My dog won't eat.

Dr. Marie replied:

I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble with Kupa not wanting to eat.

In my experience when a dog won't eat for an extended period of time there is almost always a medical reason for this. Every dog has a strong will to live and it is really rare for a dog to just decide not to eat for more than a day or two.

My first question for you is whether or not he is neutered. If he is not neutered, then having him neutered may solve this problem. In an unneutered dog, if there is a female in heat within miles of your house it can cause a dog so much stress that he doesn't want to eat. They don't always show the stress in external ways that you and I could easily recognize as stress.

Has he had blood and urine tests done? It's possible that he has some intestinal parasites that are causing him to have some intestinal cramping which can affect his appetite. Or he could have an underlying infection or problem with his organs. There's only so much we can tell from a physical exam.

My other advice would be to not give in and give him "tasty" food. Some dogs are really stubborn. We give them kibble and after 2 days if they haven't eaten then we feel sorry for them and give in and add some gravy or add something that would be really tasty. What we do when we do this is condition the dog to be patient and wait until he gets some good stuff!

How is his weight? If he is not skinny then I would not be too worried. Dogs in the wild are used to eating a large meal and then eating nothing for several days.

As far as foods go, the commercial brand kibbles that I like that I think are good quality are Iams, Science diet and Royal Canin. You may want to see if he likes the food when it is softened for 30 minutes in warm water. If so, then each day add a little bit less water until eventually he'll eat it without any water.

Iams makes an interesting product that is a low calorie gravy that you can add to make foods tasty, but like you said, he may just lick off the gravy. You can buy this here or at most pet stores.

Some pet stores will have samples they can give away. However, I'm really suspicious that this is not a food issue though!

I hope he starts to eat better soon!

Dr. Marie.


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Dr. Marie replied:

Glad to hear he is eating! My guess is that he would do much better if neutered! I see this all the time, that intact male dogs will stop eating because there is a female in heat somewhere near your neighborhood!