Eating after major tongue surgery

I am looking to make contact with anyone who has experience of a dog who had removal of a major part of its tongue.

My whippet has had this done and we were told dogs learn a new way of eating and drinking to adapt to loss of the tongue. But he is struggling. We've been told to give or throw balls of food but he just takes it and hangs his head down unable to throw or suck it to the back of his mouth to swallow.

If anyone has direct contact with a similar problem and has some tips then we'd be very grateful to hear from you

Thank you

Wow not a expert but time will help, but always speak to your vet as that is what they are there for after post op,

I would video what your dog is doing and show it to your vet. If you have no confidence in them then ask for a referral to a specialist in the field.

The other thing to beware of, when dogs are very poorly, is that they pick up on our anxieties. Try to treat food and mealtimes as a lovely game and something that you are not worried about at all. Very hard to do in your situation I know but it will help your dog to relax around eating and food.

Thank you very much lurcherman and gypsysmum2 for taking the time to offer advice.

An update

We went to the vet and as you suggested I took a video beforehand to show.

We've thought about the geometry of the situation which is that as he is a whippet with a long snout there is a fair distance between the front of his mouth and the residual bit of tongue at the back.

So rather than throwing balls of food which had been hit and miss I'm trying long strips of soft food. I'm dangling it near his nose so he lifts it up and opens his mouth and then inserting the strip in with the aim of the far end of the strip hitting his residual tongue. I'm dangling a second strip near his nose to keep everything elevated.

Have tried with some tape-like pasta and chipolata sausages cut in half lengthwise and we've had some success.

I feel finally achieved something.

The vet also says that he has been trying to get some help from other surgeons around the world and it seems that although some dogs, especially retrievers, get the hang of adapting quite quickly others often take 4-6 weeks.

We are now 2 weeks post-op so hopefully things will now pick up.

I will need to find a brand and type of complete food that cuts easily into strips/slices without falling apart too easily so that we can try to build on this with more suitable food. Although my dog would probably enjoy living on pasta and sausages it is not exactly a balanced diet!

Fingers crossed I'll be able to report more progress soon.