If dogs don't eat or drink, it can indicate abdominal pain, poisoning or viral infections. It may also be because the dog is struggling with toothache, gastrointestinal illnesses or depression.
Healthy dogs can usually last between 5 and 7 days without eating. For free-living wolves, such long meal breaks are often part of everyday life.
However, without drinking it becomes life-threatening after just 2-3 days. If your dog doesn't drink water for more than 12 hours, you should take action.
To narrow down the potential causes, the following questions may help
- Has your dog done anything strange in the previous 2 days?
- Is the food, water and lifestyle the same as before?
- Does he also behave unusually or abnormally?
Below you will learn about the 11 most common reasons why dogs neither eat nor drink.
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#1 Disapproval
If dogs are given the same food every day, they are more likely to develop an aversion to it. Because they also want variety.
You can usually tell if your dog refuses food but eats treats. In addition to an unpopular brand, there are also other potential causes:
- Mold in the food
- Intolerances
- Food gone bad
- Competition when eating
- Allergens in food
Here I recommend carrying out a free food check in order to be able to test a complete box with free food samples. It couldn't be cooler.
Alternatively, you can stir some bone broth, raw eggs or the juice from a can of tuna into the food. If your dog doesn't drink, it's often due to the following reasons:
- Contaminated water
- Competition when drinking
- Poor water quality
- New environment
- Water too warm [1]
If dogs don't eat or drink, it may be due to the quality of the food and water. A new brand of food and changing the drinking water are sufficient solutions here. If that doesn't help, then you need to continue to investigate the cause.
#2 Stomach pain
The entire digestive system of dogs is relatively primitive compared to that of humans. There are evolutionary reasons for this. Because dogs are descended from carnivores.
Only when they were tamed did they become more and more omnivorous. Even small inconsistencies can cause problems for dogs. Typical here are:
- Human food leftovers
- Eating too quickly
- Dog eats grass or feces
- Drinking too quickly
- Intolerances [2]
If there is abdominal pain, it is typical for dogs not to drink or eat anything. This fasting is often accompanied by other symptoms:
With a normal stomach upset, the dog will start eating again on its own after 12 hours at the latest. Easily digestible foods are ideal here.
When dogs struggle with stomach pain, it also changes their eating and drinking habits. Among other things, it can be recognized by the fact that the dog gets flatulence, does not eat, drools heavily, does not drink or even vomits.
#3 Tonsillitis
The tonsils are, among other things, part of the dog's defense system. Because they contain so many white blood cells that they can kill pathogens.
However, if bacteria, viruses or germs attach themselves to the tonsils, they can become inflamed. Other potential causes of this include:
- Chronic vomiting
- Inflammation of the gums
- Excessive tartar
- Tumor disease
- Frequent coughing [4]
The problem? Swallowing becomes very painful here. For this reason, affected dogs often do not eat or drink anything. Other classic symptoms are:
- Profuse drooling
- Loud swallowing noises
- Swelling of the tonsils
- Constant gagging sensation
- Moaning when swallowing
- Licking the lips [5]
Since it is usually a bacterial inflammation, antibiotics are often used to treat it. For other causes, therapy is individual.
Dogs with inflamed tonsils sometimes experience so much pain when swallowing that they cannot drink or eat on their own. In addition to the loss of appetite, there are usually loud swallowing noises and unusually heavy saliva production.
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#4 Toothache
If your four-legged friend has pain in his teeth, he will usually try to hide it. This behavior is an instinct that dogs inherited from wolves.
If you will, the silent silence is a protective mechanism. Because strong-looking animals are less likely to become prey. Typical triggers of toothache are:
- Dental caries
- Excessive tartar
- Infection of the tooth root
- Chipping of a tooth
- hole in the tooth [6]
If dogs don't eat or drink here, it's usually because of the pain that comes with it. Other typical signs include:
- Profuse salivation
- Swollen gums
- Sudden bad breath
- Constant whining
- Dog chews on one side
- Touch sensitivity
- Blood in the mouth [7]
If you suspect something, I would advise you to first take a look inside the mouth and look for any abnormalities. Then you need to visit the vet.
When dogs struggle with toothache, eating can become torture. Affected four-legged friends often refuse to eat because of the pain and do not drink anything. They also often react sensitively to touch on their snout.
