My Akita usually loves his food, but the past few days he has just turned up his nose at it. Should I worry? I always have chosen meat with gravy as he loves it. He dislikes the ones in jelly! He has dried biscuits in a dish by his water dish all day and they are hardly touched either. It seems rather trivial to take him to the vets for not eating. He seems okay in himself in every other respect. Any advice please.

How old is your dog? Is he eating some food or none at all? Is he active, alert, using the bathroom? Is he on any medication or ill?

He is active three and half year old. He is munching on a few biscuits, but not many.He looks happy enough too.his bowel movement this morning looked normal.

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Originally Posted by mogrann

How old is your dog? Is he eating some food or none at all? Is he active, alert, using the bathroom? Is he on any medication or ill?

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He is not on any medication...

There are many reasons dogs will stop eating.

Low grade fever of him trying to fight off an illness is one of them. Take his temperature with a rectal thermometer and see what his temp is. Anything above 101.9 is considered a low grade fever. He may not feel good and doesn't want to eat.

Large breed dogs typically are not picky with what they eat, but he may just be tired of the canned food. Why is he not eating kibble? Kibble has more nutrients to it and is better for their teeth. If he is not on kibble, I would suggest to make that transition at some point. But for now, you need to figure out why he is not eating.

Exercise! Akita's are high energy dogs. If you are not exercising him, he may just not need the calories. Take him for a good walk and see if he eats when you get back.

Other things that may make your dog go off feed would be pancreatits, diabetes or a foreign body. Has your dog eaten anything he shouldn't? Is any of your things missing? You might need to do an inventory check to see if anything is missing such as socks and underwear.

He may just have low-grade nausea or an upset tummy. Cook him bland chicken and rice for a few days and see if he feels better.

I realize you don't want to rush him into the vet just because he is not eating, and I don't blame you, but you still need to be prepared to do so if he doesn't start eating soon. Healthy looking dogs that go off feed for no reason is a reason to be concerned!

Thank you for your advice. I made a stew for this evening and there was loads over which I added to Zeus's biscuits. He ate everything apart from the vegetables. I do not think there is much wrong with him :-) Think he is fed up with his tinned food. We will be changing it tomorrow.