On average, a healthy adult dog should eat twice a day. Younger pups should be fed at least thrice a day. During their mealtimes, you should expect a large dog to consume 2.75 – 3 cups of food, while a medium-sized should consume 1-1.25 cups of food. Small-sized toy breeds are likely to eat 0.25 – 1 cup of food.
If your dog is consuming any less than that, there’s a high chance your dog is facing one of the problems listed below. If you continue to ignore it or if your dog continues to suppress its appetite, it might develop serious health issues.
For that very reason, we urge you to browse the possible reasons why your dog may not be eating. Identify the relevant cause, and implement the proposed relevant solution. Otherwise, it could cost you and your dog quite a lot!
3 Reasons Your Dog isn’t Eating
#1. Your dog is sick.
Loss of appetite is a major indicator of serious health issues in dogs and cats. If your furry pal has all of a sudden boycotted food and water, there’s a high chance your pet isn’t well.
The most common health problems which cause a loss of appetite are:
- Fever
- Nausea
- Stomach Upset
- Kidney Disease
- Liver Disease
- Cancer
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Congestive Heart Failure
- Lung Disease
When dogs stop eating abruptly, it may be an indicator of long-term stress build-up caused by disease or disorder, which your dog may have been suppressing. But now, it no longer can do so.
In other conditions, such as cancer and kidney disease, you’ll notice that the loss of appetite is eventual.
If your dog is not eating food but drinking water, or consuming liquid food, there’s a high chance it has trouble chewing. It has a dental issue.
Other than that, recent vaccination can also be a cause of loss of appetite. At times, vaccination can have adverse side effects, and loss of appetite for a few days can be one of them.
#2. Your dog is stressed.
When dogs are in new places, they become anxious. Owing to the anxiety and fear of newer things, they may not eat at all. Other times, it’s traveling and motion sickness that affects a dog’s eating habits.
#3. Your dog doesn’t like the food.
Some dogs are picky by nature. If you’ve just brought in a pup and it refuses to eat the food, it’s probably because it’s picky and would like to try something else. We know this may sound hectic, but it’s only until you find the dog’s favorite food.
If an adult dog refuses to eat its usual food, perhaps it’s bored of the same menu over and over again. Or perhaps, other factors such as mood or illness may be keeping it from enjoying the food. And therefore, it is skipping the meal altogether.
3 Potential Solutions
#1. Take your dog to the vet.
You can’t let your dog spend days without food. You ought to address its situation. And the most effective way of doing it is to take your dog to the vet. The vet will help diagnose what’s wrong and how you can best address it.
#2. Try CBD for instant relief.
In case you can’t take your dog to the vet immediately or if you know there’s no medical issue behind its refusal of food, we recommend trying CBD oil for instant relief.
CBD products for dogs such as CBD oil and gummies are very effective in soothing dogs mentally and physically. Whether your dog is anxious, stressed, or facing inflammatory problems, the healing properties of Cannabidiol will ease it all. You can explore the best CBD for dogs on cbdoilireland.ie
#3. Try changing your dog’s food.
To keep your dog from losing appetite, it’s essential to keep its diet exciting. Ensure that you serve your dog with its favorite food and every once in a while, treat your dog with different treats. These can be gummies, crackers, chewies, meat products, etc.
If you’ve recently brought a young pup, try a range of food products and check out your dog’s interest in these foods. Go for the product that interests it and suits its health.
Final Words
Before you implement any solution, verify the identified reason. Observe your dog’s behavior and checkout it’s body for any signs of illnesses. When any signs are not identified, consider external factors such as change of environment. And even upon identifying these factors, give yourself a day to observe your dog’s behavior with respect to identified external factors.
Plus, it’s best you assess with respect to water consumption. If your dog refuses water, the case is serious. If it doesn’t, you can take it easy.
