I’ve had a fair share of pet owners coming in asking the same questions and a majority of the time, the dog is not losing weight or in a poor body condition. Some dogs look at food as the best thing in the world and they don’t know when their next meal is, other dogs will only eat what their daily metabolism and energy output requires.
Thanks for your input! I thought all dogs loved food more than anything! I guess mine is just an “eat-to-live” pup. What can I do if she doesn’t eat for days? Doesn’t a puppy her age need to at least eat twice a day to get enough nutrients? How is she not physically hungry for that long?
2 years old isn’t a puppy anymore, she’s been full grown for at least 6 months. small dogs have to worry about low blood sugar if they don’t eat frequently enough. mammals will naturally ration nutrients with they eat so eating a bulk of food at once or more frequent smaller amounts generally equates to the same outcome. some dogs will vomit bile if their stomach is empty for too long. i’ve never heard any of the vets i work with give a solid reason as to why, but they will always say that as long as weight is holding, energy is normal, and skin looks good, then it’s not too concerning.
My Great Pyrenees that weighs in at 150 lbs, eats about every other day( she’s offered homemade food every day). And it’s my Pomeranian that’s food driven.
But if you are real worried try raw chicken and organ meat of some type chopped together with frozen peas and carrots( thaw them out). She might be enticed by a raw diet.
Had the same issue with my pyr. Swear he only ate his food to prevent the cats from getting it. He'd skip meals if he stayed someplace that didn't have other pets.
Yeah my vet says it’s normal. This is my first pyr and I adopted her because she was going to be euthanized. So of course I brought home a snapping reactive 90 lb dog 😂😂😂. But now she’s a 150lb good girl!
try the farmers dog, or better yet [this recipe](https://stellanspice.com/balanced-dog-food/). i currently feed the farmers dog and my girl LOVES it. she gets SO excited for mealtimes and she used to refuse food for up to 3 days. she’s a senior dog and she has soooo so much more energy when feeding her this.
i’m about to switch to the recipe linked because i’m currently paying over $200 a month on her food. i am by no means rich, but this dog means the world to me and id rather me go without than her. with all the ingredients included, it’s about $100 to start, and then with the stuff that’s left over, it drops to about $80 a month.
definitely worth a shot
I’m not advocating for raw or otherwise because people should feed what they are comfortable with but a balanced raw diet does include liver daily. 10% of diet is secreting organs and half of that is liver. Even commercial raw uses the 80/10/10 formula.
My dogs tend to have loose stools if they are fed liver daily. My vet is fine with my dogs diet and my dogs are some of her most healthy clients and the only ones that don’t have overweight dogs. My dogs get a variety of organ meats mixed with different meats( chicken. rabbit, venison, beef or fish) and vegetables.
And for the sake of science, there are multiple secreting organs not just the liver.
If your dog gets loose stool because of the liver, not feeding it daily is great, for your dog. That doesn’t mean feeding liver daily shouldn’t be done as a rule. There are a lot of secreting organs and a variety should be fed but the standard formula is 5% liver daily. I’ve never had a dog with issues eating it daily. So, making the statement that it shouldn’t be fed daily to someone that obviously doesn’t currently feed raw is misleading.
And your “ commercial dog food manufacturers do this” is misleading. If they put out an actual decent product I wouldn’t have been feeding my dogs homemade food for 40 yrs.
It is the commercial raw standard. I don’t feed commercial food so I can’t speak to every company but it is the standard. However, I didn’t say all commercial raw is of good quality. I actually didn’t say any of it is of good quality because that wasn’t my point.
Feeding raw doesn't have any benefits, only added risks. I tried this with my picky dogs and it just made them more picky as they learned if they held out, they'd get something better.
I just adopted a poodle ( 4 years old) and she is a picky eater. I give her kibble with canned low sodium chicken and pour the juice from the can on it. I have actually hand fed her. I’ve only had her about a month so it could be her adjusting to the new life but, she still needs to eat. She only comes running for a squirt of whipped cream. My dog is not at all underweight. She just doesn’t seem to be a chow hound.
My border collie and great dane would only eat when hungry/required. Some days they didn't eat all. Sometimes a couple times a day. I could free feed them because they never over ate. My mastiff..... he'd eat until he blew up. He gets 2 meals a day. And sometimes he won't eat one or the other. Sometimes he attempts to stage a hunger strike if I don't put something smelly in his food. It doesn't last long.
My rescue is half border collie and I'd free feed him if my cats allowed it. He was so incredibly picky when he was younger I'd practically beg him to eat. At a year old now and he's less picky but will only eat however much he needs and will often leave half his breakfast in the bowl only to finish it + dinner later on.
Truth. I did have hope my mastiff would regulate so I could just leave his pan down once a day but that's not going to happen. I feel it's a small miracle he leaves my food alone and doesn't counter surf. The flip side is training wise my border collie and great dane were not motivated at all not even a little by treats. My mastiff suddenly becomes an absolute scholar if treats are involved.
My dog is SO food driven that the moment he doesn’t finish his food I KNOW he’s sick.
I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this. My pup is on the opposite end of your pup.
So your dog wants to play, have you tried turning meal time into an activity? Hide dried food for the dog to sniff out. Or a snufflemat. There are all kinds of products these days.
I gotta try this! What if she isn’t eating the food I hide? I feel like if I hide anything relatively good for her (aka not treats) she won’t care enough to sniff for it.
When I was dogsitting an Australian Shepherd pup, his owner requested that I sit on the couch and throw pieces of kibble across the apartment for the dog to chase. Throw some to one side, then to the other, back and forth, until the whole bowl was empty.
There were also some puzzle toys and plenty of commands I could practice with him in exchange for kibble. It was a great way to tire him out with minimal effort on my part, and he loved it.
The Kong wobbler (other brands make similar ones, too) was a great way to get my rescue to eat. I'd mix in some crinkled up treats or training treats just fur the smell to attract him, and he'd eat what he knocked out. He also liked for me to sprinkle this mix (small handfuls at a time so I could make sure he was actually eating) into a grassy patch in the lawn.
I quickly learned dogs just go off smell. He's still a finicky eater, although he's much better and quite consistent. I meal prep their meals into little deli containers with lines for their kibble allotment, and because I add a kelp supplement for coat and oral care, I find this more efficient. I recently moved and Mr Picky didn't want to eat, so I'd put 1-2 training treats in with each meal (crumbling it up seemed to work the best, and I've only done it with soft treats) and the scent makes them act like they just got a whole bowl of treats.
As a dog mom, it feels like the equivalent of sneaking veggies into a child's food
My dogs LOVE this game. We put them in a room and hide kibble all around the house, then let them out to find it. We call it “search” and whenever we ask if they want to play search they get so excited! They get normal meals as well but i feel that finding the food themselves encourages them to eat it.
