dog won't eat or drink

[kwyjibo]

My 6 mos old Toy Poodle / Chihuahua has been a picky eater for all the time I've had her (since 8 wks).  She would eat her dry kibble when she first came but then slowed down on it.... I commenced to add water, she ate for a short while but then slowed down...  I switched to canned 'cause she's a growing pup and needs her nourishment....

I think she's playing me like a fiddle, in the past 3 mos she has gone off 3 diff brands of canned dog food including Medi-Cal from the vet, I tried adding food enhancer (some kind of oil or smth to treat the dry skin, also makes food taste better according to the pet store) extra-virgin olive oil (for itching), low-sodium beef broth....  She refuses everything now.  I used to give her an occasional treat every couple of days such as 3-4 tbsp cheese or 1.5 tbsp peanut butter, but I don't feed her from the table.  I used to let her lick my fingers sometimes if I've just eaten finger food.....  My sister says  "a dog doesn't sit there thinking about what they don't have, they are just happy for what they do get"  so that's why I sometimes let her lick my fingers.  But no more since I can't get her to eat her reg food, and no more treats or training treats until she starts eating.

I want her to eat kibble so I went and bought several diff sample bags of diff foods, but we're on the first bag and she's eaten maybe 0.5 cups of food in the past 52 hours.

H E L L L L P !!!!!!!!  Oh yeah, and she hardly drinks any water, ever since I got her.  What can possibly be the problem(s)?  Dear Dr Vet, can you pls help me with this???

Thank you in advance,

Jane

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

I think that it may be a good idea to find out if there is a medical reason why your dog refuses to eat.  Blood work and X-Rays may be necessary.  Tooth or throat pain, nausea, stomach pain, amongst others, may be a cause for inappetance and anorexia.  

Porto-systemic shunts and other congenital problems may be a cause for concern.  

In the mean time she can eat people food, such as baby food meats, and healthy human food such as non-breaded, non-fried, broiled meats or fish, and non-fried, non-breaded vegetables; cottage cheese, and yogurt are also excellent choices. Please stay away from junk food.

[kwyjibo]

Dear Doctor Vet,

THANK YOU for your reply.  I have talked to my vet about this problem already and he recommended his brand of dog food, as I already explained.  So now I will go back and tell him it did not solve the problem, and ask him to do the tests you recommend.  I did not spell out completely, but she will eat yummy human food, such as cheese, peanut butter, three months ago she did have some human-grade doggie hamburger (frozen, cooked) and she loved it, so she does like some stuff, just the stuff that is out of bounds to her, and also I forgot to say she likes tissue paper, paper towels, napkins.  She'll always try to eat paper, but she spurns her actual food; it's bizarre!!!

Anyway thank you for the recs, and I will be seeing the vet in a week, and I will update this thread when I have news.

J