rescue pet quirck

Question
Hello,
I feel like you should have a little back ground information before stating the problem. I have six dogs and one cat that are rescues.  They have some minor problems that we have basically worked through - except for Little Lady,  the Pom.  
I've had her for three years and she has come a long way.  We don't know how old she is because she only had two teeth that were rotten when we got her.  She weighted less than three pounds, had infections, ear lice and would yelp like crazy if we touched her.  
She now weighs more than four pounds, has no teeth, infections, or ear lice. She snuggles with me and loves being petted - however, once in a while she will not eat.  She licks the floor vents, the wall molding or the floor fan. This last time she went 48 hours and would not be tempted with milk or vanilla ice cream. I feed her canned food, half the time puppy food, but no table scraps as a rule.
Do you think she is missing something in her diet or maybe has an odd obsession that appears every so often?  It really bothers me when she starts licking things.  Have you heard of this before and what if anything can I do about it?
Thanking you in advance for your time and consideration.
E.


Answer
Congratulations for being a person who cares about other living things, offering them a new chance at life.  Your Pom may be responding to something in the environment (sound) as she seems to focus this licking behavior on things on the floor or part of the floor.  It may be there are critters (uninvited) living in your basement!  This is the only explanation I can come to, not having too much other info; if this is sporadic, you might make note of time of day, weather conditions, etc. to see if there may be some link between her behavior and the activities of the unseen guests.  If she's licking the vents, etc. instead of eating, this is obviously a strong distraction.  However, you may simply be noticing this licking more because she's NOT eating.  Only serious detective work on your part can determine the real reason she is showing such interest to these floor related items. Regarding the eating, small breed dogs often go what seems like a long time (to us) between meals.  So long as the dog's body weight is not affected, this is not a problem.  Do not offer her things to entice her to eat.  If she's physically healthy, neurologically sound (with no evidence of cognitive dysfunction, seizures, etc.) and emotionally responsive as always, this is a non problem.  Observe how much she actually DOES eat over the course of a week and then average it out.  If you're feeding your dogs a high quality diet, as you appear to be doing, nutrition shouldn't be an issue.