Lab not focusing on eating her food

[MunchingonHay]

Never in a million years would I have thought that a Lab would not be interested in eating their meal, but here we are.

Lilly, (turning 1 at the end of this month, unspayed and had her first heat roughly a month ago and will be getting spayed in 3 months) gets fed at 8am and again at 5pm along with her sister. She gets roughly 1600 calories split between the two meals. A mix of grain free kibble and freeze dried raw.

Black Lab / Aussie cross - 75/25
She is 70ish lbs.
Fairly active and we make sure we play at least twice a day and work her mind as well. She gets “dog time” to go out and wander in our small woods supervised to sniff and explore.
We have been playing inside mostly due to the high heat and humidity we are all experiencing.

The past few days, she is more concerned with watching the door than eating her food. I have been hand feeding her. She’ll eat about half or so and then totally walk away. Its like she is waiting for someone to arrive.

We live in a wooden home and when the house makes a crack sound or if she hears the AC turn on, and today it was the roomba making noise; she jumps to alert and checks the door and windows.

She takes a couple handfuls, checks the door, then comes back when called.

• I have moved her feed bowl to the other side of the kitchen, no avail
• moved her fed bowl in to her crate, she acts like I am punishing her
• top dressed with egg, she just eats the egg
• I add bone broth to her food, she couldn’t care less
• I have used her sister as peer pressure to eat, nothing, she would share if given the choice.

Her poops look good. Nice and small, solid, not hard no bad smell.
Drinking normally
normal poop schedule
I have palpated her to see if there is discomfort, she just looks at me funny and likes her belly rubbed.

She has been caught eating a bit of grass, but its only a blade or two never much.

While she is mainly Lab, there is a small portion of Aussie in there and I am wondering if a bit of Aussie Neuroises is coming out of her personality.

Would it be suggested to have a more organised play session before breakfast?
Bloodwork?
She may have an ear infection brewing, she was playing in the rain the other day.

whatcha think?

[Willesdon]

If she has a black coat, she could just be feeling the heat. That can affect appetite. The alertness sounds odd: possibly a wild animal has moved in close by.

[MunchingonHay]

She is black. I should have mentioned that, I will edit the OP.

[luvmyhackney]

Give her some Pepcid and maybe anti-anxiety meds for a bit.

[MunchingonHay]

Good idea.

I have some Composure-Pro from the 4th of July left over.

DH has some Pepcid. Do I dose her like a child, at 70lbs? I would assume one table?

[luvmyhackney]

I don’t know the actual dose, but my vet has me give my 30 lb dogs - 1 - 20mg pill up to 2x a day.

[MunchingonHay]

I just gave her a 20mg capsule and will present dinner to her in an hour.

[Leather]

She might be more of a grazer type, which is hard with another dog. Are you able to split the meals up into 3 or 4 feedings? Or maybe she would prefer 1 meal a day?

One of our griffs can be meh about breakfast. If he doesn’t eat his breakfast within 10 mins we just put it away and then add it to his dinner. He will always eat dinner.

We’d probably switch them to 1 meal a day except our other dog would be sad with that schedule, so we sort of do a hybrid.

[MunchingonHay]

Its only been a few days that she has been doing this. And yes, I do pick up the left overs and serve it with dinner so she gets all her calories.

The part that is the weirdest for me, is her checking the door and losing focus on the food.

She wants treats and will work for food when learning new commands.

Maybe she is just bored with the flavors??? Beef and pork?

[DiamondJubilee]

That is a tad odd for sure, but it seems like other than the food in the am (she eats her pm food ok?), she’s fairly normal otherwise?

My girl is not interested in food in the mornings at all. This is a breed also notorious for eating. I’ve had to hand feed her for over a year (from 4 months to about 2 years old). She is just starting to eat her breakfast, but not usually until she’s been up for 30 mins or so. So I take her to the barn to feed ponies, then I get her food ready. My girl always ate her treats as well and her dinner. It was her am feeding that was always an issue getting into her. The one thing she did love and never refused was Smack (a dehydrated raw food). She would always clean it up, but it is pricey.

I don’t like her to have an empty stomach for more than 10 hours or so or she gets lick fits and gastro problems.

I have heard some breeds fast themselves naturally, I’m not sure how true this is, but have heard others saying this (more so like husky’s and working dogs, so maybe with the Aussie in her? My parents Aussie is a very fussy eater and has been known to not eat for a day or two).