I stopped giving my dog treats and instead gave her dry dog food as treats. For some reason if it was in the bowl she didn’t want it but if I gave it to a piece at a time she was in heaven. Go figure. This worked best with kibbles and bits brand. I just poured a days portion in a ziplock bag, stuck it my pocket and by bedtime it was usually gone, one piece at a time.
What works for my very picky eater is Nutrical paste in a tube, available at the pet store. It seems to increase his appetite and is a high calorie supplement with vitamins when he refuses to eat at all. He usually starts eating again after he has some of it.
I have a 2 year old female spayed Catahoula who weighs about 63lbs. According to the bag of kibble I have her on right now, she should be eating about 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups per day. If I can get her to eat 2 cups a day, it's a good day. What I have found works most of the time with her is to mix a bit of canned food in it and to feed her two smaller meals per day instead of one large one. For awhile, the only thing she would eat was canned Royal Canin gastro. Even then, she wasn't eating the recommended amount. I would have kept her on it but it was costing me $300 a month to feed her, which was not sustainable for me. I finally found a kibble she would eat but it's still a struggle to get her to eat some days (she ate nothing yesterday except two small biscuits and her dental treat). She is in good body condition so the vet isn't concerned.
It's okay if your dog isn't eating the daily recommended amount of food. The vast majority of the time, feeding by the bag leads to overweight dogs. Dog food companies usually recommend to feed way too much food. They are in the business of selling it, after all. It's better to use a body condition score chart and calorie calculator to determine how much food is appropriate.
This one bag recommended 4 cups of food 2x a day for my smaller breed puppy... I swear to Christ she would have been a bowling bowl with legs if I fed her that much.
Our Pyrenees was finicky and our other dog is a total chow hound. He would refuse his breakfast and we never knew why. We found that adding some chopped celery, green beans, or zucchini really helped him be excited to eat. We also offer less dry food than you might expect (maybe a cup and a half 2x daily) and he did a 180 on us! Excited to eat, even if we don’t add the veg to dinner.
Our dog(border collie/Australian cattle dog mix) was the same way. Loved food until she was 1 and, for the past 5 years, hated most food. Even steak! She ended up having a bout of throwing up inconsistently a few months ago. Took her to the vet. They did a full workup and chalked it up to a stomach ulcer or Gerd. They put her on prilosec for 10 days, and she's like a new dog! Now she eats all the time. I feel so bad that possibly she's had issues for years, but I had no way of knowing! Maybe a similar issue for your pup?
I am so glad she’s feeling better now! Mine would sometimes throw up stomach bile if she hasn’t eaten in days. I would take her to the vet and they would run her bloodwork, but find nothing wrong. I sometimes wish I did have a diagnosis. But since she is energetic and at a healthy weight, the vet isn’t too concerned.
If your vet isn't concerned your dog goes days without eating, it's time to find a different vet. That is not normal behavior for a dog. Go to a different vet and get another opinion. Take copies of your old records. Make sure it's a different clinic altogether, not just another vet in the same clinic.
Something that will help the vet take you more seriously: keep a food journal. Write down everything offered to your dog, if they ate, and how much they ate. Was there anything stressful (fun or not fun) before they ate? Have pictures of the packaging of every food item you offer. This helps when our vet asks.
Kinda gross but it will help: In the journal, add a section for vomit and stool (poop.) Write down any time they vomit and take a picture of the vomit. This eliminates the need to describe it or remember how often. Do the same with poop, especially soft poop or diarrhea. If you journal every time, you may notice a pattern (for example, dog gets diarrhea every time the have dairy then won't eat for 2 days.) I have a folder on my phone dog vet pictures go into so they are all in one place.
In the journal, you can add any time your dog has bad gas or licks their stomach. Again, so you don't have to remember.
Bring the journal with you to your vet appointment. Show them your dog isn't eating, with proof. It's one thing to have them ignore what you say, it's another to ignore the empirical evidence in front of their face.
I have a dog with digestive problems that don't show up on labwork- they were only able to diagnose with a colonoscopy/endoscopy combo. He still played, drank water, acted fine but would go periods without eating food (like yours he'd eat treats) and occasional vomiting. We pushed, changed vets, got referred to a specialist and finally got a diagnosis. He's on the right medication for what was wrong (rather than something that treated the symproms) and a proper diet for his condition. He almost didn't get diagnosed because he's "too young"-he was diagnosed as a puppy and they normally see it in older dogs. Having the journal helped a lot.
Are they a stable weight? Overweight by chance? Getting scraps all day from other people in the house or getting into something outside?
We had a dog that REFUSED to eat for the longest time. He was Overweight, not by a crazy amount cuz he was already a 100lb dog, but enough so it made a difference.
If there's no medical cause for concern, might just not be hungry.
You've got a lot of good suggestions here, but I would add probiotics. Like the kind you get in a paste from your vet. Helps them be calm and happy too
My dogs get Purina fortiflora. They certainly have great appetites! But they were getting into naughty stuff around the farm and would have GI problems. It made a big difference, but you might want to do something stronger
My dog is a pit mix and has always been the same way. What I learned helped was removing the water bowl (I don't know about yours but my pit will throw up all the water she drinks if she has an empty stomach.) Whenever she needs a water break I add a 1/4 cup of food to it. If it's an especially hot day try ice cubes (bonus of ice cubes have food frozen in them. Double Bonus if ice cubes also have a bit of dog friendly juice or broth.)
Especially important to remove the food bowl during the day and only offer it twice for a half hour each time. Otherwise it's a resource your dog owns, not you.
If water is in her stomach and her stomach is empty she will throw up and potentially aspirate, get pneumonia and die. Or because of her barrel chest and too much water she could go into shock then die. It has nothing to do with the speed in which she drinks the water.
Who do you think told me about the water bowl?
That certainly helps , but I've found (with horses) that it's like 30 days the expensive paste, then packets stuff that works amazing. The other stuff I do as maintenance. Not yogurt for horses of course! But any sort of normal grain that includes probiotics or the cheaper supplements only helps maintain them.
My lab is like this and he literally will not eat unless his food has cheese/extras mixed into it. I'll add on: Mayo, ketchup, cheese, bacon bits, etc. Anything to spice it up a little and he eats it right up
By can dog food… take a cup, put a few scoops of the canned food into the cup, put some warm water in the cup, just a little above the food, mix up and pour over hard dog food…. Will eat it right up!
