topic Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick... in Pet Lovers

Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

Skyegirl21 — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 10:38:00 GMT

My sweet girl suddenly has stopped eating her dry kibble. I feed her a mix of high quality food (I.e., Blue Wilderness, Pro Plan Savor, Merrick). She seems totally fine, active, walks with us daily in the park. The only thing that was a bit unusual a day before this started was I gave her the monthly tick prevention ( Simparica ) + Heartgard doses on the same day, when normally I give them separately. She weighs 15 lbs and does get tiny table scraps, but we have cut that back so she will be hungry but She is still giving me the hairy eyeball When I put down the bowl of food ( the ears drop and she stares at me) ... I’m reading it as “ Thats it? You’re kidding right? Is she just being fussy?

Thoughts or suggestions appreciated! ❣️

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

Mom2Dogs — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 10:53:41 GMT

@Skyegirl21 On occasion our small dog will not eat....there is no pattern to her refussal to eat! It usually only lasts a day and she is back to eating.....now if the non eating went on for days then I would take her to the vet.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

goldensrbest — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 10:59:56 GMT

Never give heartworm medication,and tick at the same time,give several days apart ,at least.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

Jtdmum — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 11:26:34 GMT

@Skyegirl21 give her a few days. If it doesn't improve I'd get to the vet.

I totally agree with @goldensrbest - Never give Flea/tick & HW all same day. A week apart is best.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

coconut1818 — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 11:27:57 GMT

I definitely spread the Heartguard and Nexguard a week apart. My baby girl is a beagle mix, fifteen years old and it affects her appetite. She fluctuates between 16-19 pounds and is on appetite stimulants. I agree that if it doesn't correct itself within a day or two you should them to the vet. Good luck!

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

drizzellla — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 11:39:33 GMT

We have been dealing with our collie not eating for over a year. I used to sit on the floor and feed him by hand. But after several months he would just get up and walk away from me when I sat down.

Many people would say "He will eat when he is hungry". There are days that he will not eat. And we have bought about every dog food on the market from high end to middle grade. And right now we are giving him Merrick, Canidae, Natural Balance and Blue Buffalo. We used to put fresh chicken on top of the dog food to get him to check out the bowl. That no longer works.

We have found that he only wants to eat whatever we are eating. In the past month he ate stuffed green peppers and zucchini and spinach lasagna. If we are eating it, he will eat it. And this is a dog that would spit out a small piece of carrot that was ground up in his dog food.

So now, we buy him hamburger and cook it for him or we give him whatever we are eating (within reason). He used to like liverwurst but he isn't eating that now. We make sure he sees us eating before we give it to him. And we make sure he still gets his dog food too. Most of the time we end up throwing his dog food away.

We have taken him to the Vet. And they do tests and check him out. They haven't found anything wrong. So we are just driving ourselves crazy. And last year he spent a week with a wonderful family from Rover.com while we were on vacation. They were so upset that he wouldn't eat. And our vacation is coming up again. I am sure he won't eat for them again.

He seems happy. His tail is wagging and he jumps up and down when you ask him if he wants to go for a car ride. And he seems fine otherwise. So we just drive ourselves crazy trying to make him eat.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

Montana — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 12:28:35 GMT

There are many articles and videos about picky eaters.

This video has an interesting theory:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XHwPFhQQuhs

“Question of the Week: How do I get my picky dog to eat?”

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

EllieMuncaster — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 12:30:56 GMT

How are her teeth? If something is bothering her in her mouth she might not want to eat the dry kibble.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

drizzellla — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:19:36 GMT

Also -

We also tried feeding our dog later in the day. Instead of feeding him at 6 AM and 6 PM, We started to feed him at noon. And I think it worked one day. He actually ate his food at noon but the next day, he could care less.

Then we tried feeding him once a day. I figured that was better than him not eating at all. But it didn't seem to matter.

