Ask Dr Claire

My dog has gone off her food, she hasn’t eaten a full meal for a couple of days

In short, not eating for two days is a long time. Not eating is really just a symptom and can be the result of many underlying causes.

In this case, we really need to find the cause of the not eating so that we can treat your dog’s problem. This will help us reach the best treatment plan too.

Some of the underlying causes of not eating might be:

• Infectious disease
• Fever
• Metabolic disease (diabetes, kidney, liver etc)
• Cardiovascular disease
• Intestinal disease (nausea, masses, obstructions, inflammation)
• Pain, and more.

A hands-on examination from your local vet would be a great place to start, and needs to be done as soon as possible. They may recommend a blood and urine test as a great way to assess your dog’s base health.

Imaging (such as radiography and ultrasound) is often used in cases of not eating depending on the findings of the examination and preliminary tests.

If you’d like to chat in person, you can book me on a live video call or start a chat to discuss in more detail, as soon as possible.

I’m here to help!

Chat soon,

Dr Claire