Dog won't eat

houndsoflove

Hi guys,

I recently rescued an American pit bull terrier.

He has a lovely temperament and loves sleeping indoors

The problem is he won't eat dog food! :eek:

I cut up chicken into small pieces and he ate that but I'd like to give him a variety too.

Anyone here have a pit bull? And what do you feed him/her?

Shanao

Hey there, i dont have a pit but I would advise you to get him onto a good high quality dry dog food as soon as possible. Now as you said he wont eat it, the only thing you can do is not give him a choice. Put a bowl of dog food down in front of him. If he doesn't eat it within twenty minutes, take it back. Do the same thing again a few hours later and so on. Most dogs are stubborn about their food and might not eat for up to four days. That's about their limit though and he should be happy enough to eat it then.
What you can try as well is pouring some codliver oil over the food or a bit of tuna or sardines for flavour. Or pop the food into the microwave for about twenty seconds; heating it will release the scent of it and make it a bit more appealing to him.
On the other hand, have you had his teeth checked? Some dogs wont eat dried food because they might have a bad tooth and chewing hurts too much.

homerhop

Have you tried mixing the 2, then try slowly reducing the amount of chicken meat?

houndsoflove

He was at the vets for his shots and she checked his teeth.

I have ordered a dry food called eukanuba to see will he eat it.

In the mean time I will heat his food and maybe try weetabix.

Thanks guys.

ABajaninCork

I feed my dog on Burns. There's several different varieties, so he should be able to find one he likes.

Vets usually have sample bags for you to take away and try.

Have you tried putting a little Bovril with warm water on his food? I do that with mine when he plays up and he laps it up!

LucyBliss

Pouring warm tea over the food worked for my dog when she got fussy over her dog food.

The Sweeper

I've got a bull arab (a bull mix dog bred for hunting pigs - a lot larger than a pit) and he's the oddest dog I've ever met when it comes to food.

Every single time I give my dog his dinner, he sniffs it and walks away to come back for it later -and he does that no matter what I feed him. However he does eat it, mainly because that's all he gets and it's left out for him until he does feel like eating it.

I feed my guy a raw dinner most days, and a bowl of Canidae (a grain-free kibble) other days. Sometimes I'll come home from work and he literally won't have touched the kibble, so he won't have eaten for 24 hours. His weight is just fine though - 26kgs at 8 months, his ribs are well covered.

It does freak me out a little bit sometimes, but I just keep his condition in my sights and let that guide me.

ABajaninCork

Sounds like my guy. I joke he's on the supermodel diet.

One day he'll eat and eat. Everything you give him is wolfed down. The next day he'll turn his nose up at his kibble, but will eat toast and Bovril, and will accept the odd slice of ham. This is courtesy of my husband, as I tend to be a bit stricter when it come to giving him titbits.

Tonight, he'd turned his nose up at the kibble, so I did my usual. Made a drop of Bovril, poured it over the kibble, and down it went singing hymns!

sligopark

was advised not give my dog bread (toast) or pork

ISDW

I'd be careful with Bovril and any of those kind of products, very salty for a dog. Even if you're putting gravy onto a dog's dinner, you shouldn't use any of the gravy granules or cubes because of the salt content.

It can be a bit of a pain, but if you can boil up a chicken carcess or similar, the stock from that would be great to put on the dinner as an appetiser, you can do a huge pot and freeze it.

houndsoflove

He still won't eat


I dunno if he is pining?

Hopefully he will eat the food I ordered.

daenerysstormborn3

Do you know what food he was on before you rescued him? It may be that he was fed a raw diet and is used to this type of food.

I have a great dane who is fed a raw diet and absolutely thrives on it. It is recommended by vets and breeders alike. If you want more information on it google Dr Ian Billinghurst, there is a website with a lot of information on it.

Someone recommended boiling up a chicken carcass, just be careful not to feed cooked chicken bones to the dog as these are very weak and may splinter and cause damage, same goes for all bones but chicken bones would be a lot weaker than most.

ISDW

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Do you know what food he was on before you rescued him? It may be that he was fed a raw diet and is used to this type of food.

I have a great dane who is fed a raw diet and absolutely thrives on it. It is recommended by vets and breeders alike. If you want more information on it google Dr Ian Billinghurst, there is a website with a lot of information on it.

Someone recommended boiling up a chicken carcass, just be careful not to feed cooked chicken bones to the dog as these are very weak and may splinter and cause damage, same goes for all bones but chicken bones would be a lot weaker than most.

I never said to give the dog the carcass, I said the stock.

daenerysstormborn3

ISDW wrote: »

I never said to give the dog the carcass, I said the stock.

Yes i know that