Tyler: A Story Worth Telling

Tyler came to see us in clinic on Tuesday, May 25. He was not feeling well, had an elevated temperature, and had a benign growth on his neck. He was not eating and his owners could not get him to eat. We told them to leave Tyler with us for a few days and we would try to get some food into him.

The first time I, myself, attempted to force feed him (and I'm generally considered the resident expert on force-feeding here at NGAP!) I almost lost my index finger! An hour-and-a-half later, we were able to get food in his stomach using the same process, but with Hill's A/D. A/D has the consistency of pudding and is commonly used for dogs that won't eat. High in calories, almost every dog will eat A/D! Tyler would not eat it, but we were able to get it down his throat. With considerably more work each day, we were able to force feed Tyler both A/D and small pieces of I/D. Both my wife, Gerda, and Pat Thomas cooked up chicken and rice mixtures which we were able to get into him.

By the following Tuesday, we started to see some hope. His elevated temperature came down and he was beginning to eat on his own. That Wednesday, as a special treat, he spent the day in our office and ate a whole Pedigree meal on his own. We have now completely stopped force feeding him and his appetite seems to be increasing. Keep in mind, he is on steroids and he will have to be weaned off them, but hopefully he will continue to eat. He lost 10lbs during this ordeal, but now we see firm stools some of the time and no blood in the stool, so we are hopeful he will regain that weight in no time.

Tyler was eventually given up by his owner because of the ongoing cost of his medical treatment. Euthanasia was his only other option, but we felt he was far to nice of a dog to give up on him. As I passed his cage early this morning, he had eaten 3/4 of the food given to him. It seems he doesn't like to completely clean out his bowl! Stay tuned!