Why is my old dog tilting head, crying, and struggling to eat?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. It sounds as though Coco may have something going on in her mouth. With her breed, it is likely that she has dental disease and a tooth infection that may be causing this discomfort. Placing her on an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory such as Clindamycin and Meloxicam may certainly help reduce her discomfort and treat a dental infection. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further! In the meantime, you can feed her canned food and soften her hard food with warm water or chicken broth.

Some medications might help. Antibiotics and pain killers (anti-inflammatories) can definitively improve his condition clearing up mouth infection. Symptomatic treatment for vomiting might help as well. I would recommend to have him on a bland diet based on boiled chicken and rice. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Rosie. See if she will allow you to look in her mouth. You even use something soft like a Q-tip to lift her lip. I am concerned that she has a painful mouth if she will only eat the soft food. Dental disease is very common in her breed. Ear infections do not typically affect a dog's appetite. Has she had any vomiting or diarrhea? This will make a dog not want to eat. Another condition common in small breed dogs is neck pain. This could explain her screaming as well. She will need to see a veterinarian when you are able. In the meantime, offer soft food. You can add warm water to soften it further. I hope this information helps!

Hi there and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am sorry to hear Milo is having some issues eating and is experiencing some weight loss. There can be many medical causes for these types of symptoms including dental disease and tooth pain, pain from osteoarthritis, organ dysfunction, or other causes. My best advice to you and Milo would be to have Milo evaluated by a veterinarian to help pinpoint a cause so he can be treated appropriately and hopefully made to feel better around meal times. I hope this helps and best wishes to you and Milo!

There are various conditions that can manifest with those signs. The most common on would be vestibular syndrome, which is quite common in geriatric dogs. Another cause could be an inner ear infection or meningitis, a brain tumor or similar. Vestibular syndrome has a sudden onset, the dog (or cat) shows a head tilt, sometimes circles, and is nauseous or even afraid, as it cannot figure out why it feels strange. We do not know what causes this, however in most cases this will go away by itself within a few weeks. Sometimes the head tilt remains. I suggest you take Rex to your veterinarian for an exam and possibly some medication to take any anxiety caused by the condition, if needed. Your vet will also be able to rule out all the other conditions.

Based on what you are describing it is difficult to understand what exactly is going on with Jordan. Since he is still eating this is usually a good sign. Since he has bad teeth I would continue moistening his food to make it easier for him to eat. Feeding him small meals more frequently may help alleviate some G.I. distress. If he continues having abnormal behavior it could be a neurologic issue that is causing problems. Keep in mind that he is older and may have some geriatric issues going on. If it is a heart condition causing his problems unfortunately, there is not a lot for you to do for that at home. There are some heart medication is your veterinarian can prescribe that can help his heart pump more effectively. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

I am sorry to hear about Captain. Not wanting to eat food can be caused by many different issues, including dental pain (we can have this even if you don't see any problems visually as some issues are below the gumline and require x-ray to see), gastrointestinal issues, and systemic illness. I would recommend bringing Captain in to the vet for an examination.