Should I be worried if my dog sleeps all day?
This is a question that we often get from sitter and owners who work with Rover. Help the community out by answering them in our forum!
4 Answers
Unless this sleeping a lot is a new and sudden thing, I would not worry about it too much but if your dog is usually active and all of a sudden sleeps all day, I would see a vet to rule out any medical cause like anemia, heart issues, disease of some sort, even intestinal parasites can tire a dog out.
Dogs like all animals will conserve energy as much as they can. Activity means calorie burning which in returns means having to go and find more food which also burns calories and involves risks so if they do not need to, they wont burn calories for nothing. How does this translate to a house dog? Well if your dog gets enough physical and mental activity, the rest of the time, they will sleep, if they do not, they will find ways to occupy themselves, sometimes in not so pleasant ways.
Most dogs sleep about 14 hours a day on average, some more, some less. My 12 year old seems to sleep 20 hours a day, but he is healthy and likes to take several walks per day
Unless it is a sudden change and accompanied by other symptoms, such as lack of appetite or other unusual signs, it is not an issue. Many breeds do not have high exercise requirements and few short walks and petting sessions is all they need. In addition, dogs that are home alone during the work week tend to sleep or rest during that time. Typically they will maintain their routine even when we are home on weekends, giving the appearance of sleeping too much. But it is their conditioned schedule, not an excessive amount of sleep.
How many hours it sleep/active?
If dog lose master’s attention,they will feel nothing to do excapet sleep.If you have time ,do your best stay play with your dog ,they will be active while not sleeping.
It depends on the dog. Age, usual activity or other changes in the animals ruteen.