Anyone else have a dog thats a picky eater??

[lvs_eeyore]

Our pup is seven months old and driving me crazy. He wont eat any puppy food for more than a day...two at most. I currently have seven different puppy foods in the house and he now wont eat any of those. I have never had an animal that was like this. Im really concerned. I called the vet on Friday but she wont be in until Monday. He is active and happy and fine he just wont eat something more than once or twice. Ive tried leaving the puppy food down, taking it up and only giving it to him twice a day. Nothing seems to be working. He was already a tiny bit underweight when he got him so waiting him out on this worries me. We do not give him people food either....other than stuff he has snatched which he gobbles up like there is no tomorrow. I do supplement with Nutri Cal but I don't give him that until after he has had his puppy food. I dont want him getting used to getting that and not eating because of it. Any suggestions???

 

[cynsaun]

Our puppy did the same thing. Our vet recommened getting sodium-free chicken broth to pour over the food. This helps make the food smell better.

Good luck!

 

[lvs_eeyore]

cynsaun....Thanks for the suggestion. I will try that!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

LVS: Changing the pups food every couple days is only going to make the pup a more picky eater. Pick a food and stick to it. Sometimes there will be a food out there a pup will downright NOT eat but not usually. Animals are smart, he's not eating it because he knows soon enough you'll give him something new to try. Put the food down, give him time to eat, then pick it back up. Keep doing this with the same food. He will not starve himself and will eat when he's hungry. My 2 yo collie eats about half what she should eat. She has done this since I got her as a young pup. I will give her 1 1/2 cups twice a day, she only eats half of each meal. I feed her high protein food to keep weight on her. The vet says there's nothing wrong, thats just her routine. If it will make you feel better get him checked out also.

 

[winniedapooh]

I agree with roliepolieolie fan. Our St. Bernard was the worst and she is also a mini meal eater for such a big dog. We finally stuck to 1 she really likes and leave her a full bowl for her to much on all day! We also found for our furballs that our older cat would always get sick on whatever food we bought. We have KittyChow for the baby furballs and she eats it and has not gotten sick since! The vet told us this was fine and for once she does not look too scrawny!

 

[airhead]

My Dobie girl is like that. Sometimes she won't eat for 2 days!!! She's not food motivated at all.

 

[Bob NC]

Dogs can only be picky eaters if THEY buy the food.

Leave a dish and sooner or later the dog WILL eat it.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Monty Dog is 15 months old and eating is just not a priority for him.

He does not go at any food, but he flat out refuses to eat anything other than Purina One lamb and rice.

Even that it takes a lot of coaxing. Often we have to spend 30 minutes sitting on the floor feeding him by hand, kibble by kibble. He is so fussy. And even if we hide all his toys during dinner time, he still won't eat. He'll sit on the floor and look around, or look out the window. If we try to put him in his crate to eat, he knocks his food over and his a tantrum.

I have found that the best thing for us is to fill his dish and leave it out and let him pick at it as he wishes. We used to only give him a certain amount of time per day, in hopes that he'd realize if he didn't eat when the food was out that it would not be back again till the same time tomorrow.

It did not work.

He is seriously the most fussy dog I have ever seen.

 

[KristiKelly]

We have a picky eater also, I went through several brands of dog food. The 2 that she likes the best are Nutro-Max & Canidae (this is hard to find, we have a local "pet spa" that sells it or can be ordered off the internet) it is fairly expensive, but she eats & poops less.

 

[mep319]

WE rescued a lab at about 1 yr old that had been fed entirely people food...I refuse to do that. So we had a huge adjustment period and till the day she passed she would go days w/out eating for days....(if there was a left over in sight you had to gaurd your dish though) The vet told me a healthy dog will not starve itself...and he was right. She went from 30 lbs when I took her to the vet the first time...I'm sure she had lost about 10 from her new diet when we got her...to 65lbs as an 8 yr old...granted taht took serveral years...serveral overturned dishes to express her displeasure. Several stressful vet visits...but I learned....he was right...they will not stavre themselves! Just make sure nothing is wrong with him or her and Don't worry...he'll get eat when he is hungry enough!

 

[mep319]

Originally posted by cynsaun
Our puppy did the same thing. Our vet recommened getting sodium-free chicken broth to pour over the food. This helps make the food smell better.

Good luck!

Did that too didn't work...also did the feed by hand thing! Till baby came along...don't do it. Bob NC & roliepoliefan have it right.