Chihuahuas stomach churns, gurgles; wont eat

Question
My 5-yr-old chihuahua's stomach is gurgling and squeaking very actively. Under normal circumstances she often seems surprised or offended by her rear end, and right now she seems only slightly more attentive to it.

Her most recent meal was about 24 hours ago. She declined her breakfast this morning and her dinner just now. (Every week I make a batch of the same food for her: chicken with pumpkin, carrots, green beans, and navy beans; she has eaten meals from this week's batch without incident.)

When I got home tonight she greeted me with her usual energy and affection. I've observed two behavioral differences in the past couple of hours. First, she is not burrowing as usual under a fleece throw or a pillow; second, she is not trying to lick my face when I kiss her on the cheek.

She had a regular solid bowel movement while I was at work. (She didn't want to go out in the heavy rain this morning, so I didn't force her.) The inner surfaces of her ears seem paler than usual. She does seem a little cool to the touch (but I wonder if that's because she isn't burrowed under).

Is she not eating because her stomach is churning, or is her stomach churning because she hasn't eaten? Is she fasting? Is she gassy? Would Gas-X help (all I have are dissolvable strips), or maybe baking soda?

I hope I haven't given too much useless information or too little useful.

Answer
Well something she has eaten hasn't agreed with her at all. She shouldn't be eating any kind of navy beans, these are way to gas-producing for dogs. Her diet, unfortunately, as good as it sounds to you, is not very well balanced. She isn't getting the proper ratios of minerals and vitamins with this diet. Home made diets are very, very tricky to get right.

So what's most likely going on is that she has gastritis, which is where her stomach and lower digestive system is irritated. The gas in her belly is causing the gurgling.

She needs to fast right now. She can then be started on a small amount, after 24 hours, of boiled chicken and rice. Then after another 24 hours she can eat a normal amount.

If she isn't better in 24 hours then she needs to see the vet because one of the issues of feeding human foods to dogs is their tendency to cause gastritis, pancreatitis- which can become fatal very quickly- and other digestive upsets.

I wouldn't give her any gas-x as I don't know if it's toxic to dogs or not. Pepto Bismol, a very small dosage, can be used safely twice a day.

If you insist on cooking for her you need to get a recipe for a fully balanced diet that consists of the proper nutrients and vitamins for her age and size.

Here is a list of diet recipes that Hills made years ago. As you can see, they take some ingredients to make them properly.

http://www.all-creatures-vet.com/recipek9.htm

Most vets recommend a commercially prepared diet because of the issue of nutrient overload or underload. How can you know if you are making a fully balanced diet?

Once she is better you might want to re-think what she eats and opt for a fully digestible and nutrient dense diet such as Hills Science Diet Ideal Balance for small dogs. That way she is getting optimal nutrition without artificial ingredients or dyes. The new Ideal Balance diets are amazing and my cats are doing great on them.

http://www.hillspet.com/ideal-balance/ideal-balance-dog-food.html

I hope she feels better soon.