The dog's not eating- when do I worry?

[Bernadine]

He was fine last night and this morning.  He's even acting fine now, but I put his dinner down and he just ran to lay under the bed (he likes to lay there).  He usually scarfs it down immediately.  I'm thinking if he still won't eat tomorrow morning, call the vet?

[pedanticwench]

I would go ahead and make an appointment to take him in, just to be on the safe side.

Could be a tummy ache, but you just never know.

[revolution]

I would see if he will eat later or in the morning. Is there something that is scaring him that he is hiding? If he doesn't eat in the morning, I'd make an appointment for tomorrow.

[speckledfrog]

Have you tried wetting it? Sometimes my dog goes on a bit of a hunger strike, eating once a day and even then very slowly. Dogs are weird sometimes.

[nomad100]

Is he drinking any water? Still pooping and peeing like normal?

If yes on the drinking, pooping and peeing, try some boiled chicken and white rice. His stomach may be upset.

If no on the drinking and pooping and peeing, bring him into the vet. That is the sign something bigger may be going on.

[amberlyrose]

Check his teeth? Our dog was eating slowly or not at all some nights. We took him in and he had broken his tooth

[TC]

How old is he? In elderly dogs or very very small dogs, you worry immediately.

Otherwise, check for stomach tension, check his teeth, try rice/chicken (I'd definitely worry if he doesn't eat that), keep an eye on gum color. I'd go ahead and make an appointment for tomorrow morning now just so that you don't end up with zero available appointment slots and needing to resort to the e-vet. Not eating is so subjective though -- only you know your dog. For us, not eating has always 100% of the time been an emergency. For lots of dogs, it's just something that happens for time to time with no real reason. If your gut is saying take him in, take him in.

[mala]

Don't worry yet. At 24 hours, be concerned. At 48 get worried. If he starts regurgitating or vomiting, go straight to the emergency vet. Bloody poop or a palpable mass in his abdomen means a vet apt asap but not necessaraly an emergency vet at 2am.

He could also be genuinely not hungry. My dog doesn't always eat every meal.

[TrickyBob]

About 2 months ago my dog stopped eating. Wanted nothing to do with her dry food. So I bought canned food and mixed it with her dry food and BAM! Ate it like a champ. I kept cutting back on the amount of wet food with the dry food until she was back to just dry food. Now she eats again. There was nothing wrong with her, she just up and decided that her dry food sucked.