Pets
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
New dog won't eat!
Hello there! My husband and I are parents of 3, loving cats and now a one year old Chihuahua/Yorkie mix. We just got her 6 days ago from a family that was about to put her in a shelter. She's very loving, playful and just all around perfect for our little family. We haven't given her free roam of the house just yet due to the cats that we have. They're a little territorial right now and she's very timid. We're taking it day by day, little by little we introduce them to each other, let them sniff each other and exchange toys so they can get used to the smell. Aside from the cats, she seems very happy and is already attached to our hips. We are obsessed with her. The only problem is that she hasn't eaten in 6 days. We took her to the vet two days after we got her to get her vaccines and the veterinarian said it was normal due to all the change, which we kind of figured anyway. Not to mention, she is an 8 pound dog so she doesn't eat that much as it is. Maybe this is ignorant of us but, here it is, almost a week later and she still has absolutely no appetite, we're thinking this can't be normal? We bought her the same food her previous parents had fed her, we even tried buying something different, we bought her treats...she won't touch any of it. She'll drink lots of water and for a pup that won't eat, she still has a ton of energy when we go out on walks or play outside. I can only imagine how scared/nervous she must feel coming from one home to another so I'm sure it's completely normal but, I can't help but wonder if we're doing something wrong or if maybe having the cats around is making it worse for her. If she doesn't eat today, I'm taking her back to the vet. Has anyone else experienced this at all? I'll take any suggestions, please! Thanks!
Re: New dog won't eat!
I agree it does sound odd but i still think it could be normal with all her changes- new parents, new house, new siblings. I would call the vet today and at least let them know. She is probably still confused and excited. Do you leave her food down all day or are you leaving it for a time period and picking it up? Maybe her previous pet parents let her graze so she could eat whenever she wanted.
Good luck with your new furbaby!
Have you tried canned food? A tasty canned food may jump start her appetite. I'd try something with real meat and veggies in it - something along the lines of Merricl foods (ours love the all natural type of blends..not the ground up mush).
I agree it's likely her nerves, but with such a small dog you really don't want her going more than a week. I'm glad she's drinking though, that's a plus for sure. I'd cook her up some chicken and rice as an alternative to canned. If she didn't eat cooked chicken, I'd take her to the vet. I would try this all immediately, and take her to my regular vet Monday morning as long as she had no other issues. If she started to develops any other problems, I'd take her to an ER vet.
Good luck!
FF
I agree with PPs, try something with a strong smell! Maybe even microwave it for a few seconds to really make it stink. Even though you say wet food is bad for toy breed's teeth, this is short term, and to just get her to eat something! Maybe even boil some chicken for her...mmmm meat!
Maybe also try Vita Gravy...it's a sauce you put on your dog's dry food. I think it's available even at Petsmart. I'm sure it's really bad for them, but she's gotta eat!
Our dog hates commercial dog food. He has really bad allergies and our vet recommended that we cook for him. So, more recently, we've started cooking for him. Once a week I make a batch of beef and rice with pureed veggies or chicken and rice with pureed veggies.
He finally eats and his allergies went down. I was worried he was underweight and we tried gourmet dog foods, wet dog foods, small bites dog foods...literally everything. It got to the point where he would puke bile because he was so hungry, but he STILL refused to eat. (We DO think it was stress related.)
Now that he gets some home cooked nutrition, he is so much happier.
The one disclaimer I have is that it is a lot of work monitoring that the food is nutritious and the research is pretty intense to make sure the dog is getting the proper food. It's important to talk to your vet about it so that he or she can explain to you exactly what the dog needs and how he needs to eat. Commercial dog food has only been around a short time and dogs have been around much longer, so finding a vet who is willing to talk to you about home cooking can also be a challenge.
However, if you already care about your own nutrition and take proper steps to ensure that you and your family are eating properly, it's a fairly simple challenge to undertake.