I have a picky boy. I try to entice him with the one treat that he consistently loves (Spot Farms chicken apple sausage) I cut in tiny pieces and give him little bites then put the rest on top of some hamburger with a little cheese. Stella & Chewy freeze dried raw - looks like little hockey pucks but I break them up. I & Love & You kibble with bone broth coating. Beneful Medleys and Natures Recipe wet chicken variety. These are the things I can usually get my picky boy to eat, but he’ll go a couple days sometimes without
I've had dogs who didn't like food much. One was really bad. Had been through a surgery and who knows what his life was like living on the streets of a city, but the rescue just thought he was picky. I started putting Missing Link powder in his food and it changed everything. He quickly became a member of the clean plate club and danced for his dinner. I've never stopped adding it to my pets food. Digestive enzymes and probiotics are worth trying, and try different food.
Healthy dog poop is an important indicator of your furry friend's well-being! Here are some characteristics of normal dog poop:
1. **Formed and Segmented**: Healthy dog poop should be well-formed and segmented. It typically appears as a single log or several connected segments.
2. **Brown Color**: The color of normal dog poop ranges from light to dark shades of brown¹². Any significant deviation from this color may indicate an issue.
3. **Firm Consistency**: Healthy poop should have a firm consistency. It shouldn't be too hard or too soft. If it's too hard, your dog might be constipated, and if it's too soft or watery, there could be an intestinal problem¹.
4. **Leaves Little to No Residue**: When you pick up your dog's poop, it should leave minimal residue. Excessive residue or stickiness could be a sign of an issue.
Remember that the size of your dog's poop should be roughly proportionate to how much they eat². If you notice any changes in your dog's elimination schedule or the appearance of their poop, especially if you haven't changed their diet recently, consider contacting your veterinarian to rule out any potential problems¹. 🐾
Source: Conversation with Bing, 5/6/2024
(1) How to Tell If Your Dog's Poop Is Healthy - American Kennel Club. https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/dogs-poop-says-health/.
(2) Dog Poop Chart: What Color Should Healthy or Unhealthy Poop Be? - Rover.com. https://www.rover.com/blog/dog-poop-chart/.
(3) Dog Poop 101: Essential Guide of Healthy and Unhealthy Dog Poop. https://bondvet.com/b/dog-poop-101-essential-guide-of-healthy-and-unhealthy-dog-poop.
I completely relate! I always tell people we don’t have a food motivated dog. I feel embarrassed whenever pet stores try to give him a treat and he just smells and walks away. I sometimes get jealous seeing dogs that gobble everything up but then I change my mind when I see these dogs that will chew through cardboard (or anything!) if they smell food in the box. I never have to worry about anything, leaving food on the table, etc, when I leave the house because I know my dog won’t ever try to get it. I try to see the positives of a non food motivated dog. That said, I still want my dog to have food in his tummy and be happy and healthy.
What I do is I’ll take things that I know he likes, but most likely bad for him in large amounts, and I mix it with kibble. For example, I’ll fill his bowl with 2/3rds of kibble. Then I take a few pieces of leftover carnitas from my takeout, break it into small pieces, put it in the bowl and squish it with his kibble. Make sure to squish and mix with the kibble real nice. I always make sure the oils from that are covering all the dry kibble pieces so now the bland kibble has the fragrant smell of carnitas. He might start picking out just the carnitas but I’ve noticed it stimulates his taste buds and then he ends up eating the rest of the kibble. I do this method using different meats, mostly from the protein dish we cook for dinner. It also works with store bought rotisserie chicken but he’s even started to be picky with that.
I know this sounds unhealthy, giving him human food is bad, etc.. I know all that but I also want to make sure my dog eats. Just like yours our dog seems to rather starve than eat his kibble, which is why I’ve resorted to doing this. We don’t do this everyday and I always try to use the least amount of the oily food as I can. The goal here is to stimulate his taste buds with the scent of the “bad stuff”. There’s definitely been days where he knows my trick and won’t even touch the food but for the most part it works. My solution is not a long term one but great for days when nothing seems to work and you feel bad your dog hasn’t eaten for two days. I have tried all sorts of canned dog food, toppers, etc and let’s just say I have wasted a lot of money and good dog food trying to find something that works. Our local pet shelter is surprised whenever we drop off cans of yummy dog food, 99% new bag of kibble, etc!
So glad to see my dog isn’t the only oddball. The refusal of treats from others is something I always anticipate.
I do the same trick of mixing human food with her plain chicken ( always have to make chicken for her because the kibble is a definite no go). She would pick out the seasoned human food and not eat her own food. Sometimes mixing it up real well helps, but she does out-smart me. But I am going to keep at this trick if it gets her to at least eat some of her own chicken.
My elderly dog was like this when he was young. As an old man now, he loves to eat, but between 4mo and probably 7 years he was pretty indifferent about food. He never starved to death.
Getting blood work might be worth it to see if there may be something underlying but some dogs just don't care much about food, just like some people.
i have a dog who is 12 years old - i rescued him when he was 2 years old. this dog HATES food. his bowl will be full for days before he finally caves and eats it. i don’t give him treats or human food at all, i literally don’t know how he survives. my vet said that since he’s at a healthy weight he’s not concerned about this appetite. i don’t have any advice but im supporting you !! dogs are weird man
Have you ruled out any food sensitivities? Sometimes dogs begin to feel sick eating a certain food or protein. Or maybe she’s just sick of the flavor. What brand are you feeding? I find some brand make dogs feel unwell too and that’s why they refuse it.
Or, it’s possible she just doesn’t like her food anymore. I think that’s valid. I personally rotate through flavors each time I get a new bag to keep it exciting. I also make my own wet food with blended up kibble, a bit of canned pate for flavor, and water. I use it as a topper. Have you tried adding any type of hydration to the food? Like water, or dog safe broth? It’s possible the dry food could be upsetting her stomach if it hasn’t been hydrated first.
Personally I have no problem with adding things to my dogs food to get him to want it, I want him to like his food.
We started out with the recommended amount on the bag per day, split into 2 meals. Every few days we adjusted the amount down until they were consistently eating all (or mostly all) of each meal. We can't really free feed because one will resource guard and we have a cat that will gourge himself on anything left out. Turned out to be about half what the recommended amount is.
I always have to cook for her (which I do enjoy doing although her weekly diet cost is sooo much more than mine 😅). I try to make chicken breast, ground chicken, eggs, or salmon. I supplement with yogurt, goat milk, or applesauce (all with a ton of whipped cream for her to eat it).
The only thing she refuses is veggies and fruits! She hates even blueberry flavored treats! So hence why I mix sugar-free applesauce with whipped cream.
Okay! Just watch out on some the ingredients. Usually the zero sugar ones have artificial sweeteners added in them and some of those are toxic for dogs and upset their tummies. You could always try adding some peanut butter to the food and maybe that will help? You can also get bone broth and try cooking that into the rice. They sell kinds specifically for dogs or just find one that doesn’t have onion/garlic and weird ingredients. I cook my dog’s rice with bone broth and it makes her eat it so that could help yours
If the dog was a long-term stray or street dog its whole life she may not understand fully the concept of a fixed feeding station if there’s not another dog in the house.
