My dog is driving me crazy...........

[CathyA]

Suzi, our dog, is about 9-10 years old. We discovered a few months ago that she was hypothyroid, and now she's on a little bit of Thyroxine. She doesn't sleep as much now and is more active, but she begs all day long. I thought she'd lose weight on this med, but no. DH gives her dry food (Blue Buffalo) in the mornings, but she usually doesn't touch it 'cause she knows for dinner, I add some Taste of the Wild canned food.
I give her her pill around 11a.m. with a small soft treat. Around noon I give her a chunk of cucumber or a few raw green beans, which she really likes.
But from about 8:30 a.m. on, she's whining, following me around, getting up on her hind legs and begging. Its really bad in the mornings. All this is happening while she has the dry food in her dish.
Sometimes she gives up on me and eats her dried food. But dang, its like having a toddler around here again. I say "No! Go lay down!" and she lays down for a couple minutes, and then she's back to whining, sitting up begging. I'm sure the Thyroxine has something to do with this. But I'm not going to feed her all day long.

She usually gets inconsolably hungry around 3:30, so I add the canned food to her dry food that she usually hasn't touched from breakfast. She started begging more in the early afternoon, so I thought I'd try giving her her dinner early, but then she starts begging around dinner time.

We hardly ever give her any human food. What's with this constant hunger? (I'm laughing right now because I'm constantly hungry too!......I'm on a medication that speeds up my metabolism a bit......so maybe this is what is happening to her too). But geeze........I get so tired of her begging all day long.

I started thinking maybe she's missing something important in her nutrition, but I'm paying alot of money to buy her the healthiest dry and canned dog food.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

[puglogic]

You know, if it were me, I'd add canned food to her morning meal as well. Sure, you could be militant about it and think "if she gets hungry enough she'll eat it" but if getting her to eat a meal in the morning gets her off your back, isn't it worth it? You could divide the canned food you give her into two doses, half morning, half evening. I'm sure it's the medication (whenever on any sort of medication, my shepherd is really insufferable....he feels funny and wants us to solve it).

It could also be that she's getting something from that canned food that her body really needs, and she's trying to communicate that to you.
Or she could just be spoiled. Any way you slice it, getting her to eat a morning meal might solve your problem.
You could ask your vet to adjust her dosage, too. Tell her/him the symptoms and see if they can ratchet that back a little.

Good luck, CathyA. I have to exercise the heck out of our new dog or he really doesn't let me get any work done whatsoever, so I feel your pain....

[goldensmom]

A couple of things, she could just not like the dry food or she could still be adjusting to the medication. My 15 year old will not eat any dry dog food with fish in it (i.e., TOW Pacific Stream) and one of my younger dogs was insatiably hungry when she began taking Phenobarbital until she adjusted to it. It took some time before she regulated but it was so annoying especially when I knew she was getting enough food. If they fuss too much between meals, I give them some green beans, apple slices or carrots until meal time. With the recent time change all my dogs start following me around an hour before time to eat and start whining and moaning for breakfast at 5AM.

[CathyA]

Thanks pug and golden. Why didn't I think of giving her a little of the canned stuff in the morning?? :doh:

She would eat the dry stuff, if I poured a little olive oil on it, but I didn't want to start doing that all the time either.

When we first switched her to the Blue Buffalo dry stuff from Purina dog chow, she really snarfed it down. I guess it got old to her. Even though the Purina seemed to fill her up more, I don't think all that grain is ultimately good for her.

As far as the Thyroxine, she is on the smallest dose possible, but it seemed to make all her labs normal. Plus, every time we have them recheck it, it costs about $110. (they have to send it out).
She seems to be normal except for this begging all the time.

Okay. New plan.........a little less dry food with some canned food in the a.m. and we'll see how that goes.

Oh! I totally forgot about the time change........so she may be responding to that as far as appearing to get hungry earlier. (I guess its ME that is responding to that, since her timing is exactly the same........hahaha).
Thanks so much for your suggestions!

[mschrisgo2]

You might also try just putting a little warm water on her kibble in the morning. That will release the good smell of it, and most dogs can't resist that.
Is she gaining weight? Or staying about the same? the thyroid med is probably messing with her appetite.
Maybe try adding fresh or frozen green beans to her kibble; lots of bulk and won't put on pounds.

[awakenedsoul]

I was going to suggest adding the canned food to her dry food in the a.m., too. My dogs have been eating a lot more as the weather is getting colder. I let them free feed. Maybe she is hungry, and needs more food. I know my cravings are different in the winter. I like more meat and potatoes.
I also feed my dogs cooked pumpkin. In the summr they get cooked zucchini. I always have extra from the garden. They love it.
Also, dogs are very tuned into us. If you are hungry all the time, she could be feeling your vibes. My dogs feel everything I feel. I've been making a conscious effort to be happier and more cheerful, and they are responding.