My 2 1/2 year old female Dalmatian had a preliminary diagnosis of MMM today. We are awaiting results of blood test to return in 7-10 days before starting steroids as this can cause a false result in the testing. I am searching for other owners that are going through the same thing with their pet. I am hoping to get some ideas as to what I can feed her to help her through this difficult time. She can not eat kibble and will barely eat canned food. She can barely open her mouth and basically has to squish her nose down into the bowl and that spreads her lips back far enough for her teeth to gently grab a morsel of food. It’s heartbreaking to watch. She began taking her treats very slowly about 2 weeks again or not wanting them at all. I didn’t notice a change in her eating because I own several dogs and assumed she was eating her food because the bowls were always empty. I was away on vacation for 7 days last week so I wasn’t present to see any regression in eating. I own a boarding and grooming facility, and had my kennel manager taking care of my dogs inside my home for me while away. She didn’t notice any changes either, but often fed my dogs then went back outside to the kennel facility that I have located on the property where I live.
I feel horrible that my poor Penelope may have suffered in extreme pain for almost 2 weeks with out anyone noticing her pain. I only discovered one of her symptoms late Sunday night while petting and rubbing her head, I felt extremely large knots under her cheeks. When I tried to open and look into her mouth for any foreign body or an abscessed tooth, she whined in pain and pulled away. That’s when I realized that she wasn’t able to open her mouth. I separated her from my other dogs and tried giving her some canned food. That’s when I saw her inability to hardly open her mouth and get the food inside. Normally she would gobble down soft food because she is on a hard kibble diet with only a tablespoon of canned mixed with it.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can feed her while awaiting results to start the prednisone? I tried wetting the soft food down to make a gruel and she won’t eat that either? PLEASE HELP me find a solution, so she doesn’t develop anorexia as well. The Vet just told me to soften her kibble, but that is NOT going to work!