How much are you feeding her and when/how? If you’re free feeding she may be eating very very small amounts at a time. If you go by the dog food bag it’s usually WAY too much food. The bag recommends 3 cups for my dog. I feed her 1 cup and she’s a healthy weight. If I fed her 3 she would be obese - and she’s a very active dog. For my other dog it recommends 4 cups but he eats just under 2, even more active than the other dog.
Switch to measured and timed feedings. Free feeding makes it very difficult to gauge what she’s actually eating. Agree with others - give up the bowl and either feed her by hand by making it into a game or use a puzzle technique with a toy or something homemade. You can use a snuffle mat or just kibble rolled up in a towel and tied in a knot. Former strays are used to “working” for their food so that may feel more natural to her.
And please find a food a feed it. Don’t change the food. That will make them sick. Dogs will eat when they’re hungry. I promise you, they won’t starve themselves if they’re healthy. Regular exercise access to fresh water and a nutrient dense food is all they need. Don’t be switching their food around. Good luck!
How's her general condition? If she's healthy, then I wouldn't worry about it too much.
I had a dog like this growing up, at first we were concerned, but came to understand that that's just how she was, we got her when she was 6 months old, and she lived a healthy 16 years. I always used to joke that she was watching her girlish figure.
We found that mixing in yogurt, peanut butter, or canned pumpkin helped our picky eater. There is also a powdered supplement called Glandex that seemed to help too, as it's basically powdered beef liver.
Whenever I had to give medicine or try to get them to eat I always bought braunschweiger/liver sausage, basically it’s pork liver pate and put in warm, not hot, rice. With some broth and a few kibbles. They always ate that!
We get chicken bone broth and random organic baby foods to use as a topper. One dog loves blueberries, the other loves red bell peppers raw. Both thoroughly enjoy a splash of bone broth on top of kibble and a tablespoon of apple pumpkin baby food
My 3 year old German Shepherd eats when he wants since I had him at 2 months. He sometimes throws up bile as a result when too long of time has passed since he last ate. When talking to his vet about it, he suggested I give him pantoprazole or omeprazole to help with that. He gets it every day in case he chooses not to eat. He’s doing great and his weight is in top range for his breed.
I have a cavalier and he’s completely uninterested in eating, the issue is my cat will eat his food right away so I can’t let him graze. It’s a big game of pick up and put down but not the end of the world. As long as bloodwork’s clean it could just be your dogs personality, much like humans we have the standard guide to follow but obviously everyone is still different.
I've started locking my cats completely away for a half hour or so or until my border collie/mix has polished off his bowl. I think for him part of the issue of pickiness was the stress of pushing the cats away/picking up/putting down the bowl.
Now I shoo them away into a bedroom and while the cats might cry my dog can eat without interruptions and with less stress.
Oh yeah, the bully of my two cats cries non stop but he'll live 🤷. He's just so aggressive about trying to get the dog food he really can't be in the same room.
We had a Newfie who wasn’t food motivated and some days wouldn’t eat a meal. We eventually lost him at 5 bc he just stopped eating. $5000 later nothing worked to get him to eat and he wasted away so badly we had to do the humane thing.
I’ve often wondered since then if he had something brewing and we could’ve prevented his untimely death
Talk to your vet about maybe doing a stomach x ray. You said you rescued her? If she was a stray I wonder if she ingested something she shouldn’t have in order to survive. Either way, push for a different answer than just “she’ll eat when she’s ready”
Good luck ♥️
I sincerely hesitated to tell you my story bc I honestly hate when people do that….like when you hear someone who has a disease and you say oh, yeah my friend died of that. That’s such an azzhole move but I really am an animal lover and if Oliver’s death can help just one dog….if wasn’t totally in vain.
Try to get her on anything that excites her….food wise. The entyce is not a bad option, especially if it works. Can you cook for her? Crockpot….meat, butternut squash, white potato, green beans, rice and then you can get a powder vitamin/mineral to add to it. (Online) you can add a probiotic in for her..some bone broth, colostrum…all are great for gut health
But I still might do an X-ray just to get a baseline on her stomach. It would out my mind at ease anyway
I had a dog that did this, turns out. She was in pain. She had baby teeth that had not fallen out and her big teeth were unable to descend and were rotting out in her jaw. Ultimately we had to extract some 20 teeth (babies and adult teeth)
Do NOT make that assumption. Take tour dog to vet for full dental exam. We lost a 1yr old pup to an aggressive bone cancer in the jaw. That dog did not act sick until 3 days before we had to put him down. Being off their feed is often the ONLY way you find out there is something g wrong g with your dog.
my cat aways had a huge appetite but suddenly he would not eat anything so To make a long story shorter I had to take him to the vet to figure out what was really going on.
TLDR it could be a sign that he is sick
Is she underweight? Ribs or hip bones sticking out?
If your vet prescribed an appetite stimulant then I'd go back to the vet for follow-up advice because reddit doesn't have the whole picture.
If she's not underweight, and if the vet doesn't identify any medical causes, she might simply need to eat less than you're offering.
Only if she is not underweight, and only if she's healthy, and only if she's emotionally a happy dog (not super anxious about eating or anything like that):
Measure out her total food for the day. Put it in a covered container. That's it for the day, no extra. Store that up out of her reach. The food bag/can will give you guidelines for roughly how much to feed for her weight. Aim for the lower end of the range for her weight. So measure out her daily total ration in the morning. When it's done, that's it for the day.
Every couple hours or so throughout the day while you're home, get her some exercise or activity (like play or go for a walk) and then go back inside and give her a small amount of food. Just pull out a fraction of her total daily ration. Put the small serving on a wide shallow dish, not in a small deep bowl. Make sure it's in a quiet area, with good traction on the floor, where she is relaxed. Make sure the dish is clean and there's nothing else dirty or stinky right nearby. Make sure she has access to clean fresh water nearby. Make sure she isn't wearing any extra gear (harnesses etc) and that she doesn't have dangling collar tags which might clink against the dish.
After you put out the small amount of her food, ignore her for 20 minutes. Just sit nearby with your back to her, or wash dishes, or work, or study, or something where you don't look at her at all. At the end of the 20 minutes, throw any remaining food in the trash. Don't save it for later. It is only a small portion of her daily rations, so it is not the end of the world if she skips it.
At some point, if she is healthy and not already underweight, she will get hungry and eat some food. Praise her and say good job after she eats, but don't add more food right away! She gets just a small amount at a time. Whatever you put down in her dish is all she gets. She can eat it if she wants, or she can skip it if she wants (and you throw it away). You never add more or better goodies after you set the food out for her. Whatever you set out is all she gets until the next mealtime.
