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[ob]

Well, since my pug went into heat about 3 or 4 months ago, my boyfriend's dachshund has pretty much refused to eat or drink almost anything and he's getting worse. Most of the time the issue seems to be that he either wants food or water first and if he doesn't get the one he wants right away, he refuses to do anything until the other is presented; the last few weeks he's been getting both at the same time & just refusing all but maybe 2 or 3 bites of food & he hasn't finished a small bowl of water in 3 days, but he runs from his food to go find crumbs and old gunk in random little crevices like under the fridge. There's nothing medically wrong as far as I'm aware, he's just way too stubborn.
Today I decided to try putting him in his crate with a bowl of water, a bit of his normal food & some people food to try to fatten him up (doubt it'll work since I only make vegetarian food, but I'm hoping the rice in it will help.) Is there anything else I can do to break him from his stubbornness before he starves himself to death?

I've never even heard of a dog doing this before so I don't expect answers directly related to this issue, but anything that might help would greatly be appreciated, especially if it helps him not be so horribly stubborn.

[GrayRodent]

The wisest thing to do is to supplement or replace his diet with one based on meat as dogs are specifically designed and optimized to process meat. You may want to discuss this with a veterinarian. He may recommend some blood work as vegetarian diets don't always work out for dogs and can result in malnutrition and digestive problems that may present with similar symptoms.

[ob]

He did start eating some Spanish rice I gave him an hour ago or so, but I'll definitely get some meat for him and keep trying to give him his dog food.

  Thanks

[GrayRodent]

I had totally misread what you were saying and got the idea that the dog was on a vegetarian diet. I apologize for such a confusing response. Some vegetables in the diet won't hurt but canned dog as a suppliment to dry dog food might help. If you are noticing weight loss I think it's a good idea to see a vet since that can lead to other serious problems if left unchecked.

[ob]

Finally figured out he has Lyme disease so we're taking care of it. He's back to eating but hasn't gained any weight back yet.

[GrayRodent]

Yikes! Lyme disease can take several months to recover from and sometimes the symptoms come and go. I'm glad you were able to get a diagnosis.

[ob]

Apparently he wasn't responding to the antibiotics as well as we thought. I sat with him while he had a few seizures last night & shortly after his owner got home & picked him up he died  saddest 3 hours of my life.

[GrayRodent]

I'm very sorry to hear that. I have a friend who actually had lyme disease and it took about a year before he completely recovered from it. That was quite an unexpected and tragic turn.

[ob]

A whole year?

I think he might have eaten something sprayed with bug spray or it got into his water...I'll avoid ranting about the bug spray because I've already thrown a few fits about it being sprayed in my apartment since I have a ton of animals & a small child, but I can't imagine it having just been the Lyme disease since he was getting better...

[GrayRodent]

Yeah it was a year before he was back to normal. He wasn't in best of health to start with and the symptoms came back a couple of times even into the second year but not as severe. His doctor said that wasn't unusual.

I've read that sometimes Lyme disease can cause renal failure in dogs. That could be a factor and perhaps the risk was high because of his low weight. The damage could have been present for a while but took time for the toxic effects of renal failure to manifest. It could have been compounded by the antibiotic itself which can also attack the kidneys. Typically bug spray isn't that dangerous once it's dry unless it got sprayed directly onto his food or water.

[ob]

I was never told any of this could be fatal as long as he was eating, but I looked it up the morning after he died & found a bunch of forum posts about seizures & dogs dying from it but they were all pretty old  he was almost 2.
That same day I put some of the flea & tick prevention stuff on my pug because I can't handle sitting with a dying animal, especially if it's dying from something preventable...

The dog was mini-dachshund sized even though he was supposed to be a standard sized one; I wonder if that could've added to it somehow.  The possibly good news is that my pug might be pregnant from him so his genes might be passed on. I can't afford to take her to a vet to get her checked for a few weeks, but she's a lot calmer than usual & acting like she was when she was pregnant before; with any luck, she is & won't have a miscarriage (again) or have any issues having puppies.

[GrayRodent]

Perhaps you were reading about dogs with epileptic seizures which are usually not fatal. If your dog was in renal failure toxins from the body's normal processes would build up in the blood. The kidneys normally filter these toxins and expel them through urination.

If the kidneys are compromised, which is not unusual in the end stages of Lyme disease, they fail to sufficiently purge the blood of those harmful chemicals and they build up to the point where the brain and nerves can no longer function. This usually results in seizures. The seizures were not the likely primary cause of death but of the blood being poisoned as a result of renal failure from Lyme disease to the point where the body can no longer survive.

Although that is the most likely cause of death you'll never know for sure without doing a necropsy and post-mortem blood work. I'm somewhat surprised that they were able to diagnose the Lyme disease but did not catch and treat for uremia. If you ever have another positive diagnosis of Lyme disease, I recommend that you get your dog's blood tested for uremia and again a week later to track the health of its kidneys, especially if the dog has been loosing a lot of weight. There are treatments to help with that until the kidneys can heal back up.