My dog barely eats his food, taking a few bites then stopping. Why?

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear that Bufford is having a problem with his diet. This happens occasionally due to a few reasons including boredom with the same diet, loss of satisfaction from the food, oral discomfort, jaw pain, among others. Your veterinarian can perform a physical exam and then advise some diet recommendations or advise some testing to evaluate his health (fecal exam, blood tests, x-rays, etc). Unless you can find an appropriate diet they he likes I would let your vet take a look at him and go from there. Good luck with Bufford.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Given he has not been showing any other signs of illness, this may just be that he needs a diet change. Sometimes dogs can get bored of their diets periodically. You can try a new diet or possibly mix his current diet with canned food to see if that helps. Best of luck!

I am sorry to hear that Camila is not eating and I can see why you are concerned as am I. It is great that she is acting normal and playful but as most dogs are very food motivated a decreased appetite is their way of telling us they don't feel like themselves. Decreased appetite is unfortunately a very common symptom for many different problems, some more serious then others. It can be from something going on with the GI tract itself or any other body system (other organs). Is there anything she could have eaten that she was not supposed to (got in to the trash, chewed up toys)? What I would recommend is that Camila have a visit to a veterinarian for an examination. More than likely they will also want to check some lab work to look at her organ function and potentially take some x-rays. Based on these results they may prescribe some medication or may recommend additional testing to investigate her decreased appetite further. I hope she is feeling better soon and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Causes of a decrease in appetite are: intestinal parasites, viral or bacterial infection, he ate something gross that is upsetting his stomach, he ate something that is stuck, food allergy/intolerance, Inflammatory Bowel disease, Addison's disease, new treat/food/table food. Sometimes this can be behavioral as well, he is waiting for something better like the Pedigree. If there is not other symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, or lethargy then that is likely the problem. If you recently got a new bag of his food the company may have changed the formula or there is a issue with that bag of food. If you really don't want to feed him Pedigree then hold your ground. Offer his normal food, you can add water to it to make it more tempting, and if he doesn't eat it then pick it up. Do not offer treats or any other food and then he is not fed again until his next meal time. You can also consider feeding him once daily. If he is otherwise sick, please repost with his symptoms and we will provide advice. I hope this helps and I wish you and Puku the best!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is likely behavioral and may be a food preference problem. I would recommend experimenting with different dog food formulas, texture, kibble size, dry vs. canned, etc. and see if this helps. Many times it is just a matter of finding the right formulation and texture that the dog prefers. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! What you are seeing may be normal, or it may be indicative of an underlying issue, it is difficult to know for sure. There are some dogs who are good at self-regulating their food intake; when they are full, they stop eating and then come back again when they are hungry. It could be that her growth spurts have slowed down and she doesn't need to eat as much as she did when she was growing so rapidly. It can also indicate an underlying GI upset, however (intestinal parasites, foreign material ingestion, gastritis, etc.). If she is acting normally, good energy level, normal stool, and no vomiting, then I would continue to monitor it over the next couple days. If she starts not wanting to eat, vomiting, have loose stools/diarrhea or otherwise acting ill, then I would recommend she be evaluated by a veterinarian to determine what the underlying cause may be. Good luck!

A dog may stop eating for a wide variety of reasons, some of which are due to medical conditions and others that may be more behavioral. Medical problems such as gastrointestinal viruses, intestinal obstructions, parasites, or kidney disease, among other conditions, can lead to this problem. Other dogs may become disinterested in their food and may prefer a different flavor of food, or the taste of the food may have changed due to the container in which it is stored. If your dog is still active and playful, you can try to tempt them to eat with a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken and white rice for a few days before gradually transitioning back to either their original diet or to a new food. (Any time you change diets, be sure to do so gradually by mixing the old and new foods together over 5-7 days.) If this is unsuccessful or if your dog is lethargic, vomiting, or having diarrhea, a visit to the veterinarian is in order. The veterinarian will be able to perform a physical exam as well as any necessary diagnostic tests to try to get to the bottom of this issue so that proper treatment can be started.