Cancer is the one I'm talking about. We found out a week ago that Maggie has it along with anemia.

About 2 weeks ago Maggie started getting thin and wasn't eating. At first we figured it might be worms so we wormed her and waited to see if that would help.
It didn't and she started to get thinner and had completely stopped eating by this time so into the vet we went.
The vet found a tumor on her belly on the inside of her right hip (how in the world we missed the thing I have no idea) and diagnosed her with anemia. Unfortunately we didn't catch it soon enough and he thinks the cancer may have spread to other parts of her body.
He gave us some meds to put Maggie on (not sure what they are at the moment, my mom has been handling the pill giving) for a week and in a couple of days we're taking her back in to see where we should go from there.

This is the first dog of mine to have cancer so I don't have any experience with this. Any tips that you guys might have for me would be greatly appreciated.

Maggie still hasn't gotten her appetite back - she will only eat maybe a cup of the rice/chicken/kibble concoction we've been feeding her. If you were to hand her something off your plate she'd snap it up in an instant but come meal time, she has little interest in food. Any advice for this?

I don't have any experience with the situation, but I'm wishing you nothing but the best! She'll get through it!

Thank you! I'm hoping and praying that she will be alright too, at least for a while longer. We just suddenly said goodbye to one of our dogs two days ago - I don't think I could handle Maggie leaving too.

I'm really sorry to hear that Piper, that is never an easy situation to deal with.
While I dont have many suggestions as to how to get her to eat, if ours are being picky we sometimes break up peices of their favourite treats into their food bowls. It helps to motivate them to get a little down

Again, I'm really sorry, I hope the diagnosis the vet gives in a few days is somewhat more positive.

Kelly

My friend's cancer dog didn't eat much throughout the treatment process...they manage the best they can, like you are doing. Its been a long 4-5 months for them with him being in chemo therapy and radiation treatment, the good news is he is turning around and now looking like remission is now getting his appetite back

Hi, I'm sorry to hear the bad news! We're all wishing you and your pack the best, be strong
My girl had cancer too, I can understand what you're going through. I don't have much advice but maybe feed her by hand from now on? My girl lost her appetite but she loved getting hand-fed, she also liked the chicken broth we would make just for her, she would lap it right up! Also, keep an eye on her with the meds, mine took pain meds and it made her pretty drowsy and clumsy, so we were careful letting her go down our porch steps.
Your baby is in our thoughts, you'll pull through!

My mother in law's departed dog had cancer in the mammary glands which had spread to her lungs and possibly other parts of her body. Her holistic vet put the dog on a homecooked cancer starving diet that her vet and I worked together to formulate. Being on homecooked food definitely kept her dog eating quite well up until she passed.

I'm so sorry that you and Maggie are dealing with this.

i'm so sorry your baby is sick, i will keep you and her in my thoughts. I agree with dot that hand feeding may help. If she won't eat her normal serving at once maybe try spreading it out over the day. 1/4 cup of food every 2 to 3 hours or however it would work out for her normal daily amount. also if there are no restrictions on how she takes her med ie with food without food see if the meds are supressing her appetite, try feeding her before meds one day and then after meds another. see which set up results in her eating more and stick with that way. I hope she pulls through and can kick that cancer where the sun don't shine.

Thank you guys for your kind words and suggestions. Maggie is finally eating a little bit at a time. She's probably eating about 3 to 4 cups of the raw food in 3 to 5 little meals a day. But that differs each day, some days she'll only eat maybe 1 cup and others she eats 3 to 4.
We took her to the vet on Monday and pretty much everything is the same except her white and red blood cell counts are a little off and she lost another 4 pounds (that's now 20lbs in 1 month).
She's going in for another check up after the holiday weekend; we'll see how she is then, whats improved and what hasn't.
The kind of anemia she has (hemolytic) will take her faster than the cancer will. She has a pretty sever case of it too, her breathing and heartbeat are very rapid and she will collapse of she accidentaly gets pushed or bumped (her hip dysplacia doesn't help with this though, she already had a waddle in her walk and the weakness from the anemia makes it hard for her to control her hind end.)

Wow, she has lost a lot of weight. At least she is eating some, and nothing had gotten worse. Please keep us updated, you're in our thoughts.

I'm sorry to hear this. I'm glad she is eating a bit at least. I'll keep her in my thoughts.

PIper I will be praying and sending good thoughts your way for maggie wishing you the best.

You might have seen my post in the Rainbow Bridge but we had to put Maggie down on Monday. She got worse over the weekend; she stopped eating, lost more control of her bladder, and really started to slow down. Instead of putting her through more tests at her check up on Monday, we just made the decision to end her suffering.

Thanks everyone fore your help and support, I really really appreciate it.

That is the decision we made in the end as well. I posted in Rainbow Bridge as well, but I will post here too.. Seeing them in pain and no longer their old selves is the hardest part, or it was for me. I hope you can find peace in that you have made the best decision for her, no one knows her like you do.