Question:
Okay, I have a 10 month old poodle who has been a VERY VERY picky eater since we got her.
She has been on Innova Puppy canned and every once in awhile eats some Solid Gold kibble, if she feels like it.
She never acted like she loved the Innova, but recently it has gotten bad, we have tried every Super Premium Food (Innova Evo, Canidae, Solid Gold, Fromm, etc..) and even a few that are a little lower (not grocery store food but not as good as the others). She will eat none of them.
We have resorted to adding things to the Innova (ground turkey, sardines, canned salmon). Even doing this she only eats a little.
The 15 minute thing does not work for us... even though everyone says she wont starve herself, she WILL.
I dont know what to do.
We will buy her any food in the world... but she just wont eat them, any of them. She HAS to eat.
I am sooo frustrated.
Any thoughts?
Elissa
Answer:
Have you tried feeding her a raw diet?
Answer:
No, because although, I have read Dr. Pitcairns (sp?) book it appears very very difficult to figure out exact measurements for a home cooked meal.
I wont feed RAW... i would feed a homemade diet, but like i said it looks very hard.
if i could get an exact diet i would try it.
Elissa
Answer:
A friend of mine has a GSD who was driving her nuts with his picky eating. She finally found a solution that has worked great for her for the past couple of years. She buys a bulk pack of hamburg, rolls it up into individual balls, puts them on a cookie sheet & freezes them raw. Once frozen she puts them in ziplock bags. When it's time to feed she takes out 1 and cooks it in the microwave. She breaks it up and mixes it together with the juice very well with the dry kibble. The warmth and aroma is just irresistable to her dog & he no longer gives her a worry about not eating. You can make it the size appropriate for the amount of kibble your pup gets.
Answer:
No, because although, I have read Dr. Pitcairns (sp?) book it appears very very difficult to figure out exact measurements for a home cooked meal.
I wont feed RAW... i would feed a homemade diet, but like i said it looks very hard.
if i could get an exact diet i would try it.
Elissa
Some places have raw dinners you can buy. Though it depends on where you live. Around here you cant get it.
Answer:
ROxy is an extremely picky eater, remember though, most of them time by catering to their picky eating you're only worsening the situation.
Roxy barely ate, I switched her food mixed it with human soup everything. What I ended up doing was for supper everynight her kibble got mixed with canned food. (flavours like duck, chicken, turkey, fish etc). It seemed to be working well, she ate once a day, at dinner time.
Until we ran out of canned food and didn't have enough money for more! ($3.50 a can!) She didn't eat for a week until we got more wet food!
I asked my vet and trainer and they both said just leave her, she'll eat when she's hungry, she will NOT starve herself.
Roxy still barely eats anything, less than half of what a dog her weight should eat in a day, but she still maintains a very healthy 80lbs. ?????? How?? I have no idea!!! LOL, But I do know that she is healthy, and she does eat, maybe not much but she does. My vet also said if your feeding them a very high quality food they don't actually have to eat as much, sometimes less than half of a lesser brand.
If it really bothers you try mixing somthing like chicken noodle soup with her food. Or a really good wet canned food. I really don't think she'll starve herself. Eventually she will get hungry and eat.
Have you told your vet about the problem? Maybe it's something medical....
Answer:
I know you already said no to the raw diet, but I highly reccomend it. Although it may seem hard at first, it really truly isn't too challenging. I could refer you to some great websites and online forums if you wanted me too as well. Measuring really isn't too hard, and for Emma we did a bit of a guess and check type thing. We fed her based on loose guidelines that I got from various websites and then adjusted her food intake according to her needs.
Anyways, I wouldn't even worry about measurement this early. First, I'd give her a bit of the "taste" of the diet and then you could go from there.
Also, does your dog get table scraps? Or has she ever been fed human food? Because that could be responsible for this. In all honesty, if she wont eat any kind of kibble, and she may not like the diet, or you are unwilling to try it, she may need to go for a Vet check. There are not many routes left for you to take!
Answer:
She has been to the vet, so she has no medical problems.
She has gotten some "people" food, but not a lot and we have not really substituted it for her meals, only tried to mix it in some times.
We are concerned about feeding raw due to the concerns of bacteria in the food supply.
Ugh.. she is soo frustrating, I LOVE her to death, I just want her to eat.
Elissa
Answer:
I used to have the same problem as you. My Chihuahua would not eat under any circumstance, only until she was practically beyond STARVING and puking out bile. I spent the first 1.5 years trying to get her to eat any kind of kibbles, even poor quality ones, tried out about a dozen, mixed in doggy gravy, added some meat, broth, EVERYTHING.. just to coax her to eat. But I think all that just made it worse. I finally gave up and put her on a raw diet. After that, she actually looked forward to meal times for the 2 years she was on it. Due to some problems I was having (not bacteria related - she was picking out which type of meat she would and would not eat), I thought it would be in her best interest to switch back to kibbles because at least it would be balanced.
