Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire My dog has quit eating.. any suggestions?

My 10 year lab quit eating about a week ago. It first he would eat bacon, eggs & dog bisques I carried him to the vet yesterday & he ran $335.00 test with no results. When I got him back from the vet he ate a can of Aplo prime cuts, today he refuses to eat.

He ate yesterday, I'd give him a little time to work it out on his own.

When lab's are not eating their thinking about eating. You vet missed something like running more tests.

Doc

He may have eaten a non-edible item, like a piece of a toy. It could be blocking his intestines. The duodenum is a typical point of blockage in such cases. This won't show up easily on an X-Ray. Often they need to open the dog up and inspect by hand along the intestines till they find the object, then make an incision to remove it. Good luck.

Maybe another dog in heat close by? He ate after you had him away from the house so maybe take him out for a good workout...run & swim???

Rice boiled in beef or chicken broth - give him olive oil if he's got a blockage.

You quote his post where he says he took his dog to the vet, and then you more or less advise him to take his dog to the vet.

Good call.

Good thought.

Also, is the dog shietting/pissing regular?

If it persists, who should he take the dog to? A chiropractor???

Did the dog suddenly stop eating or was it gradual? Seems kind of gradual the way you describe it. Was any bloodwork drawn? Did they check the creatinine and urea levels when they did bloodwork? How much weight has the dog lost since last physical? I hope everything works out well. Labs are such great dogs.

Exactly, something is wrong. Keep us updated please.

A dog will consume beaver meat when they will eat nothing else. Had and saw dogs that were weak that wouldn't eat. Nursed back Heath. Try to give him a couple of small cotton balls w buttermilk. This will help sometimes straighten out his gut if its slightly twisted. Good luck

Also IV can help get him over the hump sometimes

gahuntertom,

I went thru this with my old Lab. She lived to be 14, but the last year of her life was a continual struggle to get her to eat.

We finally found a combo of cooked rice and hamburger, sometimes with a little Beneful dog food. Sometimes she would eat cooked fish, or canned tuna, other times not. At one point, we had to hand feed her with a fork or spoon, the only way she would eat.

After she passed, we must have given away 200 lb. of various dog foods, treats, etc. that we had bought, trying to get her to eat. Wife and I looked and sounded like hospital dieticians when we would drop her off at the boarding kennel.

He gradually stopped eating. the blood work came up all clear. he has gone from 100# when he was weighed 3 months ago to 94# Friday. A neighbor gave him a raw hide bone for X'mas & I am afraid he has a blockage.

Those rawhide bones are about the worse thing to give a dog. They swell up after they get wet. Probably won't show on an x-ray either.

Are his stools normal? Does he strain more now when passing a stool? I have used a small amount of mineral oil, about a tablespoon, to help a dog with blockage from hair and it worked. Just added it to his food and he really liked it. Good Luck.

I had a male GSP stop eating suddenly and he had prostate cancer, his bladder was he size of a football, he could't piss,had to put him down (he was neutered at 1 year old, this wasn't supposed to happen) and a female GSP stopped eatig and couldn't stand up, she had a tickborne disease (not Lyme). IV, anti biotics and Rimadyl helped alot but did not cure it. I would see another Vet. Good luck.

That's almost certainly it.

I learned by lesson with raw hides decades ago. Bad stuff for dogs. Asking for trouble.