Health
He sniffed the bowl and walked off, twice running, yet he's drinking and wagging. With a bright adult you can wait a day. With a puppy or an old dog, you can't.
Caution. Repeated vomiting, retching that brings nothing up with a swollen belly, listlessness, pale gums, bloody stool, a puppy or a small dog who has skipped a whole meal, an unspayed bitch a few weeks after her season: a same-day visit to your own vet.
Do not look for the answer in a Facebook group, on TikTok or on a forum. Look for someone trained for this: your dog's own veterinarian, the only person who can examine, investigate and treat them.
Use this page to know what to observe, what to note and what to ask at the appointment, not to treat at home. If you still have doubts after a consultation, ask another vet or a specialist (dermatologist, internist) for a second opinion, not a group. And if you do not have a regular vet yet, find one now, while your dog is healthy: how to choose a veterinary clinic.
Your dog is four and until yesterday he ate everything you put down. Today he sniffed the bowl and walked off, for the second meal in a row. He's drinking, following you round the house, wagging his tail. Perhaps yours is a twelve-year-old who has been leaving half his food for two weeks and has lost weight without being on a diet. Or a three-month-old puppy who has skipped a meal, and you don't know whether it's safe to wait. People search for "dog not eating but drinking water", and behind it sits one question: is this serious or not? This page covers which signs settle it today, what to note before the appointment, and what your own vet will do. You won't find recipes to tempt his appetite here. For a nauseous dog, they can do harm.
A healthy, cheerful adult dog skips the odd meal. Two days without food is no longer a fluke. Ring the same day, however many meals he has missed, if:
If none of that fits, and he's bright, drinking, passing normal stool and has been skipping meals for less than 24 hours, you can watch him until tomorrow. After 24 hours without food in an adult, or 12 in a puppy, ring anyway.
Appetite can be measured. "He's not eating much" tells your vet nothing they can use. For two or three days, write down:
What you offered and how much he ate, as a share of the portion: all, half, none. Then everything he got outside the bowl: treats at training, bits under the table, from the children, whatever he hoovered up on the walk. Plenty of dogs "who won't eat" are getting the day's food from somewhere else.
Water. In the morning put a measured amount in the bowl, a litre say, and in the evening see how much has gone. A dog drinks roughly 50 to 60 ml per kilo per day. Over 100 ml per kilo is too much and a sign of illness in its own right, even if everything else looks fine.
Vomit and stool. How often, what colour, any blood, mucus or bits of something. Photograph them. It's unpleasant, but the appointment goes much faster.
Energy. Note whether he comes to greet you, whether he plays or hides, whether he flinches when you lift him or touch his belly, whether he trembles. A nauseous dog licks his lips a lot and swallows on nothing.
Mouth. Lift the lip and look: pink or pale gums, broken teeth, a new smell, something wedged in the roof of the mouth. Press gently on the gum: in a healthy dog the colour comes back in under two seconds.
Dehydration. Gently lift the skin on the back of his neck. In a hydrated dog it drops straight back; if it stays up like a tent, he's dehydrated. Dry, tacky gums say the same.
Weight. Weigh him now and then once a week: step on the scales holding him and subtract yourself.
What has changed. A new bag of the same food (it may be rancid), a new brand, a metal bowl that clanks, the bowl moved somewhere else, a heatwave, a bitch in season in the building, a new dog at home, a house move, you more stressed than usual, a medicine started recently, yesterday's vaccination. Dogs go off their food for reasons we'd think trivial.