Maybe try more of a rotation of proteins to see if she likes something else. Famotidine is a great suggestion and you can see if that helps short term.

Good luck!

[Mango20]

Did a package get delivered while you weren’t home? Or maybe Jehovah’s Witnesses? I have a dog that steps up her door and random sound patrol for a while after unexpected people show up at the door.

[MunchingonHay]

@DiamondJubilee, She does eat the majority of her dinner, but last night she walked away from it.

I then gave her a Prolosec, and fed her an hour later and she finished most of her food and left about quarter of a cup. (and she had breakfast leftovers so I was pleased).

Its weird that she did this overnight. One day she was ready to dive right into her bowl and then next she was more interested in the ghosts walking around. And she gets excited to eat. She wants to eat.

On Friday mornings the girls split a tin of sardines as well as their K9 Natural / Zingature foods that are soaked in homemade bone broth and she was not interested.

So I made her 3 scrambled eggs and she ate most of those. And ate around the dog food.

@Mango20 That is a great thought. We live at the end of a cul de sac and our property is 100% fenced with a gate at the driveway. We are also 400+ ft above the road on the hill. We are surrounded by wildlife, chippers, squirrels, fox, rabbit, tons of birds, deer, bear, but its the door he is looking at. Like she is waiting for poppa to come home. I WTH and DH goes into the office.

I am going to do chicken and rice this weekend and see if she eats that and stays focused.

I know that heat cycles (while we only ‘see’ the estrous/bleeding part) can last a long time. Her vulva is still enlarged and not gone back down to normal size. So I am wondering if this is playing a role.

Buma my other female (also not spayed, don’t come at me). sometimes will do what Lilly is doing and needs a bit of hand holding when it comes to eating her foods. And she is a 100 lbs ridgeback who LOVES her foods, Its the staring and checking the door is what is throwing me off.

I am going to use Lilly’s dinner as rewards for doing some obedience work with me this afternoon to see if I can’t get her calories in that way.

We did switch her this past weekend from a slow feeder to a proper bowl, but I don’t think that is the issue.

[anonevent]

Is it very hot where you live?

Have her teeth been checked recently?

Have you tried a different plate /bowl and a different batch of food in case that one is off enough for her (even if the other dog doesn’t like it)? Try a different material for the bowl as well. Sometimes things like the material or depth of the bowl become unpleasant. Or, if she wears a collar indoors, it could be clanking on the bowl in an annoying way or something.

[MunchingonHay]

@anonevent it has been very humid here in North Cental Pa and maintaining upper 80’s and 90+ degrees.

I have tried: glass as well as ceramic bowls. I will take her collar off when I feed her next time, good point on that.

I have also tried feeding her straight on her silicon mat, and that does not work either.

An appointment has been made to rule out ear infection for Monday. And I am also going to take a stool sample in with me just in case its Giardia.

[anonevent]

Good luck. Hope it’s an easy fix. One of my dogs is in full sloth mode in this heat (even though she lives in air conditioning) and I did the same thing…went to the vet to make sure she wasn’t dying. But, you’re right that heat cycles can throw things off in strange ways too.

[candyappy]

Some dogs just don’t eat a lot when it is hot and humid out ( even though in the house).

My GSD/ Anatolian cross is one of them. She eats maybe 1/2 of what she does in the cooler weather. I obsessed about it at first but she is active and acting normal otherwise.

She is 2. She comes in and out as she pleases( napping in the AC right now). When the temps drop into the 80’s she eats more so I no longer worry.

[Mango20]

I missed the part about her being in her first heat a month ago. My dog had a false pregnancy after her first heat. She got a bit weird, and I don’t remember if that involved less interest in food, but she got pretty attached to a stuffed animal at the time. Eventually she got over it.

[MunchingonHay]

I hope its an easy fix too @anonevent I am sure I will come across as a crazy dog mom when I go to the vet on Monday.

@candyappy thank you for your experience with your GSD/Anatolian cross.

@Mango20 false pregnancy… I have not throught of that. When Lilly was in her estrous part of her cycle, Buma my other female had a false pregnancy. I was rubbing her belly and I always like to check for lumps along her mammary area, and she squirted milk at me! Lilly’s mammaries are a bit more hangy downy than normal and her nips are really big. May be that is it!

When Buma was in her false preg. She came off her food too. For about 2 weeks.

We may have a winner here.