[Aunt44]

We just adopted a pure bred Mini Dachshund 10 days ago. She is a little over a year old. On day 7 of having her she started to not eat all of her food. I thought that she had started rationing but for not she is eating only the soft food out of the mixture of dry and soft which only consists of 2 Tablespoons twice a day. Yesterday she threw up once, she hasn't had a bowel movement now in 24 hours and all she wants to do is sleep. Her energy level inside is very weak. Last night we took her for a short walk around the block and she acted like nothing was wrong we got back to the house and she wouldn't eat again, and all she wanted to do was sleep. This morning when I took her out however she was the same sluggish that she has been acting inside. She won't hardly even drink water. I am concerned about if she is sick or depressed or both? Any advise? We have been consistent with a routine for her, since we too are having potty issues.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[pergammano]

Did you know what her/his previous diet was? Possibly you have made a large change in the diet. I do think that if it was my dog, I would be taking it to the vet. My dogs DO NOT get any form of dog food. They get brown rice, liver, grated carrrots & garlic, with heavy whole grain bread, a little bit of Omega 3 fish oil & a tsp. of Flax seed. The only variance in diet is that they get fish twice a week, instead of liver. I do not have a flea problem, nor skin conditions. They also eat some fruit; grapes & apples. Not having a bowel move-ment should be of grave concern.

[labman]

Dogs sometimes react very poorly to being rehomed. She could also be reacting to something in her new environment. If you look at the ''My dog won't eat'' section of the sticky at https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/i...tml#post254171 you will see you need to have the dog evaluated by a vet. The sticky also covers getting the dog on a normal diet. Even with all the recalls going on, the safest and healthiest thing for dogs to be eating is a dry kibble.

I can't say whether we can get into a dog's head to tell if it is depressed, but there is no doubt emotions do affect them, including the emotions of their owners. Once your vet verifies your dog doesn't have a physical problem, you need to give it plenty of attention. If it becomes seriously underweight due to physical or emotional problems, as the sticky says, there is a time for richer food.

Time after time I have challenged people suggesting diets like the concoction above for a link to a study showing dogs doing better on anything other than a regular dry kibble. pergammano won't be able to either. Oh, they say their dog is doing fine and have tons of links where this, that, and something else in regular dog food is questioned, but as far real evidence that the dog food using horrible ingredients harms the dog, forget it.

Real knowledge about dogs or anything else comes from controlled studies. A good example of such a study is the one referenced in the link to evaluating a dog's body condition. It is true that such a study is suspect having been conducted by large dog food company. However, the study was accepted by the JAVMA for publication. It is also validated by the dog guide school I volunteer for. They have experience with thousands of dogs plus every incentive to care for their dogs in such a way as to prolong their active life and share all they know with those caring for their dogs. I am also familiar with a number of other service dog schools, and it is the same story, all of them are feeding a major brand of dry kibble even to their breeding stock.

One more point, there are people profiting from the alternative dog diets too. It is possible some of the things you read on the net are put there by them.