He never was an enthusiastic eater. He was 6 years old when we got him. He was one of 10 collies. And he was one of the youngest collies. I just can't help but wonder in the pecking order of the group, since he was one of the youngest that he only got what he could when he was feed.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

DAD — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:23:44 GMT

I never knew that. Thank you!

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

evelyner — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:28:13 GMT

My 13 yr old dog did the same. I now cook for her. I make batches and put in freezer. She’s 30 lbs. at first I was giving her about 6 oz twice a day. Now I only give her one batch a day bc I leave her bowl with dry food and she eats that when she’s hungry.

I take 3 lbs of ground turkey, I add 2 cups of cooked brown rice and add veggies like yams, and frozen veggies. One cup per bag. I freeze, once a day I put one in the refrigerator and when ready I nuke it for 30 seconds.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

Veridoc — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:35:26 GMT

My black lab doesn't have much appetite after coming from the vet or when he is just out of sorts and pouty. It used to worry me at first but after I became aware that he was just mad because I didn't take him if I left for a few hours and that was his way of showing he was not happy with me.

I also wonder if age has something to do with it. We humans don't eat as much as we used to when we were younger so maybe the same is true for our furbabies.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

cindyNC — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:37:46 GMT

@drizzellla our husky does the same thing. Wants what we are having for dinner and prefers to eat after we have eaten....LOL. He has trained us well.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

Havarti — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:50:07 GMT

I had that happen to me and I thought the dog had suddenly become a picky eater. It turned out later that the food was later recalled - clearly the dog knew something was bad about it and refused to eat it. Unfortunately, I did not read those signs as wisdom on the dog's part - I just saw a picky eater. Please trust your dog's instincts and switch food - to a different brand even - and see if the dog will eat. Do not try to keep serving something the dog refuses...they are smart in ways we don't even know.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

Fressa — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 15:02:19 GMT

I have German Shepherds and if they don't eat that means they are not feeling well. Dogs seem to have a sense about these things. I won't worry too much unless it continues.

As for the medication, I spread out the heartguard and flea & tick medication. I never do it all on the same day. I prefer alternating days. This year one of my dogs had a severe reaction to one of his vaccines at the vet's. He was really sick for about a week. Now he's fine.

I would give your fur baby pasta with a littl bit of butter on it to eat. That worked like a charm for my dogs and it was vet recommended. Hope this helps.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

SharonZ — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 16:00:02 GMT

If she stops eating for more than two days you should take her to the vet, although I suspect it was the tick and Heartguard medication given on the same day. She may need a shot of Cerenia and some fluids.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

Skyegirl21 — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 16:06:53 GMT

Thank you all for sharing experiences and knowledge! I’m sure you are all right, that this was probably triggered by giving the 2 meds on same day- I had people coming over that night and didn’t want to forget... It was my bad!!

I will try the suggestions, change up the food, and I like the homemade freezer dog food recipe! If it doesn’t improve, have her checked at the vet. Thank you and Best wishes fellow Pet Lovers! ❣️Skye and her Mom~

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

Kachina624 — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 16:34:55 GMT

I have one that seems to occasionally get bored with her kibble. When she balks at eating, I give her a couple heaping tablespoons of plain, unsweetened yogurt on her food. She wolfs that down.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

MalteseMomma — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 18:13:56 GMT

i think it may be the heat.This is a realy hot summer! Even if they are inside in the AC ,it is still uncomfortable. My Cozi is only eating half of what he normally eats.

Re: Dog suddenly won’t eat, but not sick...

1Snickers — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 20:33:10 GMT

I think it could be the heat with my older Jack Russell. He didn’t want breakfast several times , but wanted me to spoon feed him or add baby food. Could be because I was hurrying to walk my sons dog while he was away. It was a change in our routine.

When I stopped feeding him rice checks and bread crust after my breakfast he started eating.

He eats dinner well and wants more, doesn’t get table scraps. He loves his dog treats so I’ve limited those and he eats his food.