A puppy can become very sick if it doesn’t get enough food. Like people, it is common for a puppy to sometimes not want to eat. If the puppy acts normally, a lack of interest in food is usually not a major worry. However, if he suddenly stops eating for more than a meal or two, it is important to see a vet quickly, especially if the puppy seems unwell.
Small breed puppies have less fat stored than grown dogs and cannot skip meals for more than 12 hours without needing medical help. Very young puppies can quickly experience low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) if they miss a meal.
Why do puppies sometimes refuse to eat?
Anorexia, or loss of appetite, can come on suddenly, with the puppy suddenly refusing to eat, or gradually, when he eats less and less each time. Numerous factors can contribute to your puppy’s anorexia.
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Some spoiled and skittish puppies may develop preferences for certain foods and refuse to eat anything else. If you give in and give him the food he wants, you teach him that this is the way.
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When your vet confirms that your puppy is healthy, practicing «tough love» can get him to eat what you’ve chosen for him on your schedule.
Stress and high temperatures
Stress can suppress your puppy’s desire to eat; abandonment to a kennel, or a change in the owner’s working hours, can cause separation anxiety and cause the dog to lose appetite.
The stress of unexpected guests can also lead to anorexia. Additionally, high summer temperatures can lead to a lack of appetite.
Diseases, parasites or teething
Anorexia is one of the most common signs of illness in puppies and can occur in combination with fever if an infection is present. Anorexia can occur due to life-threatening viral infections (such as distemper or parvovirus), as well as less serious infections such as those of the upper respiratory tract or intestinal parasites.
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A sore mouth caused by teething can also make your puppy averse to food. In other cases, the ingestion of a foreign body (e.g. ingestion of a piece of toy or a piece of litter) can cause abdominal pain and consequently make the puppy not want to eat.
If your dog’s anorexia lasts more than a few meals, make sure your vet rules out any conditions before trying any techniques to get your pup to eat.
How to stop anorexia
You will need a diagnosis from your vet to find out why your puppy has stopped eating. If your vet rules out disease, it is often a good idea to try your puppy on healthy, vet-approved foods and use other techniques to encourage him to eat.
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- Give him small pieces of healthy food like a slice of lean beef or chicken. This will help you understand if the pet is simply lazy or if he really has a problem that needs to be checked out by the vet.
- Stimulates the puppy’s appetite eating strong-smelling foods, which may make them more attractive. Liver and peanut butter are the most common in this regard.
- You can try giving your puppy meat-based foodcreated for human babies, it is palatable for most puppies and easier to eat when they have a sore mouth while teething.
- Add warm water or unsalted chicken broth on top of the dry food (which you can then transform into a cream, using a mixer).
- Reheat puppy food placing it in the microwave for about 10 seconds, which will better release its flavor and stimulate the puppy’s appetite.
- Another way to entice the puppy to eat involves adding a small amount of yogurt (as a topping), or cottage cheese, to his regular food, or adding a very small amount of corned beef that has a strong odor.
- Blend a very small amount of food for cats in puppy food. The flavor and higher protein content of cat food are very appealing to most kittens.
- Try feeding him manually on the cute puppy, but don’t make it a habit.
- Give a small amount to the glutton of food and if he refuses to eat, remove the food and try again an hour later. Leaving food in front of a ravenous dog for longer periods of time overloads the nerve centers in the brain that respond to appetite, leaving him without the appetite he might otherwise have.
- If the vet has decided that there are no problems health, try to modify your behavior a little when the puppy turns up his nose even at the tastiest foods. The puppy is no longer allowed to receive reward feed him (as with children, rewards tend to spoil him and suppress his appetite) and stick to a regular meal schedule.
- Buy a new bowl for the puppy to eator move the old one to another place, which might make things a little more interesting for him; you might even try one device that distributes food (dispenser) so that the puppy has partial control of it.
- When your puppy’s case is severetalk to your vet. He or she may recommend medications to stimulate your appetite, depending on your diagnosis.
- Contact your vet immediately if you notice signs of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in your puppy, such as unsteady walking, «drunkenness,» weakness, or seizures. At the same time, if weakness occurs, you may want to raise his blood sugar level a bit by applying something sweet to the puppy’s gums, such as a little pasteurized honey.
Read the following article: 7 of the most common puppy diseases you should know about
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