dog has stopped eating dry food

JacksonHeightsOwn · 18-12-2010 3:22pm #1

Hi.

ive a beagle, just coming up to one now, ever since we got her (8 weeks), she's been fed on dry food, mainly Science Plan, we noticed a few months ago she seemed to get bored with one particluar bag of food, so id change the flavour, that seemed to work

but the last few weeks she's been really fussy!!!

i changed her brand and flavour, thinking it was that, but she's just pick at her food, and not really eat much

this past week 2 weeks i tried giving her the food in the morning, if she didnt eat it, id take it away from her, and give it to her again at dinner time, but she's just turn her nose up at it

id honestly say in the past week especially, she's eaten close to maybe 2 bowls AT BEST,

she's not sick ,as yesterday i bought a little pedigree chum mix in meat packet, and she hoovered up her food like there was no tomorrow,

so surely its just the food

i keep telling myself im not going to "give in" to the fussy dog,

because she's not one of these dogs where the owners let her run riot and run their lives, she's doesnt get fed scraps, and she doesnt jump up on the furnitire,

but im actually beginning to worry for her health if persist with sticking to the dry food, i know for a fact she'll eat wet food, should i just give in, or is there a happy medium of some kinda dry/wet food hybrid?

any help lads and lassies

Cherry Blossom · 18-12-2010 3:55pm

I'd just keep doing what you are doing, leave it for 15 mins then take it up again, my dog is extremely fussy and I've found with changing her food over especially she might go 4 days without. I've found the best way is to change the food very gradually over about 3 weeks with just a few extra bits of the new kibble at a time. I give her the ration of new food first and she doesn't get the old stuff untill she has eaten all the new food. You could try something like this if she has a favourite treat (give her the treat when she has emptied the food bowl). You can also try microwaving the dry food for 3 seconds before giving it to her, this will bring out the smells and should work very well on a beagle

Tough love is really the only way I find works when it comes to this!

rafared · 18-12-2010 4:00pm

My beagle would eat anything and everything. He's fed dry food, Eukanuba, and would eat bag and all if you gave it to him. Any owner of beagles that Ive talked to say the same, Ive never heard of a beagle refusing food unless they were sick. Maybe try a mixture of his dry food with a small bit of wet stuff to perk up his interest. I know for sure you will get posters saying this is a bad idea and that he'll eat when he's hungry so just leave him with it.
If this continues I would get the vet to check him out to be sure he hasnt eaten something he shouln't have or has some problem that needs attention.
Best of luck.

JacksonHeightsOwn · 18-12-2010 4:42pm

ive tried wetting the food with warm water, and ive also tried microwaving it

i thought she maybe had sore teeth or gums, but she's eating her treats without any bother

once i give her the wet mix in sachets, she chows down,

it both annoying, and slightly worrying, on the one hand, im the man with thats been dictated to by a little dog, but on the other hand, im worried she's not eating as im being too strict on her

ill give it one more day ,then ill have to mix her dry food with some canned, its the only option i suppose

dahat · 18-12-2010 5:43pm

had the same problem and ended up changing to a RAW type diet.
she just bluntly refused dry food and tried everything imagineable but to no joy

Zapperzy · 18-12-2010 7:35pm

Have you checked her teeth and gums? She may be eating her treats because they are much nicer than ordinary food but she may be too painful to eat plain tasting ordinary food. Could be something like a loose tooth or something caught in her mouth (would she normally be chewing/chasing sticks?).

Have you tried feeding her in a different place? Could something have scared her while she was eating in her normal feeding area and now maybe she's a little reluctant to be in the same area 'off guard'. Try feeding her in a different room to see does it make any difference.

I would see it as no harm adding something tasty to her food provided she doesn't become too fussy and start eating around the biscuits. My dog was fussy so I started adding tiny bits of ham, cheese, anything just to make him eat, and it worked for a while until he snagged that if he doesn't eat he gets nicer things which he can just eat and leave the 'normal food'.

I now feed just dry in the morning, and add some wet food to the biscuits in the evening feed, he eats whatever I give him and if he leaves it behind I add nothing to it to entice him.
I find naturediet and applaws are great for enticing fussy dogs to eat, both are usually available in big petshops.

tasha200 · 18-12-2010 7:40pm

Dont ever ever give your dog pedigree chum or any other types of canned food, it is quite literally rubbish, not suited to dogs atall... i like another poster recommend the raw diet (google B.a.r.f) with some dry food (prefferably science plan or another good brand).....
Dogs should be fed livers, cow hearts, lambs hearts, kidneys, raw chicken etc.. and this diet can not only improve the dogs health but can actually work out cheaper than buying the disgusting food most people feed their dog (just read the back of the cans eurgh!!)
Do look up raw feeding, my dogs are in beautiful condition, fantastic teeth, coat, no health problems and no feeding problems, they are primarily fed raw food, with some science plan.. hope this helps x

