If your dog is not eating and peeing in the house, it can be both frustrating and alarming.
These behaviors often indicate that your dog is uncomfortable or facing health or emotional issues.
Understanding why your dog refuses food and has accidents indoors is crucial to helping your furry friend recover quickly and maintain a healthy, happy life.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explain the causes of dog not eating and peeing in the house, how these symptoms might be related, and what actions you should take to support your dog’s health and wellbeing.
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Here’s Why Your Dog Is Not Eating and Peeing in the House
When a dog stops eating and starts peeing in the house, it’s often a sign of an underlying health or behavioral issue. Medical conditions such as urinary tract infections, kidney disease, diabetes, or gastrointestinal problems can affect both appetite and bladder control.
Alternatively, emotional stress, anxiety, or environmental changes—like a new home, routine shift, or the absence of a family member—can disrupt a dog’s normal behavior.
Puppies and senior dogs may also experience these issues due to developmental or age-related challenges.
Why Does My Dog Stop Eating?
1. Illness or Pain
When a dog is sick or in pain, eating becomes the last priority.
Illnesses such as infections (bacterial, viral, or parasitic), gastrointestinal problems (like gastritis or pancreatitis), dental disease, or systemic conditions like kidney or liver disease can cause nausea, discomfort, and loss of appetite.
Painful dental issues, for example, can make chewing painful, so your dog may refuse food.
Similarly, illnesses that affect the gastrointestinal tract often cause nausea and vomiting, discouraging eating.
If your dog is both not eating and peeing in the house, illness may be affecting multiple body systems, including urinary tract discomfort or neurological control.
2. Stress and Anxiety
Stress is a powerful suppressor of appetite in dogs.
Changes such as moving to a new home, new pets or family members, loud noises like thunderstorms or fireworks, or separation anxiety can all disrupt your dog’s routine.
Stress doesn’t just affect eating habits. It can also cause your dog to lose control of their bladder or regress in house training, resulting in indoor accidents.
Stress increases cortisol levels, which can upset digestion and cause your dog to avoid food.
3. Medication Side Effects
Many medications prescribed for various health problems have side effects that reduce appetite or cause nausea.
Some drugs may also increase urination frequency or cause bladder irritation.
For example, antibiotics or chemotherapy drugs can upset the stomach.
Diuretics increase urine production and can cause accidents in the house.
Always check with your vet if you suspect medication is affecting your dog’s eating or bathroom habits.
4. Digestive Problems
Digestive issues like constipation, diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease, or food intolerance can make eating painful or uncomfortable.
Dogs may refuse food to avoid worsening gastrointestinal distress.
Digestive upset may also cause your dog to drink more water or have urinary changes. This fluid imbalance can contribute to peeing indoors.
5. Aging
Senior dogs commonly eat less due to reduced activity levels, dental problems, or cognitive decline such as canine dementia.
Older dogs may also have weakening bladder muscles, leading to accidents in the house.
Why Is My Dog Peeing in the House?
Inappropriate urination can be caused by physical, emotional, or behavioral issues. Some common causes include:
1. Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
UTIs cause inflammation and discomfort in the urinary tract, leading to frequent, urgent urination and accidents inside the house.
Dogs may associate pain with the urge to pee and lose control.
UTIs often cause reluctance to eat because the infection makes the dog feel unwell overall.
2. Bladder or Kidney Problems
Bladder stones, kidney infections, or chronic kidney disease interfere with normal urine production and control.
These issues cause increased urination or urinary accidents.
Kidney disease also causes nausea and loss of appetite, linking the two symptoms of not eating and peeing in the house.
3. Behavioral Issues
Anxiety, fear, or stress-related behavioral problems can cause a dog to urinate inside the house.
Changes in environment, routine, or the arrival of new pets often trigger such behaviors.
Sometimes dogs urinate indoors as a form of submission or due to separation anxiety.
4. Incontinence
Older dogs or those with neurological conditions may lose voluntary control of their bladder muscles, leading to accidental urination indoors.
5. Marking Behavior
Unneutered males and sometimes females may urinate inside the house to mark territory, especially if they feel threatened or stressed.
How Are Dog Not Eating and Peeing in the House Connected?
It’s important to understand that loss of appetite and inappropriate urination often stem from related health or emotional problems.
Illnesses such as infections, kidney disease, or diabetes affect multiple body systems, causing both symptoms.
Stress and anxiety disrupt normal routines and physiological processes, suppressing appetite and causing accidents.
Pain or discomfort makes your dog less interested in eating and may interfere with bladder control.