The reason for the small frequent meals rather than one or two big meals is that wat it's not a huge deal when she skips a meal (she doesn't have to wait a whole day for the next meal) and because eating more frequently prevents nausea and bile vomiting in certain dogs. If you're going to take this kind of "tough love" approach, it can really backfire with some dogs if they go too long without eating *anything* because they feel nauseated when they haven't eaten recently so they want food even less. But if she's eating something relatively frequently even if she skips some meals, she has a better chance of feeling good and hungry at the next meal.
If she eats nothing for a whole day, give her a small bite of anything you think she's willing to eat. A dog cookie, or a piece of meat. This needs to be tiny so it doesn't fill her up. Don't be tempted to give her more of the treats. The only reason for giving the treat is to prevent empty belly nausea and whet her appetite so she realizes she is hungry, so she'll be more likely to eat proper meals soon. If you fill her up it will be counterproductive.
If she's healthy and happy, getting some exercise, able to relax, and not fed any scraps or chews or extra treats, she should be eating dog food regularly within two days as her appetite grows.
You can use good food. You can include canned food or a little meat as a topper, whatever you think she likes and you're willing to feed her long term. Just always add it to her dish all at once, and that's all she gets. No adding extra goodies after she's sniffed what's there. Letting her reject the food and then adding something better is how you create pickiness.
Mix stinky wet food into the dry food. Make the food desirable. I get a big thing of ground turkey, brown it in a pan (no seasonings,) add a can of mixed vegetables, some watered down gravy. Mix it all together. When it’s time to feed her, heat up a little bit, mix it into the dry food & add a little water.
We went through this with one of our dogs. It was super scary at first and we felt like we were doing something wrong. It turns out, we were doing just a couple things that needed fine tuning.
We changed his kibble to Royal Canin Poodle breed and we dropped him from 1/2 cup kibble per day to 3/8 cup kibble per day + freeze dried beef topper. It took us like 4 years to figure that out and now he’s been eating like a champ.
Our other dog (rehomed to us) was suffering from severe diarrhea and would barely touch her kibble. Her poops were so bad, it was really hard on her. It turned out the previous owners would give her like 2 cups kibble a day (she’s only 16 lbs!) and just leave it out for her to graze on.
We cut her to 2/3 cups kibble per day + beef mix with some psyllium and she is doing so good! Maintaining a healthy weight, super food motivated (we had to buy her a slow feed bowl!)
How much are you feeding them in a sitting? How are their poops?
If her weight is fine i wouldn't worry about it.
I have a pit as well and she had terrible food allergies. We ended up with no grain dry dog food and we add chopped up boiled boneless and green beans. That turned out to be the clencher to get her to eat.
You seem like you've tried everything so I would say as long as the dog isn't sick or losing excessive weight then there isn't much for you to do, you just have a weird dog lol.
We had our Blue heeler for 14 years and she would eat a little bit of kibble every day or two and maintain 50 lb happily and sometimes if I had a little dinner scrabs like chicken or a piece of steak fat she would have that and be satisfied. I always thought dogs are like people in the sense some people eat less some dogs eat more. They will let you know when they get hungry.
Dry kibble we buy at the store has often sat on those shelves longer than you think. They can have bugs in it and be rancid. It is filled with carbs and not very enticing. And it can cause stomach upset. Our dog seemed to avoid food all day long. She didn’t care if the cat ate her food.
We switched to Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach and she wanted to eat. We buy smaller bags so it is fresher. We did this for a year. But the REAL CHANGE started when we added Katherine Heigle’s Badlands Ranch. She loves it. We use it as a topper. 1/2 cup sensitive stomach and 1/4 cup Badlands Ranch. She can’t wait to eat. She will growl at the cat if he comes near her new food at mealtime. It’s expensive, but so are vet bills and wasted foods.
Sometimes I have to “prime the pump” to encourage my girl to eat. I’ll toss a Cheerio to her and she’ll toss it back. Or, I toss it and snatch it back before she can get it. Say, Cheerio-e-o in a kiddy way. Play like that a few times. Some she will eat. She also prefers raw broccoli, tomato, carrots, and sugar peas in with her food. All very small pieces. Doesn’t want them cooked. Usually once she gets started, she seems to realize she’s hungry and will finish a good portion of her kibble.
My border collie is the same. He is 4 and his weight rarely fluctuates, so I’ve accepted that he just eats when he wants to! He makes it clear when he is ready for a meal so I just feed him when he ‘asks’.
I would monitor her weight and have food available for when she seems hungry. At this point in her life this seems to be more of a personality trait rather than a symptom of anything medical.
My dog always has food in his bowl. He eats when he wants it. I've also had a dog that would eat until he threw up if I did that. Dogs have different personalities
A healthy dog will not starve itself. She will eat when she is hungry. What's her body condition score? If she's overweight, missing some meals will be beneficial. If she's a healthy body condition, and isn't dropping weight, then let her be. If she's too lean, then take her to a vet so they can run some diagnostics to rule out or diagnose some common conditions that can cause poor appetite.
Pits are like that. Mine skips a day sometimes. And he only eats when he's alone. He'll wait til I go to bed or if I go to the store, that's when he'll eat
I’ve had a fair share of pet owners coming in asking the same questions and a majority of the time, the dog is not losing weight or in a poor body condition. Some dogs look at food as the best thing in the world and they don’t know when their next meal is, other dogs will only eat what their daily metabolism and energy output requires.
Thanks for your input! I thought all dogs loved food more than anything! I guess mine is just an “eat-to-live” pup. What can I do if she doesn’t eat for days? Doesn’t a puppy her age need to at least eat twice a day to get enough nutrients? How is she not physically hungry for that long?
2 years old isn’t a puppy anymore, she’s been full grown for at least 6 months. small dogs have to worry about low blood sugar if they don’t eat frequently enough. mammals will naturally ration nutrients with they eat so eating a bulk of food at once or more frequent smaller amounts generally equates to the same outcome. some dogs will vomit bile if their stomach is empty for too long. i’ve never heard any of the vets i work with give a solid reason as to why, but they will always say that as long as weight is holding, energy is normal, and skin looks good, then it’s not too concerning.
Thank you for letting me know!
My Great Pyrenees that weighs in at 150 lbs, eats about every other day( she’s offered homemade food every day). And it’s my Pomeranian that’s food driven. But if you are real worried try raw chicken and organ meat of some type chopped together with frozen peas and carrots( thaw them out). She might be enticed by a raw diet.
Had the same issue with my pyr. Swear he only ate his food to prevent the cats from getting it. He'd skip meals if he stayed someplace that didn't have other pets.
Yeah my vet says it’s normal. This is my first pyr and I adopted her because she was going to be euthanized. So of course I brought home a snapping reactive 90 lb dog 😂😂😂. But now she’s a 150lb good girl!
Out of all the things I tried, never did the raw. Have to try it soon!
