My chihuahua has cancer & is hacking, yapping, not eating. What to do?

It’s important to keep her quiet with minimal stress. Your veterinarian may decide to switch from the metacam to prednisone at this stage as it may reduce the swelling that may ease her breathing and eating. Unfortunately this sounds like a life threatening cancer at some point so give her lots of love and enjoy every minute with her. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Moosh.

Poor Sasha! I would talk to your vet before giving her her next dose. She may just not be able to tolerate that large of a dose at once. Your vet may be able to adjust the dose for her. If she isn't eating or drinking and c mutinies to be lethargic then I would recommend taking her back to your vet for another evaluation to ensure there isn't anything else causing her to be so lethargic. I am sorry you receive bad news and that she is having to go through this. Please know you are in my thoughts and I hope she starts to feel better really soon.

I am so sorry for this sad news. I would call your vet and see if they can give her any fluids to help hydrate her and get her started on an appetite stimulate. They could also possibly give her an infection of cerenia or Zofran which are great to help with nausea and vomiting. Unfortunately, she may need something to help with the nausea so she feels better and more willing to eat and drink. If you can figure out a way to make her eat and get the pred in her, it will make her feel better. The vet may even have an injectable form of prednisone or some other type of steroid that could be beneficial if you can't get the oral type in her. If these things don't work and you don't want to take her to an oncologist, then I would conisder her quality of life and euthanasia may be the best option for her. I hope this helps and I am so sorry you are having to deal with this. Hang in there!

I am so sorry about the diagnosis for you and Diamond. This is a cancer of the blood so it can go anywhere. Typically without chemotherapy and only prednisone the survival time is 30-60 days. You can try low fat yogurt, lean ground beef, turkey, chicken and rice and baby food. Typically they will feel nauseated and sick and will not have an appetite towards the end. The swelling from the lymph nodes can interfer with their comfort and breathing. They will drop weight drastically. When they are too weak to walk anymore and have no appetite or keep vomiting then it will be time for you to discussed euthanasia and quality of life with your vet.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear that Cassie was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia, but I'm glad to hear that she is getting treated with antibiotics. Your idea of trying to feed small amounts at a time may help her, especially if you can try to form the food into little meatballs (if it is wet food). If she normally eats dry food, you can moisten the dry food and form it into little meatball-shaped pieces. This make be easier for her to swallow and cause her to cough less afterwards. That being said, coughing is not a bad thing when dogs have aspiration pneumonia. Coughing means their body is trying to cough up the mucus and phlegm that is down in their airways, and bring it up and out so they can breathe better. Her historical collapsing trachea should not make it difficult for her to swallow fluids, although it may contribute to her coughing. As long as Cassie still has a good appetite, is drinking, and is able to keep fluids and food down (ie not vomiting), she may just require more time to get back to normal. Antibiotics can take several days before we see a clinical response. If she does not improve or you are ever concerned about her coughing or breathing, I recommend having her seen by your veterinarian, as a different therapy may be needed. I hope this is helpful - wishing you the best with Cassie!

Sassy is such a cutie, and I'm sorry she is sick! If she is having some trouble walking, I would be concerned she may be painful and I would speak to your vet about possibly putting her on some pain medication. Otherwise, it sounds like from your description she is doing ok so far. In terms of symptoms you would see when she deteriorates, you would notice a decrease in appetite and/or a complete lack of appetite, decrease in energy and an increased desire to lay around more, and possibly difficulty controlling her bowels. Those are signs that cancer is making her sicker, and if you see any of those signs, have her seen by a vet as soon as possible to see if there are any additional treatments that may help her. Again, I'm sorry she is so sick and I hope this helps!

Poor Scruffy. There are some good anti-nausea drugs. I would talk to your vet about giving her a shot of cerenia or something similar for nausea. Sometimes they need the shot first to get it in their system then you can follow up with the oral version of it every day. I hope this helps!