Well, I bought her Innova Evo, fully expecting her to turn her nose away but she ate it like no tomorrow. Since then, she'll eat ANY kibbles, be it Innova or not. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I used to free feed her but obviously had to stop when I switched to the raw diet - it was eat when offered or wait until next mealtime. She now eats her kibbles right away.. no more free feeding.
Personally, I would keep doing the 15 minute thing. A healthy dog would never starve itself to death and cut out ALL human foods for now. Cut out any treats you're giving her as well. Don't add human foods to her kibbles to try to get her to eat because she'll just pick them out, get half full, leave the kibbles, and wait until next meal time where she'll get more human food. That's what I can think of unless you're willing to do the homemade cooked way.
Answer:
Due to the variety of foods we have tried the last few days, my dog has gotten a bad case of diarhea (sp?).
After we settle this stomach problem, I will try some of the tips you have all given me.
Thank You very much,
Elissa
Answer:
We are concerned about feeding raw due to the concerns of bacteria in the food supply
This comes as a surprise to many people, however there are more cases of diseases, and bacteria related problems coming from Kibble. Dogs digestive tracks are not like ours, and although we should not be eating raw food, dogs are able to. Think of it in this context, dogs are just domesticated wolves. Guess what wolfs eat?! The domesticated dog's teeth and digestive system has not changed from that of a wolf, therefore allowing dogs to be able to eat this type of food.
Answer:
We have the same issues with Tugger (who is a beagle and they are known to eat anything/everything!). We now have 4 bags of dog food in our home--and not one that he "likes". He's one picky boy. Yesterday, it was suggested that we take the kibble and add some peanut oil or safflower oil to the kibble to give it a coating. That way--he may like the taste...and it will help his "coat".
Health-wise....Tugger is also a bit chunky looking at 23 pounds for a 13" beagle. He loves broccoli and carrots.....and we're just looking to see that he is eating correctly with health-wise foods, including kibble.
Good luck and let us know what you find works!
Answer:
We add some water to Herschel's kibble when he's feeling picky. Lately, he's decided that the only way he will eat is if we throw his food all over the floor.
Answer:
I did not realize so many other people were dealing with or had dealt with the same situation. I guess we will just keep trying different things.
As far as RAW, I wont really want to get into a debate about it because I know a lot of people sweat by it and love it. But I totally trust my vet and she said RAW is like playing russian roulette, because although a dog does have increased immunity to bacterial diseases it is possible for them to contract salmonella and ecoli. And that although people say that wild animals eat raw animals, a 6 pound poodle does not really consitute a wild animal and would never survive in the wild. I will keep trying other things as at this time RAW is not an option for me. I am just not willing to take the risk.
Thanks again for the responses and I will continue trying some of the tips you have all given me.
Elissa
Answer:
I had the same issues with my papillon pup...the only kibble he will eat is Royal Canin Special 30 mini (although I wish he liked a better kibble, I have to get him what he will eat). I don't know if your pup would like it or not, b/c it sounds like a pickier pup than mine....have you considered a solely canned diet?
Answer:
I had the same issues with my papillon pup...the only kibble he will eat is Royal Canin Special 30 mini (although I wish he liked a better kibble, I have to get him what he will eat). I don't know if your pup would like it or not, b/c it sounds like a pickier pup than mine....have you considered a solely canned diet?
Yes we have... she is basically on a canned diet now... We feed Innova Puppy canned... we have the kibble just in case she decides to eat it, but she basically only eats the canned.
She weighs 6 pounds, so money isnt really a concern, canned isnt that expensive on such a small dog. I am serious when I say she can have whatever she wants... she just doesnt WANT anything.
Elissa
Answer:
Oh ok...I am a little confused though (sorry, lol). If she's eating the canned food then are you still concerned? or do you want her to eat dry food too? B/c a strictly canned diet is perfectly fine (actually more desirable) :)
Answer:
Sorry if I confused you... she only eats a few bites of canned food... So basically she is not eating at all, but when she does eat a few bites it is canned that she is eating... if she would eat the whole plate of canned food I would be fine with her staying on that.
Elissa
Answer:
Have you tried any other varieties of wet food? I know my pup didn't like the regular Innova canned,Solid Gold, or Wellness canned. He does like the Innova EVO canned and Evangers 100% meat canned, but those are the only ones so far.
Answer:
we tried about 6 different canned foods, she turns her nose up at everything.
Quite the pain..lol
Elissa
Answer:
Sorry if I confused you... she only eats a few bites of canned food... So basically she is not eating at all, but when she does eat a few bites it is canned that she is eating... if she would eat the whole plate of canned food I would be fine with her staying on that.
Elissa
Is she eating on a daily basis? I can't remember it exactly but on a tv programme I saw a while back there was this little dog who had been fed people food from a fork everyday and would refuse to eat dog food.
I'm sure they cooked some mince and added it to the canned food, they then sat on the floor with the dog and made yummy noises whilst picking up the food to get the dog excited about it. In the end the dog ate a little bit of it and over the next few day's began eating properly.
Answer:
How much excercise is she getting? This is a common problem with dogs that aren't walked or given enough excercise to do.... especially if they are an "indoor dog" that lounges most of the day.
