pretty quickly. Took him out for his post dinner poop, and it was the firmest stool I have ever seen him produce! Gross detail coming (i'm sorry): it almost didn't stick to the pavement. I'm thinking of sticking to Acana from now on, unmixed (even because I don't have anymore of the other, and would only be able to order by Monday). So I think I'll give it a try with just Acana tomorrow, and then see. Any opinions?
Wow! That sounds great! He probably didn't need to poo after the first round because the Acana is more digestible so he needs to pass lees poo when ti comes time to poo.
That's good news!
I would go with 100% Acana, it's a better food and is more digestible for Kuma, IMO.
Patty, that's so true! I don't think I've ever had a conversation where the topic was poop and poop alone.
Now, if so far I had good new, the picture has changed somewhat. Kuma pooped inside, on the newspaper (pooping inside is very rare, but when it happens, he has mastered it), and when it started I thought it was weird. Went to check and praise, of course, and it was very soft, only the first bit being hard (kind of like a cork, weird). I decided to wait until after dinner to see how he would do it,and we have just come back from the after dinner outing and it was very soft again. He was doing so well on Acana alone...Tomorrow after breakfast,I'll see how it goes and if i's not back to normal I'll feed him a bland diet, boiled chicken and rice, to see if it has any effect. After that we're going to the vet anyway for his follow up on the sneezing (which has improved a lot, btw) and I'll speak to her. Other than this, he's his own jolly self, playing hard, annoying Nyx and being teased by her, peeing everywhere (today he it the right place 3 times, hehehe, I think something like 10 in all the wrong places).
Poop update...Some of the firmness is back, but it's 11:50 and he's already pooped 3 times! Wow! I stopped taking him out for now. The vet agreed that I could take him but for very short periods and very carefully, since he hasn't his 3rd round of parvo and lepto, and he might sniff some other dog's pee or poop, and get parvo or something, if the other dog isn't vaccinated. I've been taking out for like 10/15minutes at a time, and neve letting smell anything that even looks like poop. But lately I've been getting slightly paranoid with the notion my pup can get something out side, and it would be my fault. So, for now, and today I'll discuss it with the vet, I'll be keeping him in and cleaning up after him. (although poop he masters on the newspaper). He started going by him self to the newspaper (not the peepads, he doesn't like them much, it seems) to pee, after some patient trips to put him there and insisting that he peed (and of course loads of praise and some treats), but most of the times he does it right at the edge of the newspaper thus soiling the floor in the process (he's peeing on the edge, by Aerosmith, LOL).
Now, on another note...do your pups get agitated during sleep? I mean really agitated, shaking and "waving" with their paws? Kuma does this quite often, and I'm unsure if it is dreaming or something else. Again something to ask the vet. She will think I'm crazy or something...or just being overprotective. I can't help it, these two are just too cute and lovely not to protect them with everything I have.
I know what you mean about being paranoid that he'll pick something up outside. I'm not worried in my neighborhood because I know all the dog owners and they are responsible, but I was really worried about it yesterday driving back. We stopped so Joey could pee or poo a bunch of times I all I could think was that he isn't fully vaccinated and he might get something. I'm really hoping he didn't, but I guess time will tell.
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I can't say for Joey yet, but Lucy never gets that agitated. Sometimes she'll twitch and sometimes she'll let out quiet little barks, but I haven't ever seen her really agitated. Don't worry about being overprotective, I'm the same way! I had Joey home for all of 10 minutes before I was on the phone to a friend because I thought he was breathing too rapidly. And I'm sure that won't be the last time I'm making frantic phone calls/vet visits about him. It just makes you a caring parent!