#5 Gastrointestinal diseases
Both the food and the water are primarily absorbed in the dog's intestines after being pre-digested in the mouth and intestines.
In addition to an upset stomach, other illnesses can also affect your eating habits. This includes:
- Intestinal obstruction
- Inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract
- Stomach and intestinal ulcers
- Infection of the stomach lining
- Endoparasites in the stomach and intestines [8]
Here dogs do not drink or eat so as not to increase the pain. As a rule, there are also other pathological symptoms:
- Constant diarrhea
- Nausea and vomiting
- Strange stomach noises
- Dog sleeps a lot
- Lack of energy and drive
- Depressive behavior
- Flatulence [9]
When dogs are in severe pain, they become increasingly restless. If the problems don't go away on their own or even get worse, then I recommend going to the vet.
Various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract can massively limit the dog's well-being. Affected four-legged friends often get diarrhea, do not eat and appear to have no energy. Sometimes they also appear depressed or even refuse to drink.
#6 Kidney or liver problems
Both the liver and kidneys in dogs are responsible, among other things, for filtering and excreting harmful substances and toxins.
Diseases of these organs therefore usually affect the entire organism. Typical causes of liver and kidney problems include:
- Poisonings
- Inflammation
- Dehydration
- Cancer diseases
- Medication [10]
In the case of kidney disease, symptoms usually only appear when ⅔ of the kidney has already failed. In the case of the liver, however, it occurs much earlier. Typical symptoms here are:
- Blood in urine
- Dog doesn't eat or drink
- Sudden weight loss
- Rapid exhaustion
- Lack of motivation
- Diarrhea and vomiting [11]
The earlier you take action here, the better the chances of treatment. Although not all liver and kidney diseases are curable, most can be easily treated.
If dogs develop problems with their liver or kidneys, this can affect their drinking and eating behavior. Typical symptoms here are that the dog appears exhausted, gets diarrhea, vomits frequently and neither drinks nor eats.
#7 Depression
For a long time it was said that dogs couldn't get depression. However, current studies prove the opposite. Typical causes of this are:
- Owner is depressed
- Lack of attention
- Loss of a family member
- Chronic pain
- Social isolation
- Existing traumas [12]
Among other things, there is debate about whether dogs have copied this behavior from humans. Because depression never occurs in most other animals.
In severe depression, even the body's own hormones are sometimes suppressed. Affected dogs therefore often do not drink or eat anything. Other signs include:
- Increased sleep duration
- Severe listlessness
- Dog withdraws
- Ears laid back
- Avoiding social contacts
- Frequent crying [13]
To treat it, you should first investigate the cause. If there is a specific trigger, then it needs to be eliminated.
Depressed dogs not only sleep too much, but also usually don't eat or drink anything. In addition, depression in dogs can usually be recognized by the fact that they appear unusually listless, withdrawn or even begin to howl like wolves.
#8 Poisoning
When it comes to poisoning, most dog owners first think of poison bait. In practice, however, most poisonings are caused by the owner themselves.
This is because even common foods can have a toxic effect on dogs. Classic examples of this are:
- Cocoa products such as chocolate
- Onions, leeks and garlic
- Alcohol, wine, beer and hops
- Grapes, raisins and wine
- Macadamia nuts and walnuts [14]
In addition, many dogs are so curious that they like to swallow people's medicines or even gnaw on toxic plants. Typical symptoms of this are:
- Breathing problems
- Dog doesn't drink or eat
- Profuse drooling
- Dog is panting and shaking
- Constant licking of lips
- Dog vomits multiple times
- Sudden diarrhea [15]
If you even suspect poisoning, you should contact the vet immediately. Otherwise, permanent organ damage can occur or even be fatal.
When dogs accidentally swallow something toxic, the first symptoms are usually sudden vomiting. Among other things, it can also be recognized by the fact that the four-legged friend doesn't eat anything, constantly licks his lips, doesn't drink anything or starts to drool.
#9 Laryngeal paralysis
The larynx connects the pharynx with the windpipe. At the same time, it also ensures that only air gets into the windpipe and no food or water.
However, if the nerves in the larynx lose their function, then it can no longer perform its function. Typical symptoms here are:
- Dog gets tired quickly
- Changed voice pitch when barking
- Dog wheezes when breathing
- Constant choking
- Dog avoids dry food
- Mucous membranes become discolored
- Labored breathing
- Frequent cough[