Why does dog not eat?

What to do if the dog does not eat, how can you find out the cause and not miss the symptoms of the disease? Below we will analyze all these questions, but immediately we will denote, one hundred it will be a question of a sharp refusal of food. A gradual decrease in appetite, leading to a complete rejection of food, most often indicates a developing disease.

When refusing food is the norm

The dog stopped eating after the operation or the transferred illness. The owner sees that the dog is on the mend, looks active and abruptly refuses to eat … really an alarming sign. However, before panicking, make sure that the reasons for ignoring the food are not related to your behavior.

While the dog is ill or comes back to normal after the operation, the owner surrounds him with care, pampers, regrets. Dogs are very smart, they can build logical chains and draw conclusions. So, when you regret the dog and persuade her to eat the delicious, she concludes, if you refuse the usual porridge, you can get a treat. It’s over, the pet needs to be pitied and supported, but in everything the measure is important.

Many owners fall into such a vicious circle when a patient develops a conditioned reflex (habit) to extort goodies by manipulation. Immediately make a reservation, if this has already happened to you and your charges, it is necessary to solve the situation gradually. You yourself taught the dog this cunning, so punishment and rudeness are out of place here. If you decide to overcome the pressure, then in the future, the dog can hardly agree to be trained under your leadership.

You noticed that the dog does not eat well, are sure that the pet was not sick and you did not spoil it, what is the reason? In any guide to the content of dogs, there are recommendations for the formulation of the regime of the day. Do you follow these instructions?

Do not understand what is at stake, answer the following questions:

• Do you walk the dog at the same time?
• Do you feed the dog at the same time?
• How many delicacies do you give to a dog during a walk? Is it more or less than half the weight of the usual portion of food?

If the answers to the first two questions are negative, and the third is positive, you completely ignore the recommendations on observing the regime of the day. At once we will understand in a question on delicacies. The daily norm of food is considered taking into account all that was eaten. If the dog does not eat from a bowl, but gets a half-kilo of cookies for a walk, it compensates for more than half of its daily food allowance and it needs to be taken into account. You walked well with the dog in the evening, fed it with delicious food and she refused porridge – it is quite natural.

Now about the schedule of walking and feeding. The digestive system of the dog, without exaggeration, works by the hour. On the digestion of meat porridge takes about 6-8 hours, if the dog eats dry food, the time increases by about 2 hours. If you fed the dog in the evening, after a walk, and in the morning, upon awakening, her digestive system starts. The digested food remains from the small intestine to the thick and the dog wants to go to the toilet. After correcting the need, the small intestine is completely freed and ready to digest the morning meal.

If the schedule is violated, that is, if the dog has to endure or you feed it not by the clock, the gastrointestinal tract may not be ready to digest a new portion of food. The body is designed so that the dog will not feel hunger, while there is food in its stomach. If the pet can not go to the toilet, it will be troubled by more tangible problems – intoxication and pain. Naturally, in such conditions, there can be no talk of good appetite.

You may notice that the dog eats little, if there is always food in its access, no, this is not a paradox. All pets tend to eat from boredom, especially if there are houses without a host. You, as a caring owner, leaving for work, leave for the pet delicacies or dry food, in case the pet gets hungry. In fact, you are pushing the ward to a constant snack from boredom, which radically violates recommendations for regime feeding. Snacking, like constant access to food, negatively affects the appetite, because the dog does not feel the true hunger, it just eats when it pleases.

There is another reason that many owners miss. If the dog does not eat anything, maybe he met or just smelled the female during the heat. The hormonal splash can deprive the male of appetite for several days and this is not the most tangible consequences.

Adult dogs can go hungry for several days without good reason, arrange so-called unloading days. If the pet remains cheerful, drinks water and willingly walks, it is not necessary to worry. For a puppy, a hunger strike is harmless, if it lasts up to 12 hours, for an adult dog this period ranges from 24 to 48 hours, and sometimes longer. Hunger is really dangerous in some diseases, for example, diabetes in which case the dog should be under the supervision of a veterinarian.

How to increase the appetite of a dog

The dog’s refusal to eat can be associated with poor appetite or development of the disease. If your pet is listless, whines, does not drink water, it tears, or she worships, quickly loses weight or constantly lays can skip this section. It’s not a matter of unwillingness, but of discomfort, which prevents a pet from eating. A clear sign of poor health is a refusal to walk, even if before the pet was not too happy walking, full ignoring of the street speaks of apathy. The first thing you need to do is take the pet out onto the street in your arms. If the dog is standing still or lying down immediately, you should immediately call your doctor.

Failure of food does not affect the mood of the pet, is he cheerful and walks with pleasure? In this case, you need to try several methods to improve your appetite. Begin by skipping one feeding, for example, the morning. In the evening, offer the pet a usual portion of the usual food. If the treat is eaten with pleasure, the reason for the violation of the feeding schedule. This we said above, the dog has a poor appetite, because she really does not feel hunger.