| What you see besides not eating | Where it points |
|---|---|
| Bright dog, drinking normally, eats treats and table food, refuses only the bowl | Habit: he has learnt something better follows. Fixable, once your vet has ruled out the rest |
| Comes to the bowl, wants it, then drops the food or backs off | Pain in the mouth, teeth or throat; sometimes neck or back pain when he bends down |
| Licks his lips, swallows on nothing, drools, eats grass, vomits | Nausea: stomach, pancreas, something swallowed, poisoning |
| Drinks a lot, wees a lot, losing weight | Kidneys, diabetes, womb infection in bitches, other internal disease; blood tests |
| Listless, feverish, big lymph nodes, runny nose, cough | Infection; in puppies, also the diseases we vaccinate against |
| Stiff, slow to get up, won't bend down to the bowl | Bone, joint or spinal pain |
| Heatwave, a bitch in season nearby, a move, loud noises, a new dog | Stress or heat; usually passes in 1–2 days if all else is normal |
| New medication, recent vaccination | Sometimes an expected reaction; ask the vet who prescribed it |
| Older dog eating less and less, for weeks | Chronic illness, teeth, a nose that no longer smells well, cognitive decline; check-up with bloods |
Almost every illness starts with a full bowl left untouched, so not eating on its own doesn't tell you what's wrong. The table helps you judge how quickly to ring. The diagnosis is your vet's job.
Before you leave, ask which signs to watch for at home, when to ring if he still won't eat tomorrow, and how to feed him over the first few days.
Two meals a day at fixed times. The bowl goes down for 15 minutes, then you pick it up without comment until the next meal. Nothing in between: no treats, no table scraps, nothing from the children. When you play or teach him something, the treats you reward him with come out of his daily ration. Feed the same food rather than something new every day, at room temperature or slightly warmed, not cold from the fridge. If the metal bowl clanks, swap it for a ceramic one. A little exercise before meals helps. Most healthy dogs settle into the rhythm in three or four days. If he still isn't eating on day five, go back to your vet, because something has been missed.
An untouched bowl is the first thing a sick dog tells you, and often the only thing he says clearly. Your own vet reads the rest from the tests. If you don't have one yet, our related services page helps you choose a practice.
What dog owners search for most often on the internet about this problem, with the short answer. The answers are a guide only: the decision belongs to your dog's own vet, after an examination.
It depends on the rest. If he is bright, drinking normally, passing normal stool and has been off his food for less than 24 hours, you can wait until tomorrow. If he is drinking far more than usual, vomiting, listless, has a swollen belly, or is a puppy, a small or an old dog, ring today. Drinking is good because it delays dehydration, but it doesn't mean he's well.
A healthy adult can physically last several days, but that is no licence to wait. After 24 hours without food, ring your own vet, because the reason matters more than his stamina. Puppies, small dogs and old dogs have no reserves: for them a whole skipped meal is already worth a call, and a floppy, sleepy puppy is an emergency.
Most often because he has learnt that refusing brings something better: treats, table food, wet food on top of the kibble. Other causes in a bright dog: hot weather, a bitch in season nearby, a rancid bag of food, a clanking bowl, stress after a move. If it lasts more than a day or any other sign appears, your vet rules out illness first, then you work on the habit.
A check-up first, because a dog with mild nausea or a sore tooth will also pick the small, soft bits. If your vet says "healthy", switch to fixed meals: bowl down for 15 minutes, then picked up, nothing between meals, treats only from the daily ration. Within three or four days most healthy dogs eat from the bowl. If not, back to the vet.
Nothing special until you have spoken to your own vet. Ham, roast fat or food with onion can harm a nauseous dog, and force-feeding is dangerous. Offer water in small, frequent amounts. After the check-up your vet will tell you what and how much: usually small, bland, lukewarm meals several times a day for a few days.
The information on this page is educational and does not replace an examination. For full details and a diagnosis, consult your dog's own veterinarian.
They often come together: the same causes, plans that complement each other.
White foam on the floor, yellow bile on an empty stomach, or four bouts overnight and a chin on the floor. Not equally serious, and none is treated from the cupboard.
A brown crust on the back teeth, a red line along the gum, breath you smell from across the sofa. Lift the lip to see the mouth; under the gum, only the vet sees.
A puddle on the carpet at five in the morning, or three days of soft stool with mucus. Two different problems, and neither one gets solved from your medicine cabinet.
He shakes at fireworks, in the cold, with excitement before a walk. Or he shakes, drools, goes floppy and found the chocolate. A thirty-second video tells them apart.
We work with your dog's behaviour, not its health. For any sign described here, book an appointment with your own vet; the related services page explains how to choose a clinic.