Please just be careful and if you DO feed it, I’d advise a commercial one that is balanced. Not a homemade one.
Make sure you do some research on what veterinarian nutritionist recommend as well!
try the farmers dog, or better yet [this recipe](https://stellanspice.com/balanced-dog-food/). i currently feed the farmers dog and my girl LOVES it. she gets SO excited for mealtimes and she used to refuse food for up to 3 days. she’s a senior dog and she has soooo so much more energy when feeding her this. i’m about to switch to the recipe linked because i’m currently paying over $200 a month on her food. i am by no means rich, but this dog means the world to me and id rather me go without than her. with all the ingredients included, it’s about $100 to start, and then with the stuff that’s left over, it drops to about $80 a month. definitely worth a shot
Just be careful. Raw food that isn't freeze dried or treated in some way can have parasites
If you are adding organ meat don’t use liver daily. Good luck
I’m not advocating for raw or otherwise because people should feed what they are comfortable with but a balanced raw diet does include liver daily. 10% of diet is secreting organs and half of that is liver. Even commercial raw uses the 80/10/10 formula.
My dogs tend to have loose stools if they are fed liver daily. My vet is fine with my dogs diet and my dogs are some of her most healthy clients and the only ones that don’t have overweight dogs. My dogs get a variety of organ meats mixed with different meats( chicken. rabbit, venison, beef or fish) and vegetables. And for the sake of science, there are multiple secreting organs not just the liver.
If your dog gets loose stool because of the liver, not feeding it daily is great, for your dog. That doesn’t mean feeding liver daily shouldn’t be done as a rule. There are a lot of secreting organs and a variety should be fed but the standard formula is 5% liver daily. I’ve never had a dog with issues eating it daily. So, making the statement that it shouldn’t be fed daily to someone that obviously doesn’t currently feed raw is misleading.
And your “ commercial dog food manufacturers do this” is misleading. If they put out an actual decent product I wouldn’t have been feeding my dogs homemade food for 40 yrs.
It is the commercial raw standard. I don’t feed commercial food so I can’t speak to every company but it is the standard. However, I didn’t say all commercial raw is of good quality. I actually didn’t say any of it is of good quality because that wasn’t my point.
Feeding raw doesn't have any benefits, only added risks. I tried this with my picky dogs and it just made them more picky as they learned if they held out, they'd get something better.
I just adopted a poodle ( 4 years old) and she is a picky eater. I give her kibble with canned low sodium chicken and pour the juice from the can on it. I have actually hand fed her. I’ve only had her about a month so it could be her adjusting to the new life but, she still needs to eat. She only comes running for a squirt of whipped cream. My dog is not at all underweight. She just doesn’t seem to be a chow hound.
My border collie and great dane would only eat when hungry/required. Some days they didn't eat all. Sometimes a couple times a day. I could free feed them because they never over ate. My mastiff..... he'd eat until he blew up. He gets 2 meals a day. And sometimes he won't eat one or the other. Sometimes he attempts to stage a hunger strike if I don't put something smelly in his food. It doesn't last long.
My rescue is half border collie and I'd free feed him if my cats allowed it. He was so incredibly picky when he was younger I'd practically beg him to eat. At a year old now and he's less picky but will only eat however much he needs and will often leave half his breakfast in the bowl only to finish it + dinner later on.
sounds very typical for those breeds 😂
Truth. I did have hope my mastiff would regulate so I could just leave his pan down once a day but that's not going to happen. I feel it's a small miracle he leaves my food alone and doesn't counter surf. The flip side is training wise my border collie and great dane were not motivated at all not even a little by treats. My mastiff suddenly becomes an absolute scholar if treats are involved.
My dog is SO food driven that the moment he doesn’t finish his food I KNOW he’s sick. I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this. My pup is on the opposite end of your pup.
So your dog wants to play, have you tried turning meal time into an activity? Hide dried food for the dog to sniff out. Or a snufflemat. There are all kinds of products these days.
I gotta try this! What if she isn’t eating the food I hide? I feel like if I hide anything relatively good for her (aka not treats) she won’t care enough to sniff for it.
When I was dogsitting an Australian Shepherd pup, his owner requested that I sit on the couch and throw pieces of kibble across the apartment for the dog to chase. Throw some to one side, then to the other, back and forth, until the whole bowl was empty. There were also some puzzle toys and plenty of commands I could practice with him in exchange for kibble. It was a great way to tire him out with minimal effort on my part, and he loved it.
The Kong wobbler (other brands make similar ones, too) was a great way to get my rescue to eat. I'd mix in some crinkled up treats or training treats just fur the smell to attract him, and he'd eat what he knocked out. He also liked for me to sprinkle this mix (small handfuls at a time so I could make sure he was actually eating) into a grassy patch in the lawn. I quickly learned dogs just go off smell. He's still a finicky eater, although he's much better and quite consistent. I meal prep their meals into little deli containers with lines for their kibble allotment, and because I add a kelp supplement for coat and oral care, I find this more efficient. I recently moved and Mr Picky didn't want to eat, so I'd put 1-2 training treats in with each meal (crumbling it up seemed to work the best, and I've only done it with soft treats) and the scent makes them act like they just got a whole bowl of treats. As a dog mom, it feels like the equivalent of sneaking veggies into a child's food
My dogs LOVE this game. We put them in a room and hide kibble all around the house, then let them out to find it. We call it “search” and whenever we ask if they want to play search they get so excited! They get normal meals as well but i feel that finding the food themselves encourages them to eat it.
I stopped giving my dog treats and instead gave her dry dog food as treats. For some reason if it was in the bowl she didn’t want it but if I gave it to a piece at a time she was in heaven. Go figure. This worked best with kibbles and bits brand. I just poured a days portion in a ziplock bag, stuck it my pocket and by bedtime it was usually gone, one piece at a time.
What works for my very picky eater is Nutrical paste in a tube, available at the pet store. It seems to increase his appetite and is a high calorie supplement with vitamins when he refuses to eat at all. He usually starts eating again after he has some of it.
I have a 2 year old female spayed Catahoula who weighs about 63lbs. According to the bag of kibble I have her on right now, she should be eating about 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups per day. If I can get her to eat 2 cups a day, it's a good day. What I have found works most of the time with her is to mix a bit of canned food in it and to feed her two smaller meals per day instead of one large one. For awhile, the only thing she would eat was canned Royal Canin gastro. Even then, she wasn't eating the recommended amount. I would have kept her on it but it was costing me $300 a month to feed her, which was not sustainable for me. I finally found a kibble she would eat but it's still a struggle to get her to eat some days (she ate nothing yesterday except two small biscuits and her dental treat). She is in good body condition so the vet isn't concerned.
