On my second day sitting this senior dog, and he only ate half of his food yesterday, but he won't eat at all today. Hour and a half after he usually eats, and he won't even come when I call him. Anybody else have this problem? Any ideas on how I can get him to eat?
First I would make sure to let the owner know. see if he has done this in the past? It really all depends on the dog. If he is nervous? Does he normally get upset when the owners leave? How was the dog yesterday? Perky and up beat and today he is down?
Is he just missing his parents or is he not feeling well? Talk to the owners and see what they say, they may have some suggestions.
You can try offering him some chicken. Plain Chicken breast (no skin, no seasoning, no bones. just a plain chicken breast. you can boil,cook in oven, or buy chicken strips from your grocery store. (rotisserie chicken already made does not work, they tend to be high in salt and seasonings.) you want to make sure you go with a plain chicken breast no salt, no pepper, nothing.
You need to be able to determine if this is behavioral or medical?
I totally forgot I'd asked a question here! I've never done it before. But anyway, I ended up solving the problem on my own. I could tell by the dog's body language that the not eating was purely because he missed his family too much to do so. But luckily for me, his family had some meatballs in the fridge that they specifically told me to give to him everyday before they left, so I thought "Hey, I haven't given him his meatballs today!" so I broke them into pieces and buried them in his food, and so he ate all of it trying to get at them, so, problem solved! He seems to be a bit more comfortable today, so let's see if he eats without a fuss today.
At first, I thought it was medical, because he's an elderly dog with itching problems and an ear infection, but after closely monitoring him for a while, I determined it was all emotional. But yeah, he seems better today, so that's good. He actually slept at the foot of the bed last night, something he hadn't done the night before, so that's a good sign that he's getting more comfortable being around me.