Tempting a dog to eat after bowel surgery

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry, I haven't been here for ages and now I'm back asking for help Rude of me, really, I'm sorry.

I'm really struggling to get my dog, Jasper to eat. He's 5-ish, staffy/whippet cross.

He had an op on Tuesday (this week) to remove an obstruction in his bowel (he's a scavenger dog - ex-stray, it looks like he gobbled up a bone which had fell out of someone's recycling bin). Operation went well, he's on antibiotics and painkillers. He was kept in Tuesday night & Wednesday night for monitoring and until he started eating properly. Vet rang us on Thursday saying he still wasn't eating properly, but she and the senior vet agreed he might just be one of those dogs who was pining to go home and would improve more at home, so we brought him home yesterday.

Jazzy is still not eating. I managed to get him to eat a tiny amount of chicken and white fish last night by hand (I mean tiny amount), and he's not really eaten this morning either.

I know bowel surgery is very invasive and his painkillers also can suppress appetite (I looked them up as I'd never heard of them before) but how can I tempt him into eating - we've tried Chicken & rice, white fish and rice pudding.

He's drinking & peeing ok and this morning did a poo (I've never been so pleased to see dog poo).

would he be allowed some liver cake?? lots of people use that to tempt dogs to eat...stinks to high heaven but my 2 would kill for it Lol. there are tonnes of recipes on the web but i just get 2 packs of frozen chciken liver from sainsburys, thaw it and blend it, chuck an egg in and then add in flour until it is a cake consistency, pop it into a lined loaf tin/cake tin and cook on gas 4, stick a skewer in the middle and when it comes out clean it is done, leave it to cool a bit and you can give it him warm or cold

Ah, ok, I've not come across this recipe before, I'll give it a go - thank you. We're really struggling with this, I thought once he was home the hard stuff was over

Awww bless you both, it could be a combination of a sore tummy, after effects of GA, side effects of medication...what pain relief is he on as he could be feeling a bit nauseous/dizzy.
you could alter the recipe to use fish like sardines or something if you think that would be better for his tummy.
if you get really worried about his lack of eating you coul always ring your vet, they might be able to give something to stimulate his appetite

Thank you, it's been a stressful few days. Jazzy was given morphine in the vet hospital, and he's now been given Rimadyl for the pain, and he's on antibiotics too (can't remember what they're called).

I'll try the liver cake, as he's never tried sardines, and I'm not very good with fish.

Thanks

Roast Turkey always worked for one of my dog's that had a problem with his sense of smell. I won't go into why as don't want to upset anyone who is sensitive on here but turkey smells great and gets the senses going. Liver might upset the tum but yes give it a go. Maybe soup would help.

Ooh, Jazzy likes turkey at Christmas, I'll give it a whirl, thank you - luckily I work on the meat counters at a large supermarket (naming no names) so I can get various meats/fish for him at discount

A tin of sardines is very cheap and just needs mashing or breaking up with a fork. Very smelly and most dogs love 'em so well worth a try.

If you have previously done any treat training prior to the op, small amounts of meat, hand fed may do the trick.

At a guess, he's one of those dogs that goes off food after an anaesthetic. If it is that, the appetite will come back

Oooo your Jazzy is lucky, an owner who works on a meat counter...lucky lucky dog Lol
Dogs don't half like to worry us. Fingers crossed you will find something to tempt him

Fingers crossed for Jazzy,bless him Hopefully he'll be tucking into his dinner shortly(( hugs))