By identifying the root cause, you can better address both problems simultaneously.
Possible Medical Causes of Dog Not Eating and Peeing in the House
1. Urinary Tract Infections and Other Urinary Issues
UTIs inflame and irritate the bladder and urethra, causing frequent urination and accidents. The discomfort often causes loss of appetite as your dog feels unwell.
If untreated, UTIs can spread to the kidneys, causing more serious illness and worsened symptoms.
2. Kidney or Bladder Disease
Bladder stones cause painful urination and often blood in the urine. Kidney disease disrupts fluid and electrolyte balance, causing increased thirst, frequent urination, and reduced appetite.
Early diagnosis and treatment are critical to prevent irreversible damage.
3. Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus increases thirst and urination dramatically. Sugar in the urine irritates the bladder, causing accidents. Diabetes also causes lethargy and appetite changes.
If you notice your dog drinking excessively, peeing more, and losing interest in food, have your vet check for diabetes.
4. Gastrointestinal Illness
Conditions like pancreatitis, gastritis, or parasitic infections cause nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain that reduce appetite. Gastrointestinal upset can also cause dehydration, which leads to changes in urination.
5. Pain and Discomfort
Pain from arthritis, injury, or dental disease discourages eating. Pain may also cause changes in behavior including urination problems.
Behavioral and Emotional Causes
1. Stress and Anxiety
Stress increases cortisol levels, which can slow digestion and suppress appetite.
Anxiety also causes loss of bladder control or submissive urination.
Common stress triggers include loud noises, new pets, changes in schedule, or separation.
2. Incomplete House Training or Regression
Young puppies or senior dogs sometimes regress in training due to confusion, stress, or illness, leading to indoor accidents.
Loss of appetite may coincide if the dog feels unwell.
3. Attention-Seeking Behavior
Dogs sometimes pee indoors to get attention if they feel ignored or lonely. They may also refuse food as a form of protest or distress.
What To Do When Your Dog Is Not Eating and Peeing in the House
Step 1: Observe and Document
Carefully monitor your dog’s symptoms:
How many meals has your dog missed?
Where and how often are the accidents happening?
Are there other symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, or coughing?
Take notes or videos if helpful to share with your vet.
Step 2: Veterinary Examination
Your vet will perform a thorough exam and likely run tests such as:
Urinalysis to detect infection, crystals, or blood
Blood tests to check kidney, liver, and pancreas function
Imaging (X-rays or ultrasound) to identify bladder stones or other abnormalities
Prompt diagnosis is key to effective treatment.
Step 3: Follow Treatment Plans
Treatments may include antibiotics for infections, special diets for kidney disease, medications to control pain or inflammation, or insulin for diabetes.
Follow your vet’s instructions closely and complete all medications.
Step 4: Manage Stress
Create a calm environment with a consistent routine. Provide safe spaces, exercise, and positive interaction.
Consider calming aids like pheromone diffusers or behavior modification training if anxiety is a major factor.
Step 5: Address House Training Issues
Use positive reinforcement to retrain bathroom habits.
Clean accidents thoroughly with enzymatic cleaners to remove odors that encourage repeat urination.
When Should You Seek Emergency Help?
Take your dog to the emergency vet immediately if you notice:
Vomiting or diarrhea along with loss of appetite and indoor urination
Severe pain or signs of distress
Blood in urine or stool
Straining or inability to urinate
Excessive lethargy or weakness
Your dog is a puppy, elderly, or has chronic illness
Delaying care risks dehydration, kidney damage, or worsening illness.
Preventing Loss of Appetite and Indoor Urination Problems
1. Maintain Regular Vet Check-Ups
Routine veterinary exams can catch urinary, kidney, or digestive problems early before symptoms worsen.
2. Provide a Balanced Diet
Feed age-appropriate, high-quality dog food to support digestive and urinary health.
3. Manage Stress Proactively
Keep your dog’s environment stable, maintain exercise, and minimize stressful situations.
4. Proper House Training
Train puppies thoroughly and reinforce positive habits throughout your dog’s life.
5. Monitor Medication Side Effects
If your dog is taking medication, watch for appetite changes or urinary issues and consult your vet.
Key Takeaway
If your dog is not eating and peeing in the house, don’t ignore these signs.
They usually indicate underlying health or emotional issues such as infections, kidney disease, pain, or anxiety.
Early detection and treatment are crucial for your dog’s recovery and comfort.
By observing your dog closely, seeking timely veterinary care, and addressing emotional needs, you can help your dog return to a healthy appetite and regain proper bathroom habits.