Zapperzy · 18-12-2010 8:21pm

tasha200 wrote: »

Dont ever ever give your dog pedigree chum or any other types of canned food, it is quite literally rubbish, not suited to dogs atall... i like another poster recommend the raw diet (google B.a.r.f) with some dry food (prefferably science plan or another good brand).....
Dogs should be fed livers, cow hearts, lambs hearts, kidneys, raw chicken etc.. and this diet can not only improve the dogs health but can actually work out cheaper than buying the disgusting food most people feed their dog (just read the back of the cans eurgh!!)
Do look up raw feeding, my dogs are in beautiful condition, fantastic teeth, coat, no health problems and no feeding problems, they are primarily fed raw food, with some science plan.. hope this helps x

There are actually a few brands of wet food that are of very high quality. Naturediet, applaws, nature's harvest, nature's menu and forthglade being some of them. They contain none of these 'meat and animal derivatives' that truely is crap!

dvet · 18-12-2010 9:26pm

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

I'd just keep doing what you are doing, leave it for 15 mins then take it up again

+1! This can really help!

drongal · 18-12-2010 11:44pm

Hi
Try to mix dry ood with a spoon (or max 2 spoons) of canned food (should be science plan as well). my dog never touched dry food:/. This is only 1 thing which has worked or him.

sionnaic · 19-12-2010 1:17am

You could try Robbies dog food from the Land of Holistic Pets brand. You can get it in Dog Training Ireland or I just order it direct from LOHP as it's cheaper with free delivery.

It's all natural ingredients and comes as a dried food that you rehydrate with hot water to serve so it's mushy and slightly wet. My two (a collie cross and a basset) love it and do really well on it.

I think they send out free samples

luvdogs · 19-12-2010 3:12am

Just a thought but maybe shes coming into season, unless you`ve had her spayed!!
Those hormones send them awol lol!
id wouldnt offer lots of diff things if shes well in herself be fairly ruthless

JacksonHeightsOwn · 19-12-2010 10:12pm

luvdogs wrote: »

Just a thought but maybe shes coming into season, unless you`ve had her spayed!!
Those hormones send them awol lol!
id wouldnt offer lots of diff things if shes well in herself be fairly ruthless

she was only in heat about 9 weeks ago, so it cant be that

definetly not her teeth anyway, as she munched a lamb bone last night and devoured it quicker than a pool of piranhas

todays update is i mixed some canned food(not much) with some of her kibble

result???

a full belly and a big belch

ABajaninCork · 19-12-2010 10:28pm

Oh that's good news!

I was going to say try mixing a little Bovril (made with warm water) to her kibble.

I've done this with my little man when he gets picky with his food, and he loves it - wolfs it down!

luvdogs · 20-12-2010 2:02am

chrisbonnie wrote: »

she was only in heat about 9 weeks ago, so it cant be that

definetly not her teeth anyway, as she munched a lamb bone last night and devoured it quicker than a pool of piranhas

todays update is i mixed some canned food(not much) with some of her kibble

result???

a full belly and a big belch

aww glad she ate

if she was in heat 9weeks ago she sounds like shes having a phamtom preg, some bitches get milk and collect teddies etc but one of my girls just goes off her food.....hormones are a curse lol.
just keep an eye and ignore the fussiness and give extra exercise...usually works for my girl and she snaps out of it!!
hard being a woman :P

kylith · 20-12-2010 3:00pm

I think she's playing you; she's learned that if she refuses what she's given you'll eventually give her something else. Stick with what food you've decided is best and leave it for 15 minutes before you take it up, then give her nothing until her next feed. Keep it up for a couple of days and I'm sure you'll see a big difference in her. Giving her lots of exercise so she's good and hungry probably wouldn't do any harm either.

TigerTim · 20-12-2010 6:43pm

My Rough Collie will go 2 days without eating the dry food whenever I've tried it & then I give in. If I mix a little bit of Sardine thru' the food, down it goes in about 2 minutes. I can get 4 meals out of 1 tin of Sardines which seems to keep her happy. She can also tell the difference between the different brands of Sardines. Not too keen on John West but loves the Picnic brand. A spoon of Cod Liver Oil occasionally, works as well.

T.

midgej · 20-12-2010 6:54pm

Our little cavachon was the same a few weeks ago, had no interest in her usual dry food (Burns complete). I got one bag of Bakers Complete Gravy bites, which I mixed with her usual food. When a little water is mixed with it the Gravy bites release a "gravy", which flavoured all the food a bit, so she was happy with that, and is devouring her food as normal again now.

dog has stopped eating dry food

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