Why is my senior Maltese not eating or drinking and getting worse?

I am so sorry to hear about your poor yorkie. First, I want to applaud you for allowing the veterinarian to perform diagnostic testing in the form of x-rays and bloodwork. This is a great first step and can provide them with a baseline in case they need to do further testing in the future. Unfortunately, there are still so many diseases or conditions that a dog can get that will not show up on an x-ray or routine bloodwork. For example, gastrointestinal diseases like inflammatory bowel disease do not show up positive with only x-rays and routine bloodwork. Another example is if your dog is In pain for some reason such as a muscle pull or they hurt their back while jumping on the couch, etc. pain can cause a dog to exhibit all of the clinical signs that your dog is showing such as not eating, not drinking, and not playing at all. And pain cannot be diagnosed in x-rays or bloodwork. The point being that there are so many different diseases and ailments that a yorkie can get that just won’t show up with routine testing and may need specialized further testing modalities. My advice is the following: if he is not showing signs of improvement within 24 hours, please take him back to the veterinarian to do further testing or even start IV fluid’s and other supportive treatments. If he is getting better, I would still call the veterinarian and give them an update on the condition to see if they want to recommend anything else you can do to help him at home. I hope this helps.

I am so sorry Chi hasn't been feeling well. If all the tests were clear then I would recommend having an abdominal ultrasound performed. This would look at the architecture of the intestines and stomach and see if there is anything else that could be going on with Chi. She could have pancreatitis, a foreign object, a bad gastrointestinal upset, and much more going on that may or may not show up on the blood work and might not even show up on X-rays. I would also recommend a bland prescription diet to help settle her stomach also. I would have a ultrasonographer or an internal medicine specialist to perform the ultrasound. I hope Chi feels better soon and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Poor girl. She may have an internal illness that is causing her to not want to eat and have excessive drinking. Several things could be causing this including a bacterial infection, liver or kidney disease. I would recommend offering her some canned dog food or boiled plain chicken and rice to see if that entices her to eat. However, if she has not eaten after 24 hrs, or seems to be declining at any point, its best to get her seen by your vet for a proper exam and some diagnostic tests (i.e. bloodowork) to help identify the underlying problem so that we know how to best help her. I hope that your fur baby Minnie is able to make a full and speedy recovery from her illness. Best wishes and take care.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. I am sorry to hear that Whitey is not feeling well. I would recommend having a veterinarian examine her so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. She may be quite ill with these symptoms. I would recommend having her blood tested and having abdominal x-rays taken. I hope this helps and that Whitey gets better soon. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Marley needs to go back to the vet for a follow-up if she is not doing better. They can help you better since they have all of her medical history. We really cannot be of much help as we don't have enough information. All I can tell you is that she needs more care and testing if you want to give her the best chance at recovery.

In a senior dog, a concern is always cancer. It could be Bella has a tumor that is causing her to stop eating and causing vomiting. Some types of cancer don't show any blood work abnormalities, so I think doing an ultrasound as the next step is a good idea. Best of luck.

I am so very sorry to hear about your concerns for Pinky, it sounds like she is not doing well. If her bloodwork was normal, the next step would be additional diagnostics such as abdominal x-ray and ultrasound. I would be concerned with this ongoing weight loss about something like a malabsorption issues due to intestinal abnormality such as unfortunately cancer (we would also worry about protein loss from the kidneys but if they checked her urine they hopefully would have seen whether or not she was losing protein this way). I would discuss the possibilities of additional diagnostic imaging with your vet to help determine why Pinky is losing weight and if there is anything that can be done to help her.