The second method is not to skip feeding, but to cut the portion in half. If the dog ate the proposed food, the whole day behaved normally and in the evening again licked the bowl, the reason for overfeeding. Carefully check yourself if you do not exceed the daily feeding rate for the pet. Take into account all the snacks, treats, follow the dog, maybe she begs for food from other family members.

One important nuance: before you convict a dog in overeating, make sure that you feed it well. Unwillingness to eat all the offered portion may be due to the fact that the dog does not like the taste of food, for example, the dog does not eat porridge, because it is stale. The second option is an allergy, a pet may refuse food that harms it. Perhaps you do not know that the porridge causes the pet to have abdominal pain or swelling, but the fact remains – the dog feels uncomfortable. If the dog does not eat dry food, there are several possible reasons:

• A sharp change in the diet – you always fed the pet with natural food, but decided to transfer it to drying in one day. The dog, most likely, will refuse food, because for her food looks inedible, unusual, not appetizing. Dry food does not have the aroma of natural food, and this is a very weighty argument. If the dog has always eaten natural food, the rejection of dry food may be due to the fact that the gastrointestinal tract is unable to digest the granules. In any case, the transition to a new type of feeding should be carried out gradually.
• Poor quality of feed – cheap drying is made on the basis of beans, soy or corn. All these products are useless for the dog, so they do not cause an obvious appetite. Manufacturers of cheap fodder go to the trick, flavoring their products with flavor additives and flavor enhancers. More useful feed from this does not become … quite the contrary, but this condition allows the hungry dog to eat granules.
• Problems with chewing – it’s not about oral diseases, but rather about the conventions that you missed. Puppies are difficult to gnaw the granules, as their teeth are slightly unsteady. Older dogs may refuse drying, due to the thinning of the enamel and uncomfortable sensations when chewing hard food.
• Active walks help to increase appetite. Naturally, the dog does not need to be exhausted to exhaustion, but if you do not pay attention to the active loads, it’s worth a try. All dogs like to play, there may be a different type of occupation and motivation, that is, you will need to find an approach.
• Even older dogs, who seemingly do not care about anything, happily accompany the owners on leisurely but long walks. Perhaps your pet does not play with the ball, but he will like the tasks associated with the search. With properly selected load, the dog returns home tired and hungry. Usually the pet drinks, eats and goes to rest. After this, it is desirable to bring the dog out for a short walk to empty the intestine and bladder. Like humans, dogs are harmful to tolerate.

Refusing food as a symptom

What to do if the dog does not eat and looks sick? The best solution is an urgent visit to the vet. Self-medication, of course, can give a result, but if you go wrong, the main thing will be lost – time. The first thing to do if you do not have the opportunity to visit a veterinary clinic is to assess the condition of the pet as a whole. You need to follow the algorithm, the data should preferably be recorded, as they will become an anamnesis when you go to the clinic.

Important! A dog may refuse food when parasites are strongly invaded.

So, the dog does not eat, but only drinks water? If so, fix how much liquid the pet consumes. If not more than the norm, then go further, if more or not at all drinks – we are looking for a way to get to the doctor. If the dog drinks the usual norm of water, try to offer her a broth or milk. Is the treat accepted? Hence, the reasons for refusing food lie in obvious pain (teeth, mouth, stomach) or indigestion.

The next step is to measure body temperature. Do not rely on the indicator of “wet and cold nose”, in case of refusal of food, it is absolutely not informative. If the dog trembles, it does not mean that it is cold, perhaps it has a fever. In this matter, you do not need to trust your eyes and feelings, only a thermometer!

Based on the temperature, the decision is made:

• A critically low temperature is to warm the dog and deliver it to a doctor or consult a veterinarian in the phone mode.
• A low temperature indicates a decline in strength, that is, hunger has already given tangible consequences.
• Normal temperature – we continue the examination.
• Slightly elevated temperature – we continue our research, but we repeat the measurements every 2 hours.
• Fever – we knock down the temperature by contacting the doctor in person or remotely.

The next step is a detailed inspection. Start with the ears, eyes, mouth, teeth and mucous membranes. Normal color of mucous – pale pink. The red color indicates increased blood circulation, blue or white on the worse. Yellow gums and sclera talk about serious problems with the liver and the need for urgent, skilled care.

On examination, it is important to pay attention to:

• The state of teeth, gums and jaws in general – you are interested in redness, broken teeth, spots on the enamel.
• Ear canals – they must be pink and clean.
• The condition of the peritoneum – with normal digestion and absence of pain, the peritoneum of the dog is easily palpated, does not look bloated or tense.

Thoroughly feel every inch of the dog’s body. Carefully inspect the fingers and pads of the paws, the elementary splinter can give heat, a breakdown and a refusal of food. When probing the body, do a little soft, but steady movements. A sharp reaction of the dog will indicate pain, in a specific place, this is already half the diagnosis.

Important! If the dog refuses to eat after delivery, the dog’s condition should be strictly monitored, and it is better to call a doctor. The problem is that labor is always associated with a risk of eclampsia, and this is a deadly condition.