my dog has poor appetite
Hello there. I am new to this sub so sorry if I'm missing anything in my post. I'm just a bit desperate for advice. My dog is a 12 year old pug mix who recently underwent surgery for a tumor removal almost two weeks ago. This coming monday he will hopefully have his stitches removed already.
Unfortunately my dog isn't doing well.
He is on gabapentin and baytril. Last Sunday we brought him back into the vet because he'd been having a horrible cough. I was aware that it was normal for dogs after surgery but my dog also had that cough before (just not as severe) and I hadn't thought it was that bad until our vet found out he had a heart murmur as well.
The cough was occasionally so bad it seemed like he could barely breath. So the vet prescribed him some furosemide which he took Sunday evening. Monday he was doing amazingly. Eating, drinking, and didn't cough once. On Tuesday however his appetite was gone and he could barely eat anything. Tuesday night he threw up a few hours after dinner.
The next day (Wednesday) he still barely ate only a little. I did message the vet and eventually had to call. The office said the vet wasn't in but I should stop the furosemide if it was causing him stomach upset so I did.
Finally on Thursday my mom cooked him his favorite plain meatball soup and he was gobbling it up very well. I gave him one small serving in the afternoon and another closer to his normal dinner time. He was completely fine and still taking his other two medications (no furosemide).
Today however his appetite went away again and he wouldn't eat anything other than his high value ham. He's still drinking water at least but just refuses his regular food. He also didn't poop at all today but I'm wondering if maybe his bowel movements are just slower because he hasn't been active. (The same thing happened the other day and he didn't poop until the next morning).
I'm planning on taking him back either Sunday (Vets closed on Saturdays) or just taking him in Monday because that's his scheduled appointment date.
I should also add he did have dental work done during surgery and some extractions. I've been feeding him his food in small soft bites with broth. This evening he refused to eat it. I put bits of ham at the bottom of the food and he was licking the food out of the way to get to the ham. He's always been picky about his food but I'm wondering when I should consider taking him to urgent care for not eating or what I should try doing. Right now he's sleeping.