Resource guarding food but not eating it?
Our dog, a small 7.5 lbs havanese, stopped eating her food around 4 days ago. She still happily eats the turkey we give her with her medicine (she takes Prozac). A few months ago, to try and combat some ear irritation she’d been having, we tried switching her food away from anything chicken based at the suggestion of the vet. It took a while, but she’d finally switched off the old food, and her ears were doing better. However, the other day she was accidentally given the old food, and she was incredibly happy to have it. The next day, the ear irritation was back, with gross black crust in the ears. She hasn’t touched the new food since, or any food for that matter. She just stares at it, but if you come near her or even make eye contact with her she growls and basically screams. She’ll lung if you get too close. She’s ~7, we’ve tried to train her but everyone’s terrified of her because despite being 7 lbs and not having all of her teeth, she can still bite, and it still hurts (somehow). My mom thinks she’s refusing to eat because she knows the food she prefers (that’s bad for her) is still an option. I’m worried that the old food may have caused some sort of irritation or something. It’s not like the aggression is new or anything, but she’s not doing anything with the food she’s guarding; she’s just standing there, staring at it. Sometimes she sits next to it. This goes on for HOURS. She never eats it. She hasn’t pooped in days, we don’t know what to do. We’re taking her to the vet tomorrow, but in the meantime I thought I’d ask here to see if anyone else has had any experience like this. Any help is appreciated!!
Our dog, a small 7.5 lbs havanese, stopped eating her food around 4 days ago. She still happily eats the turkey we give her with her medicine (she takes Prozac). A few months ago, to try and combat some ear irritation she’d been having, we tried switching her food away from anything chicken based at the suggestion of the vet. It took a while, but she’d finally switched off the old food, and her ears were doing better. However, the other day she was accidentally given the old food, and she was incredibly happy to have it. The next day, the ear irritation was back, with gross black crust in the ears. She hasn’t touched the new food since, or any food for that matter. She just stares at it, but if you come near her or even make eye contact with her she growls and basically screams. She’ll lung if you get too close. She’s ~7, we’ve tried to train her but everyone’s terrified of her because despite being 7 lbs and not having all of her teeth, she can still bite, and it still hurts (somehow). My mom thinks she’s refusing to eat because she knows the food she prefers (that’s bad for her) is still an option. I’m worried that the old food may have caused some sort of irritation or something. It’s not like the aggression is new or anything, but she’s not doing anything with the food she’s guarding; she’s just standing there, staring at it. Sometimes she sits next to it. This goes on for HOURS. She never eats it. She hasn’t pooped in days, we don’t know what to do. We’re taking her to the vet tomorrow, but in the meantime I thought I’d ask here to see if anyone else has had any experience like this. Any help is appreciated!!