Like any other dog, Cane Corso may stop eating. If that happens, don’t panic. It’s quite normal for a dog to refuse one meal every once in a while, but you should definitely do something about it if your dog hasn’t eaten for more than 24h
In case your Cane Corso dog won’t eat, follow these steps experienced owners usually recommend.
- Check your CC behavior
- Check your CC teeth and whole body
- Check the dog’s food
- Check your home
- Revise your feeding actions
These steps can help you discover the possible cause of appetite loss or at least to gather as much information as you can to share with the vet if necessary.
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Check your Cane Corso Behaviour
Observe your canine friend. Does he completely refuse to eat or he leaves some food behind? Is he playful and full of energy as always or he looks tired, not interested in regular activities.
Check his stool and urine. Do they look the same as always? Does he pee more often than usual? Does his poop have the same texture and color as usual?
Can you see that he has any other problem besides he refuses to eat? Does he vomit? Has diarrhea?
Is he hiding and sleeping all day long? Maybe he suffers from depression.
Check your Cane Corso’s teeth and the whole body
Dogs usually won’t eat their regular food if they have some problems with teeth or gums ( broken and infected tooth, gum infection). Test him by giving him hard and soft food. If he eats only soft food you’ll know that something is wrong with his teeth.
Check his fur and skin, looking for some parasites. Also try to detect any lumps/bumps, injuries, etc. All these things can be the cause of discomfort and pain and be the reason why your CC won’t eat.
Check your Cane Corso’s food
Maybe the food has been spoiled and you didn’t notice. Check the expiry date, smell, and color. If you suspect that is anything wrong with the food, throw It away.
Cane Corso dogs are known as picky eaters, it may happen your dog is bored with the type of food you are offering him. Maybe you need to change the kibble he eats.
Check your home (plants, toys,carpets…)
Your Corso might be refusing the food as he ate something that he shouldn’t. Check the house plants, many of them are really toxic to dogs. Check your furniture, carpets, children’s toys.
Pay special attention to chemicals and medications if your dog can reach them. If something is missing and your Corso is vomiting or having diarrhea, consult the vet immediately.
If you have a new dog, note that he needs some time to adjust to a new environment. Until he feels totally comfortable and secure, he might have issues with eating and food.
The same goes for your dog that is in your house for years but something has changed in the house lately. Someone left the house ( break up, divorce, going to college, etc) or someone moved in (new partner, roommate, newborn baby, etc.)
If you live in a house full of people, you should check if someone is giving the food to your Cane Corso off the schedule.
Revise your feeding actions
Maybe your actions brought to this situation. Do you give a lot of table scraps to your Corso? What about treats? Overfeeding in Cane Corso dogs is common. These are large dogs with a healty appetite!
When Should I Worry About My Cane Corso Dog Not Eating?
Corso dogs usually can survive up to 5 days without food. Of course, they can do far less without water intake ( up to a max of 3 days).
Bear in mind that this is only statistics and that you shouldn’t leave your canine friend without food for that number of days, no matter how stubborn he is.
If you notice that he won’t eat, or he eats significantly less than he used to for 24-48 h do contact your vet. He/she will run some tests and will perform a full examination to determine the cause.
How Can I Stimulate My Cane Corso Dog’s Appetite?
When you discover the reason the causes your dog not to eat, you have solved half of the problem. If your dog is ill, your vet will prescribe him some therapy, medications.
If you have a dog that recovers from a recent surgery syringe or hand-feeding might be a good idea
Dogs in the heat cycle might refuse food for a couple of days, but there is nothing special to be done about it.
You can offer some tastier cuts of meat to your Corso girl or her favorite food. It will go away in a week or so and she will get back to normal.
If you have a CC that suffers from separation anxiety, try to spend more time with him, to play with him, hand-feeding may also help in this case.
If your dog is bored with his food, try to enrich it with some tasty topping or add some healthy, delicious oils like fish or coconut oil to his food.
You can soak his kibbles in tasty unsalted chicken broth to change the texture of the food and improve its taste.
If you are going to change the food brand, be careful and make this change baby steps, mixing the old and new food for the next 7-10 days in different proportions (new / old food, two/three days each proportion 25/75, 50/50, 75/25)
Make sure you stick to the feeding schedule and give your dog food every day at the same time. Avoid a lot of treats and don’t give him any table scraps.
Physical exercise is very important for Cane Corso, do more exercise with your dog in order to increase appetite.
You can consult your vet about some appetite stimulants (like Mirtazapine) if he finds them necessary.
Some dogs won’t eat as they had food allergies or they are too sensitive to some of the food ingredients.
This is something you need to investigate and find the right food by offering different brands and combinations. Eventually, you will succeed.
Sometimes dogs won’t eat because they don’t like the bowl (avoid stainless steel or glass bowls, as dogs don’t like their own reflection, use ceramic one instead), it can be made of a ‘wrong’ material or it’s not clean.
Note that senior dogs have a lot of problems with joints so maybe your old guy refuses to eat as it’s painful for him to bend. In that case, lift up the bowl.
Don’t forget that senior dogs eat less normally, so don’t expect your old Corso to keep the same level of food motivation as earlier.
If your Cane Corso Is not mentally stimulated enough he won’t eat well. Try to serve his food in some interesting food toy like a snuffle pad or puzzle. Maybe he needs to ‘work’ a bit in order to get his food.
Don’t forget to be creative and make a DIY enrichment dog feeder. You can use simple cardboard boxes or muffin tins or even egg cartons. Your Corso will be thrilled.
If your Cane Corso is on the raw meat diet, maybe some types of meat, he simply doesn’t like it. For example turkey or chicken can be ”slimy” and maybe your CC doesn’t like that.
In that case, he will eat better if you serve him this type of meat partially frozen. Or you can put the meat in the pan, sear it and serve it. It will still be raw inside but different texture.
If you usually give your Corso beef, and he refuses to eat, change the type of meat, offer pork or turkey…
If you give your dog organic food only and then for any reason you serve him meat from a grocery store (nonorganic) he might feel the difference and refuse to eat. Not only Corso dogs but all dogs have a very good sense of smell so they feel the smell of chemicals in the food.
For a picky eater like Corso, this could be the sign the stop eating. I this case, the same trick as with slimy meat will help. Offer your CC partially frozen meat from the grocery store and he most probably will eat it since the smell of chemicals will be less intensive.
Of course, it’s always better, if you can, to feed your CC with organic meat.
Hopefully, this article helped you and your Cane Corso with this topic, and remember to always check with your vet if you notice any changes in your dog’s eating habits.