It's okay if your dog isn't eating the daily recommended amount of food. The vast majority of the time, feeding by the bag leads to overweight dogs. Dog food companies usually recommend to feed way too much food. They are in the business of selling it, after all. It's better to use a body condition score chart and calorie calculator to determine how much food is appropriate.
This one bag recommended 4 cups of food 2x a day for my smaller breed puppy... I swear to Christ she would have been a bowling bowl with legs if I fed her that much.
Our Pyrenees was finicky and our other dog is a total chow hound. He would refuse his breakfast and we never knew why. We found that adding some chopped celery, green beans, or zucchini really helped him be excited to eat. We also offer less dry food than you might expect (maybe a cup and a half 2x daily) and he did a 180 on us! Excited to eat, even if we don’t add the veg to dinner.
Our dog(border collie/Australian cattle dog mix) was the same way. Loved food until she was 1 and, for the past 5 years, hated most food. Even steak! She ended up having a bout of throwing up inconsistently a few months ago. Took her to the vet. They did a full workup and chalked it up to a stomach ulcer or Gerd. They put her on prilosec for 10 days, and she's like a new dog! Now she eats all the time. I feel so bad that possibly she's had issues for years, but I had no way of knowing! Maybe a similar issue for your pup?
I am so glad she’s feeling better now! Mine would sometimes throw up stomach bile if she hasn’t eaten in days. I would take her to the vet and they would run her bloodwork, but find nothing wrong. I sometimes wish I did have a diagnosis. But since she is energetic and at a healthy weight, the vet isn’t too concerned.
If your vet isn't concerned your dog goes days without eating, it's time to find a different vet. That is not normal behavior for a dog. Go to a different vet and get another opinion. Take copies of your old records. Make sure it's a different clinic altogether, not just another vet in the same clinic. Something that will help the vet take you more seriously: keep a food journal. Write down everything offered to your dog, if they ate, and how much they ate. Was there anything stressful (fun or not fun) before they ate? Have pictures of the packaging of every food item you offer. This helps when our vet asks. Kinda gross but it will help: In the journal, add a section for vomit and stool (poop.) Write down any time they vomit and take a picture of the vomit. This eliminates the need to describe it or remember how often. Do the same with poop, especially soft poop or diarrhea. If you journal every time, you may notice a pattern (for example, dog gets diarrhea every time the have dairy then won't eat for 2 days.) I have a folder on my phone dog vet pictures go into so they are all in one place. In the journal, you can add any time your dog has bad gas or licks their stomach. Again, so you don't have to remember. Bring the journal with you to your vet appointment. Show them your dog isn't eating, with proof. It's one thing to have them ignore what you say, it's another to ignore the empirical evidence in front of their face. I have a dog with digestive problems that don't show up on labwork- they were only able to diagnose with a colonoscopy/endoscopy combo. He still played, drank water, acted fine but would go periods without eating food (like yours he'd eat treats) and occasional vomiting. We pushed, changed vets, got referred to a specialist and finally got a diagnosis. He's on the right medication for what was wrong (rather than something that treated the symproms) and a proper diet for his condition. He almost didn't get diagnosed because he's "too young"-he was diagnosed as a puppy and they normally see it in older dogs. Having the journal helped a lot.
I used to put chobani greek yogurt in my dogs kibble when she wouldnt eat. eventually she didnt need the yogurt
Are they a stable weight? Overweight by chance? Getting scraps all day from other people in the house or getting into something outside? We had a dog that REFUSED to eat for the longest time. He was Overweight, not by a crazy amount cuz he was already a 100lb dog, but enough so it made a difference. If there's no medical cause for concern, might just not be hungry.
Healthy weight at a little over 60. She’s a long dog 🐶
You've got a lot of good suggestions here, but I would add probiotics. Like the kind you get in a paste from your vet. Helps them be calm and happy too
I sometimes get her to eat greek yogurt (only if I put tons of whipped cream though)
My dogs get Purina fortiflora. They certainly have great appetites! But they were getting into naughty stuff around the farm and would have GI problems. It made a big difference, but you might want to do something stronger
My dog is a pit mix and has always been the same way. What I learned helped was removing the water bowl (I don't know about yours but my pit will throw up all the water she drinks if she has an empty stomach.) Whenever she needs a water break I add a 1/4 cup of food to it. If it's an especially hot day try ice cubes (bonus of ice cubes have food frozen in them. Double Bonus if ice cubes also have a bit of dog friendly juice or broth.) Especially important to remove the food bowl during the day and only offer it twice for a half hour each time. Otherwise it's a resource your dog owns, not you.
Have you discussed this with your vet? I can’t imagine depriving a dog a water is a good idea. Perhaps try one of water bowls that slows them down.
If water is in her stomach and her stomach is empty she will throw up and potentially aspirate, get pneumonia and die. Or because of her barrel chest and too much water she could go into shock then die. It has nothing to do with the speed in which she drinks the water. Who do you think told me about the water bowl?
That certainly helps , but I've found (with horses) that it's like 30 days the expensive paste, then packets stuff that works amazing. The other stuff I do as maintenance. Not yogurt for horses of course! But any sort of normal grain that includes probiotics or the cheaper supplements only helps maintain them.
My lab is like this and he literally will not eat unless his food has cheese/extras mixed into it. I'll add on: Mayo, ketchup, cheese, bacon bits, etc. Anything to spice it up a little and he eats it right up
Haha same! Sometimes tons of cheese doesn’t work 😅
By can dog food… take a cup, put a few scoops of the canned food into the cup, put some warm water in the cup, just a little above the food, mix up and pour over hard dog food…. Will eat it right up!
I have a picky boy. I try to entice him with the one treat that he consistently loves (Spot Farms chicken apple sausage) I cut in tiny pieces and give him little bites then put the rest on top of some hamburger with a little cheese. Stella & Chewy freeze dried raw - looks like little hockey pucks but I break them up. I & Love & You kibble with bone broth coating. Beneful Medleys and Natures Recipe wet chicken variety. These are the things I can usually get my picky boy to eat, but he’ll go a couple days sometimes without
I've had dogs who didn't like food much. One was really bad. Had been through a surgery and who knows what his life was like living on the streets of a city, but the rescue just thought he was picky. I started putting Missing Link powder in his food and it changed everything. He quickly became a member of the clean plate club and danced for his dinner. I've never stopped adding it to my pets food. Digestive enzymes and probiotics are worth trying, and try different food.
Is her stool healthy? (Definitely take at least ten minutes to research if you don't know.)
Once or twice a day. Not loose. So I think that is good?
