Dog Burying Food and Decreased appetite

[Vicks2023]

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Hi all!

This is my first post and looking some advice.

I have a 7 month old shih tzu puppy whom has always loved food but there over the past 5 weeks there has been ongoing difficulties with ‘burying’ and not eating.

5ish weeks ago he was sick 3-4 times overnight, next day he wouldn’t touch his food. Took him to the vets and they found a small muscular injury on his neck and 4 baby teeth that needed removing (being removed shortly). Eating continued to be difficulty but assumed this was injury and pain meds. We raised his food up for him due to his neck and put his food on a plate due to his neck etc

During this time he only ate maybe 30%-40% of usual diet. We then gradually introduced a new food as he completed stopped eating the raw food he was initially on, he ate new food for 2 days then again, another week of only eating 40%. We gradually introduced one more, had 4 days of eating OK and now he’s started to not want to eat again. His toileting etc is fine.

He has wet food twice a day and dry once. He has started a new behaviour of burying everything in the home/garden including his treats, he either buries them in the dirt or ‘pretend buries’ it in the house by nosing his blanket onto the bowl or making burying actions. He constantly checks it’s there but never eats it again

He is normal in himself but I am worried re the constant refusal to eat.

Anyone experienced this? Or have any advice

We’ve tried a different bowl, a plate etc. taking it away then reintroducing, warming it up. He eats at regular times.
He would eat still eat chicken if we gave it to him, we don’t but on occasions have if his feeding has been really bad over 2/3 days we have which I don’t encourage to prevent him being selective but it’s rare we do.

Not sure what to do! Any advice appreciated. Just concerned he’s so little still and not gaining any weight, he’s lost a little. He has no other symptoms

 

[JudyN]

The digging could well be a stress thing. I think the first step would be to go back to your vet and ask them to run a few more tests. How long until he has his teeth removed? There's a chance they won't want to give him a GA if he might be ill, but on the other hand, they may be able to do more tests when he does go under.

 

[Vicks2023]

The digging could well be a stress thing. I think the first step would be to go back to your vet and ask them to run a few more tests. How long until he has his teeth removed? There's a chance they won't want to give him a GA if he might be ill, but on the other hand, they may be able to do more tests when he does go under.

Thanks Judy. He is having his teeth removed 26th which was due to be same time as neutering but I think you’re right re going back to vets. It’s still quite a long time away given he’s not eating properly and may be worth them checking before GA rather than on the day

 

[JudyN]

Most people here would recommend leaving neutering till he's a little older - he should be both physically and mentally mature. At his age, he is adjusting to being a 'grown-up' and needs the courage that testosterone can help with. I'd put off neutering particularly if there's any stressors in his life, which there clearly are right now - losing his testosterone on top of whatever is ailing him could be really bad for his confidence.

 

[excuseme]

Absolutely, leave the neutering until at least 1 year until he is mentally and physically matured, neutering is not the answer to a lot of problems or for his mental problems at the moment. As JudyN has mentioned it may be better for your puppy to wait until he matures and his life settles.

His feeding problem and burying food could be that he is being offered too much food, and this is his way of leaving it. Some of our dogs prefer to bury unwanted food.
As our puppies reach their growth potential they often require less food and some do cut their rations down themselves. Although 7 months is a little early for this, it could be what your puppy is doing.
Don't force him to eat if he well and happy. At his age I would have thought that 2 feeds a day now would be ample.

Your raw feeding is a fantastic diet.
As you are probably aware, a variety of meat types and textures is good, with offal and bones for good calcium, are all part of feeding a "Balanced" raw diet.
Puppies do not need to be stuffed full of this highly nutritious food, just let him eat what he needs and enjoy it!
It is healthy for puppies to be hungry and wanting more

At 7 months he will be well into changing his baby teeth . This may be stressful for some, but a perfectly normal process for all of our pets.

For what reason is he having puppy teeth removed ?

 

[excuseme]

Expect your puppy teething to last until up to 8 months.
Teething technically ends when all 42 of your dogs adult teeth have finished coming through, this is usually by 8 months of age.
By the time your puppy is 1 year of age all of their adult teeth should have come through.

 

[Vicks2023]

Absolutely, leave the neutering until at least 1 year until he is mentally and physically matured, neutering is not the answer to a lot of problems or for his mental problems at the moment. As JudyN has mentioned it may be better for your puppy to wait until he matures and his life settles.

His feeding problem and burying food could be that he is being offered too much food, and this is his way of leaving it. Some of our dogs prefer to bury unwanted food.
As our puppies reach their growth potential they often require less food and some do cut their rations down themselves. Although 7 months is a little early for this, it could be what your puppy is doing.
Don't force him to eat if he well and happy. At his age I would have thought that 2 feeds a day now would be ample.

Your raw feeding is a fantastic diet.
As you are probably aware, a variety of meat types and textures is good, with offal and bones for good calcium, are all part of feeding a "Balanced" raw diet.
Puppies do not need to be stuffed full of this highly nutritious food, just let him eat what he needs and enjoy it!
It is healthy for puppies to be hungry and wanting more

At 7 months he will be well into changing his baby teeth . This may be stressful for some, but a perfectly normal process for all of our pets.

For what reason is he having puppy teeth removed ?

Thank you for the advice, very helpful.

A few have recommended neutering between 6-9 months as he is a smaller breed being a shih tzu. He’s coming up to 8 months, so are smaller and bigger breeds similar in terms of neutering age?
He has a lot of marking behaviours which does not matter to me in terms of accidents in the home but he will mark a lot if we take him anywhere outside of the house, including other peoples homes, shops & any indoor dog friendly places so we’ve avoided taking him the last couple of months which is a shame, as it become difficult to manage and it is constant though of course not his fault, this isn’t the reason for neutering but is a part of it.

He’s having 4 teeth removed as they’re alongside the adult teeth, parts are overcrowded as he has an adult tooth, then right in front of it is a baby tooth, so it’s like they haven’t fallen out when the adult teeth has come through, and gives the appearance of 2 rows. He has all his other adult teeth.

 

[Vicks2023]

Most people here would recommend leaving neutering till he's a little older - he should be both physically and mentally mature. At his age, he is adjusting to being a 'grown-up' and needs the courage that testosterone can help with. I'd put off neutering particularly if there's any stressors in his life, which there clearly are right now - losing his testosterone on top of whatever is ailing him could be really bad for his confidence.

Thanks Judy. V helpful.
I never considered stressors but could be the case too. He’s very confident, loves people & dogs, he likes routine which we keep and nothing has changed at home, it’s just me, my partner & him so he has a lot of 1-1. Can dogs be stressed but still seem themselves? Though of course eating has changed. His personality hasn’t changed at all.
Sorry first puppy and I’m learning!

 

[JudyN]

I'm thinking more that the stress comes more from whatever is stopping him from eating, though of course this is really just guesswork. A couple of ideas are to give him a probiotic in case his gut flora has been affected by his tummy upset, and to try a food like Butternut Box - it's not raw, but freshly cooked so might work seeing as he will eat chicken. But I'd definitely get a vet check as the first port of call.

 

[excuseme]

Ooh! I thought the "Butternut box was fresh, (I don't know why ! )
I think I had looked at the ingredients which appeared to be quite nice, but being cooked can destroy many of the benefits of the raw product. !!