[GottaLuvMutts]

Originally Posted by hulkamaniac

This advice seemed to work. For today anyway. I hauled out the old tug-a-jug and fed him his dinner out of that. He spent hours trying to empty it and then passed out. Peace and quiet reigned at my house all evening for which I was eternally grateful.

Nothing wrong with keeping this up. Since he can't go on a walk and is fairly untrainable (or so it sounds), this may be the only way of providing mental stimulation. There's an awful lot of treat-dispensing toys out there that could help you - you could get a few and just rotate them as needed. Kit hasn't eaten a meal in months from anything except her Tricky Treats ball, but I've been thinking about finding another treat-dispensing toy so it's not so easy/boring.

[dakotajo]

Be easy on him. He doesn't have alot of time left on this earth, even if he ends up living another 2 years. If all he has to look forward to anymore is eating then so be it. You will be satisfied in the end that you gave the remaining months of his life with some happiness. He could be a bit senile too but think how you would want to be treated if you became that way. If that's all I wanted to do was eat when getting sick and old and would hope my caretaker would just feed me and let me be happy

[3dogmom26]

Originally Posted by dakotajo

Be easy on him. He doesn't have alot of time left on this earth, even if he ends up living another 2 years. If all he has to look forward to anymore is eating then so be it. You will be satisfied in the end that you gave the remaining months of his life with some happiness. He could be a bit senile too but think how you would want to be treated if you became that way. If that's all I wanted to do was eat when getting sick and old and would hope my caretaker would just feed me and let me be happy

I agree 100%. I'm honestly a bit taken aback at the lack of compassion. This poor old dog is dying of cancer. I lost my mom and my sister to cancer and let me tell you, it's not an easy journey....so if this poor old dog just needs a bit of patience, I beg of you, just give it to him. Try putting yourself in his paws for a few minutes. Imagine being him...old and a bit senile and having cancer eating away at your insides....then once you can see through his poor old eyes, take a moment to just show him some compassion and love...pet him, love him, and he will appreciate it.

[GroovyGroomer777]

Originally Posted by dakotajo

Be easy on him. He doesn't have alot of time left on this earth, even if he ends up living another 2 years. If all he has to look forward to anymore is eating then so be it. You will be satisfied in the end that you gave the remaining months of his life with some happiness. He could be a bit senile too but think how you would want to be treated if you became that way. If that's all I wanted to do was eat when getting sick and old and would hope my caretaker would just feed me and let me be happy

This is along the lines of what I was going to say.

Brutus has about 6 months left. I think he should be able to have his cake and eat it too.

In 6 or so months it will seem awfully quiet and you may wish that your old hound was howling at the door begging to eat.

[Herrick's Mommy]

Originally Posted by GroovyGroomer777

This is along the lines of what I was going to say.

Brutus has about 6 months left. I think he should be able to have his cake and eat it too.

In 6 or so months it will seem awfully quiet and you may wish that your old hound was howling at the door begging to eat.

These are my thoughts exactly. I know that it's probably hard to see it this way, but in the end, Brutus is still a living creature and the best thing you could do is simply make his last days great.

[deege39]

I can say that I understand, not quite to the extent of Hulk's dilemma, but I do understand how frustrating things get, when you've got a dog that just can't/won't cooperate.

Donatello is very difficult to train... He's incredibly smart, but it is very hard to train him to do anything new, he sort of "freaks out" in a way, that he'll cower and tremble like I'm going to beat him; I offer high-quality treats, he'll take it ever so gingerly, then quickly spit it out... It doesn't matter what the treat is, how excited I am, how relaxed I am... I go so far as to say Donatello really isn't motivated by anything; He is on "good days", but on "bad days" he's let chunks of steak go uneaten all day because in the morning I tried to get him to do something "new"...

In no way is my example anything like yours, Hulk, but I do empathize with your frustrations... It sounds like one of those "catch 22"-things; I agree with everyone when they say the dog isn't really to blame, but at the same time I am sure that doesn't really make things any easier for you...

I will mention, that when I do screw with Donatello's routine, sometimes it has a positive affect, if I do it right... So I do second the motion of the continuation with the "tug-a-jug"...

Good luck.

[cshellenberger]

Hulk,
Is he on any meds for the Osteosarcoma? It's also possible that his body fighting cancer is kicking his appetite into overdrive or that the cancer has spread into the brain and is affecting his thought processes, or that he's just old and going senile. I know it's frustrating, but try to understand that he's going through this too and probably doesn't understand what's going on. It also sounds like there may be a bit of Separation anxiety going on as well, possibly also cause by the illness. God Bless you for taking this old guy on and trying. Be patient, he may not get better especially if he's losing his memory.