Nudging food bowl not eating

[PragmaticWench]

DDog has started nudging her food bowl across the floor and barely eats a mouthful. She's a nine month old lab (so food obsessed usually!), just finished her first season and doesn't have any vomiting or diarrhoea. I've felt her stomach and no tenderness.

Over the last three days in total she's eaten about 100g of her usual food where she usually has 250g twice a day. Tonight she's eaten chicken and plain rice. I've scrubbed her bowl in case it smelled bad and nothing else is different.

Any ideas?

[PragmaticWench]

Oh and she's still lovely, bouncing around the garden with us and enjoying her walks.

[Maltay]

Look up phantom pregnant in bitches

[Therebythedoor]

Our Staffie used to do this - it was her way of letting us know she didn't fancy what was on offer.

[PragmaticWench]

I did wonder about phantom pregnancy, obviously in normal times I'd take her to our vet. I don't know what is 'normal' for the end of a season as I've not had a female dog before.

With the food I did wonder if she's decided it doesn't taste nice, hence scrubbing her bowl. Will see how she is this morning and maybe phone the vet for a chat.

[Booboostwo]

Any problems with teeth, gums, etc. that might be making eating painful?

[vanillandhoney]

Has she been getting more treats or human food than usual?

I wonder if she's holding out in the hope of something better (like the chicken and rice you gave her)?

Mine did this for a while. We had to be stubborn - he got fed at his usual times and if he didn't want it he got nothing until the next mealtime (no treats, no tidbits, no chicken and rice) eventually he gave in and now eats his meals without a fuss.

We also dropped his meals to once a day which helped too.

[PragmaticWench]

She's never given our food, nothing at all. She's not had chicken and rice before either, it was suggested by our vet when our last dog was unwell. I'd checked her teeth, gums, roof of mouth etc and all look fine, no redness and no cracked teeth. She's still chewing everything possible (antlers, stones etc) so I think her mouth is fine.

I'm just surprised as she's usually food-mad! I wonder if she feels sick perhaps?

[UnfinishedSymphon]

Our dog did this about that age, we changed her food and had no issues since and she's 7 now. What are you feeding her?

[DontBuyLangClegCashmere]

I have had this with one of mine. The first time it happened I took him to the vet and they did several hundred pounds of tests to tell me he had inappetance - off his food.

He did it periodically for years, I just give him the rest of his food for his next meal, with some rice or wet food (usually kibble and fruit/veg) for a change which sort of kick starts him back to eating again.

Sadly he's getting old now and is doing it a lot more often.

[CornishPorsche]

Ours does this if she doesn't want to eat something. It's as though they are trying to bury it.

If she's eating chicken and rice happily, she's probably just off her dog food. Try mixing it up with gravy or a spot of hot water and something added for flavour.

[Dreamersandwishers]

I have a fussy female lab; has a dodgy tummy so changing food is not a great option. If it has gone on for a couple of days and she’s noticeably thinner, then I squeeze some primula cheese on top .
Never fails. And after a couple of days of that she’s back to normal.

[PragmaticWench]

Thanks for all the advice, I think it might be as simple as her going off her food. We're near the end of the bag so maybe it's gone stale. We feed her royal canin but could try a different brand.

[CornishPorsche]

Have a look at www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/ and pick a more nutritious / flavourful food than RC. Something like Natures Way, Acana, Carnilove etc is much higher in meat content and generally likely to be more interesting for a dog in the longer term.