[Our Pup Bruiser]

Hello! My partner and I are the proud parents of Bruiser, a 2 1/2-year old teacup Yorkie who usually is the loveable diva queen of our household (which includes us, my partner's father, my partner's father's caregiver -- who is here three days a week when my partner and I are out of the house for work -- and four cats who lived with us before we got Bruiser). Normally Bruiser is energetic and playful and clever and a total ham for attention.

However, over the last couple of weeks we've noticed some changes in our dog that makes us wonder if she is depressed or if she is suffering from a more physical ailment.

First, Bruiser had a somewhat upset stomach about two weeks ago. She threw up a little...but seemed to bounce back from that quickly with her usual personality intact.

But over the past couple of days, Bruiser's personality has seemed to shift in the following ways:

She is very reluctant to eat...progressing from not wanting pet food but liking treats and approved people food (e.g., scrambled eggs, roast) to refusing many approved people foods after a couple of bites to today needing her treat to be broken up into little pieces and hand-fed to her before she would eat it.

She seems noticeably more lethargic...sleeping more and not as excitable (a big change for the dog who used to jump and growl excitedly anytime any animal or person she did not recognize went by our house...or would play-wrestle our cats then cuddle up with them).

She is not enjoying her normal fun activities as much. For example, she used to dance around when the word "walk" was mentioned...and now she kind of shuffles over when we bring out her leash and harness. In fact, sometimes she sits in front of the house and refuses to budge when we want to take her on a walk. However, we sometimes see flashes of her old personality...like this morning when she wrestled one of our cats.

My partner and I have looked online this weekend to see what Bruiser's symptoms might indicate...and a lot of what we've read seems to suggest that she might be depressed (although we don't know why...unless something happened while we were at work). Has anyone dealt with depression in Yorkies that might be able to give us some insight? Or does anyone recognize these symptoms as sign of some other condition possibly? We are making an appointment with Bruiser's vet, but she is closed for the holiday weekend. Thanks for all replies!