Dog Not Eating? Possible Causes and Solutions
Whether you've had a dog for years or just adopted your first puppy, not eating can be very distressing. There are many reasons why dogs lose their appetite. Determining the cause is important for designing the optimal treatment plan.
The first thing to consider is how to assess your dog's appetite. If you're concerned that your dog isn't eating as much as the guidelines say for the food you're buying, remember these are just averages. Many perfectly healthy dogs eat 60 to 70 percent of the amount listed on the package.
Because a dog's lack of appetite can indicate illness, be sure to consult your veterinarian if you notice any changes in your dog's eating habits. It is especially important for dogs that are generally well-fed to respond immediately to a refusal to eat.
While most dogs can go several days without significant ill effects, it's best to address this problem early.
Reasons your dog won’t eat:
Just like in people, there are a variety of reasons dogs might refuse to eat. These include:
- Illness. A decreased appetite in dogs is often a sign of sickness, especially if your dog is exhibiting other symptoms at the same time. Although a loss of appetite in dogs doesn’t necessarily indicate serious disease, prompt veterinary attention is important because it could be a sign of significant illness, including cancer, various systemic infections, pain, liver problems, and kidney failure.
- Dental disease. Your dog may not want to eat because something in its mouth is causing pain. Have them checked for a broken or loose tooth, severe gingivitis and even an oral tumor.
- Recent vaccination. Fortunately, vaccinations are available for many serious and contagious dog diseases. Although these injections have saved the lives of millions of pets in the past 100 years, they do sometimes have adverse effects. The majority of these are minor and brief, including a temporary loss of appetite in dogs.
- Travel and unfamiliar surroundings. If your dog’s appetite was fine until you went on a trip with them or moved to a new location, it may be that your dog won’t eat because of traveling or the unfamiliar surroundings. Some animals may get motion sickness, and others become nervous or uncomfortable in new places.
- Pickiness or behavior issues. Some dogs are just picky, or their refusal to eat may be caused by feeding them in situations where they aren’t comfortable, such as around an aggressive dog or from a bowl at an uncomfortable height. Because a decreased appetite in dogs may be caused by illness, never assume that your dog is picky without investigating other possibilities first.
What to do if your dog won't eat?
When your dog won't eat, it's up to you and your veterinarian to determine what's causing the problem.
If your dog's loss of appetite is caused by a medical condition, your veterinarian may recommend a prescription diet to meet your pet's nutritional needs while treating the underlying medical condition. Sometimes these diets are not particularly palatable, especially if your dog is used to regular treats or human food. If your dog is already sick, never starve your pet to force them to eat a prescribed diet. Instead, discuss alternatives with your veterinarian. In more severe cases, your veterinarian may prescribe appetite-stimulating medications, suggest a liquid diet with a syringe, or insert a feeding tube.
If your dog's decreased appetite is a behavioral problem caused by pimples or discomfort while eating, rather than the result of an illness, there are a number of things you can do to encourage your pet to eat.
Take him to the vet. Guided by the history of your dog's disease and its complete clinical examination, your veterinarian may need to carry out additional examinations to discover the cause of the dog's anorexia.
They may take blood for biochemical analysis to check for organ failure and blood cell analysis to check for infection.
If he discovers abdominal pain by feeling the dog's belly, he can do an x-ray of the abdomen or an ultrasound.
If, on the other hand, he hears a heart murmur on auscultation, he can do a chest X-ray and a cardiac ultrasound to see if the suffering heart is responsible for the dog's loss of appetite.
Do not forget to send him all the useful information to discover a possible infection. Certain diseases such as piroplasmosis, which is transmitted by the dog tick, create a very high fever as well as hemolysis and often make the dog anorexic.
The veterinarian will rarely prescribe medication to stimulate the dog's appetite and stop eating. Indeed, once the cause has been treated, dogs easily and quickly resume their eating habits.
Your dog will therefore receive a treatment adapted to his illness. And if ever the appetite does not return consult your veterinarian again to make sure that everything is back to normal.
If your dog has not eaten for several days with a serious illness, your veterinarian will probably keep him in hospital on a drip until he recovers and regains his appetite. Depending on the case, he may add glucose to the infusion, feed him with a syringe or pass food through a nasoesophageal tube (which passes from the nose to the esophagus). On his return home he may possibly prescribe special kibbles to preserve his digestive tract or the organs whose failure caused the anorexia (such as the kidneys).
If your puppy isn't eating when you bring him home, offer him the same kibble he had in his adopted place, leave him alone to eat or stimulate his appetite with puppy food. If, despite everything, he refuses to eat, do not hesitate to contact your veterinarian....
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