[Sheri K]

In November we lost one of my babies (at the age of 16.5 years old) to liver and brain cancer… he stopped eating and ended up letting them cancer just take over. Not quite 4 weeks later his liter mate (lab/chow mix) who had just started showing signs of kidney disease had 7 seizures. He had stopped eating his treats and wouldn’t chew so I stopped into the vets office and asked him to take a look. At the end of November Kody had a quarter sized lump protruding at the base of his tongue. It has been diagnosed as melanoma. My vet said there wasn’t anything he could do so I started researching ways to help Kody. I ran across cannibis and other holistic medications that could help him with his end of life journey. I have since brought him into hospice care with a holistic vet where he is taking cannibis as well as several other all natural medications. He has been doing good and only had one bad time which was when he bit his tongue chewing dry dog food and it got infected. We have taken him off the dry food and switched him to Blue Homestyle recipe and I mash up the chunks and mix beef gravy over the top so he will eat it.

Yesterday he got up and ate his breakfast without issue, which is a 1/2 can of dog food. When I got home I gave him his second feeding and he kept smelling it and walked away refusing to eat. He wouldn’t eat his 2nd helping later that night either. We know the melanoma has moved into his lungs and he did cough a lot last night. When I gave him his cannibis, another oral pain reliever and an immune system booster this morning he didn’t fight me. I again made his food (a different kind) and put it down for him and he refused to eat again. The medicine that helps control the growth rate of his tumor is in his food so him not eating is very bad. So now it has been 24 hours since his last meal. I know he is at the end of his journey. The tumor is now stage IV and is over an inch wide and almost that tall on the right side of his tongue. He has plenty of airway and honestly he is a little devil. He isn’t suffering because the natural medicines seem to relieve the pain he would be in without any side effects. I refuse to keep him here if he is uncomfortable and his hospice doctor and I agreed when it was time I would help him transition but I know it’s not time.

I do not want him to starve himself to death. Do you have any suggestions on foods I should feed him to entice him? He is still interested in food because he kept smelling and staring at me while I ate… I tried feeding him by hand and he wouldn’t take it. I just need something to spark an interest in him again…. even if I have to go buy a steak.

Any suggestions?

[anonymous]

No. I would not force a sick dog to eat. Or, go out of my way to entice him to eat.
I hope this doesn’t sound harsh, but it may just be his time to go.
How old did you say he was?
BTW: Supplements are not medication. I would go by what the traditional vet recommends, comfort meds only. About the mj http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=cannabis
I know what you are going through. Take care.
Peace.

[anonymous]

How about some boiled chicken breast, chopped up, or a little bit of rotisserie chicken? Just offer it, dogs rarely refuse chicken….

[Author]

Posts