What's happening here?

[Nikki & Charlie]

I deleted the other post and re-made it because I kept wanting to add things. 

Charlie LOVES his food. He's on Orijen Puppy and every single morning, lunch and dinner he runs to the food bowl when he knows it's time to eat and devours his food in 10 seconds. The last two days he has no interest in his food unless I put something on top. Yesterday I tried banana and he ate all his food, but banana gives him stinky farts so I try to avoid that. Today I tried pumpkin and he ate most of it but when the pumpkin ran out he stopped eating. Why isn't he eating? He's still drinking, his bowels are normal, and he is still very playful. He is 8 months old now, still not fixed. 

I should also add that Charlie still has some soft stool. In the morning it's a normal poop. Then we go for a walk and that one is a bit softer, and sometimes he'll do a third which is always watery. He does another poop after dinner and generally that one is like pudding consistency. It's always been this way so I'm not sure if this is abnormal, or maybe it's just normal for him.

Just a side note – as I was typing this, he threw up all of his breakfast with the pumpkin.

I hope he's ok... I’m really not sure what to do. 

[Judith and Addie]

I had a mixed breed dog that Charlie reminds me of. He also always loved his food, and I ended up putting it in a food dispensing toy to slow him down. I thought the fast eating was leading to his soft stools. His poop routine was pretty much the same as you described for Charlie. (I had a bunch of pumpkin "ice cubes" in the freezer so I could pull one out when the stool started like pudding in the morning, and I wasn't wasting the majority of the can. He also had pumpkin frozen in a kong.)

My dog also developed bloody diarrhea on occasion as he got older. Anyway, my vet said that his stool progression (sort of firm first to pudding last) was a sign of digestive issues. I changed him over to a single source limited ingredient diet. At the time I used Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish. Today, I probably would go with an Orijin or a From kibble that was single protein and not chicken. 

I am sure Karen will be able to give you advice as to whether to try switching dog food and what may be a good choice.

[Kate, Mel, Tenley & Harper]

We found that Tenley's eating slowed down a lot around the same age. He didn't grow much after that point, either (he weighs 33lbs now at 15 months old, weighed about 31-32 at 8 months).

The poop thing was something Tenley definitely had a problem with, until I started adding a daily probiotic to his food. He gets Proviable DC one meal a day. When I started adding that, within a few weeks all his poops were a lot more consistent in consistency and we have never had the problem since.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's true that as a puppy's growth slows down, they don't want or need as much food; but that usually happens gradually, with the dog not being as interested in eating, or not finishing every meal. When they go from racing to the bowl and gobbling the food eagerly at every meal to not wanting to eat at all in a day's time, that's generally a sign of illness or a foreign body in the gut. The vomiting after eating would also point to an issue.

I also think probiotics are a good idea, but not until Charlie sees a vet to rule out a physical cause for these symptoms. 

[Nikki & Charlie]

I gave charlie Proviable every day for a couple months and didn't see any change in his stool.

[BG and Gavin]

I would make him a vet appointment. It sounds like a drastic change of eating habits and the advice I have heard is you should not try to temp a dog to eat who is refusing food because he is doing so for a reason. Thus the throwing up. Watery stools are not normal. Make sure you bring a stool sample with you. Hopefully it all can be easily remedied.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

BG is exactly right. Sudden loss of appetite coupled with vomiting after eating is an indication that something is wrong. It sounds like he may have swallowed a non-food item that is sitting in his gut, like a sock. This really sounds like a foreign body issue to me. He needs to see the vet today. Until you get him checked out and make sure there isn't a physical reason for the inappetance, don't even think about introducing a new food. Please let us know what the vet says.

[Nikki & Charlie]

He definitely hasn't eaten a sock but it's possible something could be there. I can't get to a vet today. Should I try giving him plain rice for lunch or dinner in case he does want to eat? He's still interested in eating bananas.. 

His behaviour is still fine and he is drinking water normally. 

Someone suggested giving Charlie tripe, apparently she was told that it's good for upset stomach in dogs? I've never heard of this before/wouldn't want to give it to him now incase it upset him more but I'm curious if you've ever heard about this

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Tripe is offal, and it is indeed awful. It sounds like the person who told you this has been visiting raw feeding websites or groups, lol. Forget the tripe. Prey model raw feeders use it because it contains the cow's digestive enzymes, but dogs don't and can't get the benefits of those because their own stomach acid destroys them. And it's absolutely the last thing in the world I would give a dog with some type of digestive issue, especially when you don't know what it is. It definitely won't do a thing for an upset stomach, and might make things worse.

I'm not sure why anyone would give a dog plain rice, lol. It doesn't provide much nutrition for a dog. A chicken and rice diet is often used as a bland diet during illness, but it's not your best choice for a dog who is on a grain-free diet. The best bland diet for a dog who doesn;t normally get grains is chicken and sweet potatoes. 

But here's the thing. If Charlie does have a foreign body in the gut, every minute that it sits there is making things worse. It can cause an immune response, i.e. inflammation, and that can lead to some serious and permanent damage to the intestinal lining. 

Beyond that, if there is something that is nauseating him, causing loss of appetite and also preventing normal digestion, he's just going to bring anything he eats back up, as with the vomiting after his breakfast. That's going to cause him to lose additional fluids and possibly become dehydrated. 

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and the next day is Christmas. If this continues, you're going to end up having to go to the ER on the holidays, or at the very least, having a not-very-merry Christmas with a sick, vomiting, possibly dehydrated dog. I would really try very hard to get him to the vet today. 

[BG and Gavin]

This last paragraph is just exactly what I was going to write. Most places are only open a half day tomorrow, closed Christmas and Boxing Day and then you have the weekend. Try to get in, if only for piece of mind. Gavin has never been off his food or thrown up after a meal without there being something wrong fwiw.

[Nikki & Charlie]

I ended up asking him if he wanted lunch and he seemed interested so I put some food down expecting him to turn away but he ate it all up. Then for dinner he also ate all his food and he hasn't thrown anything up. He's drinking water and being playful so I'll monitor him tomorrow and see how he's doing.

[BG and Gavin]

Glad for the positive update.

[Jill, Woody & Maxi]

Is he drinking water at all? I agree with the others, I would go to the vet ASAP.

Not eating or drinking, plus vomiting and diarrhea is not a good sign, and dehydration is almost inevitable.  Best of luck, get to a vet and keep us posted! 

If you are unable to take him, do you have a family member or friend near by that can help you out?