I'v dealt with these kinds of problems before.... the more they work, the hungrier they get :)
Answer:
She seems to always be crazy.
Although, now that you mention it, it seems as though the really bad problems with eating have coincided with a decrease in her exercise levels. It has been raining or hot everyday and she does not want to be outside a lot. She does get exercise in the house and she still goes outside 6 or 7 times a day at least. But she has been more lazy latley.
I will try and get her to move around more and see what happends, thanks
Elissa
Answer:
As far as RAW, I wont really want to get into a debate about it because I know a lot of people sweat by it and love it. But I totally trust my vet and she said RAW is like playing russian roulette, because although a dog does have increased immunity to bacterial diseases it is possible for them to contract salmonella and ecoli. And that although people say that wild animals eat raw animals, a 6 pound poodle does not really consitute a wild animal and would never survive in the wild. I will keep trying other things as at this time RAW is not an option for me. I am just not willing to take the risk.
That's fair enough, those are all misconceptions but you are entitled to your opinion :) Have you tried feeding the kiddble/wet out of your hand to her?
Answer:
I just want to say that they are not misconceptions because they can happen....they may be misleading in your opinion, but that is up to the individual.
Answer:
They are not misconceptions, they DO happen.
Some people are willing to take the risk, others are not.
I know the RAW diet can be great and some dogs do wonderful on it, but if my dog was the 1 in whatever I would feel horrible because I did it.
Elissa
Answer:
They are not misconceptions, they DO happen.
Some people are willing to take the risk, others are not.
I know the RAW diet can be great and some dogs do wonderful on it, but if my dog was the 1 in whatever I would feel horrible because I did it.
Elissa
Ah yes, but it is a misconception because there are more cases of that happening with Kibble.
Answer:
A couple of suggestions...
First, do stick to the fifteen minute rule. One thing that has worked very well for me is to take a great quality kibble, soak it in hot water for fen minutes, then puree it with cooked chicken or hamburger (including the juices). Start with mostly meat, then, if she begins to eat better, slowly increase the percentage of kibble. If you try this, you can make up several meals worth, freeze them in baggies, and warm them in the microwave just before feeding. Almost all dogs prefer warm food. The warmth and moisture make it prone to spoiling, though, so be sure to pick it up and dispose of it in 15 minutes.
Another option is Nutri-Cal. It is a dietary suppliment originally developed for dogs with no appetite after surgery. It is a high-calorie, nutritionally balanced, appetite stimulator as well. If you totally take her off solid food for a few days, feeding her only Nutri-Cal (2 tsp per 10 lbs body weight is enough to keep her healthy), it will allow her stomach to empty enough that she feels like eating while increasing her appetite. Along with increased exercise, this regimen should get her interested in food again.
I had a friend with a dog who had a poor appetite. The vet could find no reason for it, we tried every food we could come up with... to no avail. The Nutri-Cal regimen was tried, as well. Finally, the vet suggested giving her aloe vera capsules, in case she had heartburn. It worked! She would get a tablet about 30 minutes before each meal, was offered food 5 minutes at a time 4 times daily, and started eating better. She still gets one capsule daily (after 9 months), but is down to two meals daily.
Good luck!
Beth
Answer:
Beth thank you for the suggestions...
I will try the meat one first and then if she is still not interested I will look into getting aloe vera capsules.
Thanks Again
Elissa
Answer:
Ah yes, but it is a misconception because there are more cases of that happening with Kibble
When has a dog had e. coli or salmonella with kibble??
Answer:
When has a dog had e. coli or salmonella with kibble??
I'll pm you cases tomorrow.
Have you tried cat food?
Answer:
When has a dog had e. coli or salmonella with kibble??
Kibble is not sterile, especially salmonella contamination is a concern with the poorer quality products. You just don't hear much about it publicly because the pet food industry doesn't want people to know that commercial food has its risks as well.
Answer:
Now that I am thinking about it, I do recall on another forum that their dogs had salmonella from Abady dog food....that is so scary
Answer:
You asked if I tried cat food... sort of... not on purpose though... I have three cats and for various reasons they do not all eat in the same place, so I have a hard time keeping an eye on all the dishes and If I am not paying perfect attention the dog will run off and HAPPILY eat the entire dish...LOL
I can not baby gate the food or anything because two of the cats are getting old and can not jump over gates.
We went back to the pet food store today and I think we may have found something she would eat... FROMM... white fish kibble and tuna entree canned... so we will keep on this for a few days and see how everything goes...
thanks again
Elissa
Answer:
That's good! Hope that food works out, I wish you the best of luck.
About the cat food, since she'll eat that why don't you mix some with her kibble? Also, that is probably why the 15 minute thing, nor the waiting until she is starving isn't working...she could run off and grab some cat food.
Answer:
How long do you all leave the food down for the dog? I put out dry kibble in the AM...hoping and praying he eats something. By 5pm, if he hasn't eaten-we add water or some portion of canned/wet food. How long can the food actually stay down on the floor before it gets contaminated?
Answer:
Just wondering if there was an update that I missed...hopefully you found a solution!