Urgent Help Needed for Husky Refusing to Eat
My 7 year old Husky began refusing food about a month ago. I had been away for 6 weeks, my return was followed rapidly by my sister's death and visits from family members. I thought that he was reacting to all the stress in the house but had my son bring him to the vet. In the past month we have had stool, blood, x-rays and ultrasound done. The found nothing on the scan or x-rays and his heart, lungs and fine and nothing showed up in stool or blood.
He has steadily deteriorated. He went from taking small bits of food to not eating at all and anything he gets is because I have force fed him. Because of all that was going on I followed the vets course of treatment until I felt that he was getting more side effects than improvements. I stopped the meds and began rescue remedy (in case he was in fact stressed) and mood essence. And Centarium for his stomach issues. I thought I was getting some improvement. He was drinking copious amount of water which seems to have normalized and he has had ‘normal' bowel movements albeit very small.
However, he still needs to be force fed and he vomits up at least half if not all of it. The vet's next avenue is an endoscopy but it's cost prohibitive and I don't really want to put him through another speculative treatment. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
California
11/05/2018
Hi Celine,
I am very sorry to hear about the loss of your sister.
I had a malamute with very similar issues that were very difficult to troubleshoot. It was extremely frustrating because it went on for years. He lived to be over 14 years old though, even though food was a constant battle for the last few years of his life. I came to realize he basically just didn't like any of the food I gave him, even a lot of human food.
He also, by the way, suffered from chronic neck issues. He was a rescue and one of his cervical vertebrae went out every few months and I had to have a holistic vet who knew how to adjust dogs put it back into place. That poor dog was in so much pain when his neck was out. I never knew if his neck issues had something to do with food issues.
My suggestion is that you're just going to have to keep experimenting with food and try to figure out what he can't stand. You can try home cooked food. Based on my own experience, I doubt your husky would enjoy a raw food diet so you can try cooked meats and rice. I used to have to rotate his diet... he'd be interested in one type of meat and rice for a few days but then lose interest again. It was tough, boy.
It might be that an ingredient in the dog food that you're giving him is not to his liking, and that could be an added supplement.
Other ideas - Tellington Touch Technique or some kind of massage... if you massage him very gently all over, you may be able to pinpoint an area of pain that the vet missed that could be causing the issue.
You might try contacting husky breeders for sledding in Alaska (where they really know the breed ) and see if this is something they are familiar with and if they can recommend a food that huskies love.
Finally, a pet intuitive might be able to help you as a last resort. You'd have to ask around and get a few good recommendations from people who have talked to one. I have a few friends over the years who had great results after contacting one when the vet could not figure out what was going on with their cat or dog.
Hope you find the solution. Please let us know how it goes.