Healthy dog poop is an important indicator of your furry friend's well-being! Here are some characteristics of normal dog poop: 1. **Formed and Segmented**: Healthy dog poop should be well-formed and segmented. It typically appears as a single log or several connected segments. 2. **Brown Color**: The color of normal dog poop ranges from light to dark shades of brown¹². Any significant deviation from this color may indicate an issue. 3. **Firm Consistency**: Healthy poop should have a firm consistency. It shouldn't be too hard or too soft. If it's too hard, your dog might be constipated, and if it's too soft or watery, there could be an intestinal problem¹. 4. **Leaves Little to No Residue**: When you pick up your dog's poop, it should leave minimal residue. Excessive residue or stickiness could be a sign of an issue. Remember that the size of your dog's poop should be roughly proportionate to how much they eat². If you notice any changes in your dog's elimination schedule or the appearance of their poop, especially if you haven't changed their diet recently, consider contacting your veterinarian to rule out any potential problems¹. 🐾 Source: Conversation with Bing, 5/6/2024 (1) How to Tell If Your Dog's Poop Is Healthy - American Kennel Club. https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/dogs-poop-says-health/. (2) Dog Poop Chart: What Color Should Healthy or Unhealthy Poop Be? - Rover.com. https://www.rover.com/blog/dog-poop-chart/. (3) Dog Poop 101: Essential Guide of Healthy and Unhealthy Dog Poop. https://bondvet.com/b/dog-poop-101-essential-guide-of-healthy-and-unhealthy-dog-poop.
I completely relate! I always tell people we don’t have a food motivated dog. I feel embarrassed whenever pet stores try to give him a treat and he just smells and walks away. I sometimes get jealous seeing dogs that gobble everything up but then I change my mind when I see these dogs that will chew through cardboard (or anything!) if they smell food in the box. I never have to worry about anything, leaving food on the table, etc, when I leave the house because I know my dog won’t ever try to get it. I try to see the positives of a non food motivated dog. That said, I still want my dog to have food in his tummy and be happy and healthy. What I do is I’ll take things that I know he likes, but most likely bad for him in large amounts, and I mix it with kibble. For example, I’ll fill his bowl with 2/3rds of kibble. Then I take a few pieces of leftover carnitas from my takeout, break it into small pieces, put it in the bowl and squish it with his kibble. Make sure to squish and mix with the kibble real nice. I always make sure the oils from that are covering all the dry kibble pieces so now the bland kibble has the fragrant smell of carnitas. He might start picking out just the carnitas but I’ve noticed it stimulates his taste buds and then he ends up eating the rest of the kibble. I do this method using different meats, mostly from the protein dish we cook for dinner. It also works with store bought rotisserie chicken but he’s even started to be picky with that. I know this sounds unhealthy, giving him human food is bad, etc.. I know all that but I also want to make sure my dog eats. Just like yours our dog seems to rather starve than eat his kibble, which is why I’ve resorted to doing this. We don’t do this everyday and I always try to use the least amount of the oily food as I can. The goal here is to stimulate his taste buds with the scent of the “bad stuff”. There’s definitely been days where he knows my trick and won’t even touch the food but for the most part it works. My solution is not a long term one but great for days when nothing seems to work and you feel bad your dog hasn’t eaten for two days. I have tried all sorts of canned dog food, toppers, etc and let’s just say I have wasted a lot of money and good dog food trying to find something that works. Our local pet shelter is surprised whenever we drop off cans of yummy dog food, 99% new bag of kibble, etc!
So glad to see my dog isn’t the only oddball. The refusal of treats from others is something I always anticipate. I do the same trick of mixing human food with her plain chicken ( always have to make chicken for her because the kibble is a definite no go). She would pick out the seasoned human food and not eat her own food. Sometimes mixing it up real well helps, but she does out-smart me. But I am going to keep at this trick if it gets her to at least eat some of her own chicken.
My elderly dog was like this when he was young. As an old man now, he loves to eat, but between 4mo and probably 7 years he was pretty indifferent about food. He never starved to death. Getting blood work might be worth it to see if there may be something underlying but some dogs just don't care much about food, just like some people.
i have a dog who is 12 years old - i rescued him when he was 2 years old. this dog HATES food. his bowl will be full for days before he finally caves and eats it. i don’t give him treats or human food at all, i literally don’t know how he survives. my vet said that since he’s at a healthy weight he’s not concerned about this appetite. i don’t have any advice but im supporting you !! dogs are weird man
I wish I knew what she was thinking! 🤔
You got to add treats to food by fake cooking or prep and slowly remove treats
Have you ruled out any food sensitivities? Sometimes dogs begin to feel sick eating a certain food or protein. Or maybe she’s just sick of the flavor. What brand are you feeding? I find some brand make dogs feel unwell too and that’s why they refuse it. Or, it’s possible she just doesn’t like her food anymore. I think that’s valid. I personally rotate through flavors each time I get a new bag to keep it exciting. I also make my own wet food with blended up kibble, a bit of canned pate for flavor, and water. I use it as a topper. Have you tried adding any type of hydration to the food? Like water, or dog safe broth? It’s possible the dry food could be upsetting her stomach if it hasn’t been hydrated first. Personally I have no problem with adding things to my dogs food to get him to want it, I want him to like his food.
We started out with the recommended amount on the bag per day, split into 2 meals. Every few days we adjusted the amount down until they were consistently eating all (or mostly all) of each meal. We can't really free feed because one will resource guard and we have a cat that will gourge himself on anything left out. Turned out to be about half what the recommended amount is.
I make my dog's food in the crockpot. Maybe look into that.
Have you tried not feeding kibble and making the dog food instead? Rice, fish, veggies and toss on some multivitamins on top
I always have to cook for her (which I do enjoy doing although her weekly diet cost is sooo much more than mine 😅). I try to make chicken breast, ground chicken, eggs, or salmon. I supplement with yogurt, goat milk, or applesauce (all with a ton of whipped cream for her to eat it). The only thing she refuses is veggies and fruits! She hates even blueberry flavored treats! So hence why I mix sugar-free applesauce with whipped cream.
And I wouldn’t do the whip cream unless you’re making it yourself without sugar because the sugar is really bad for them
I gotta try the zero sugar kind then. Think they sell those at the store.
Okay! Just watch out on some the ingredients. Usually the zero sugar ones have artificial sweeteners added in them and some of those are toxic for dogs and upset their tummies. You could always try adding some peanut butter to the food and maybe that will help? You can also get bone broth and try cooking that into the rice. They sell kinds specifically for dogs or just find one that doesn’t have onion/garlic and weird ingredients. I cook my dog’s rice with bone broth and it makes her eat it so that could help yours
Are you giving her a multivitamin?
I give her the multivitamins from Pet Honestly (or whatever that brand is called)
My Abigail did the same thing for months. Now every three days I cook her either a mix of beef and veggies or lamb and veggies she loves it
The one kibble that did excite my lil pittie was carna4 its a lil pricey but worth it try a small bag
If the dog was a long-term stray or street dog its whole life she may not understand fully the concept of a fixed feeding station if there’s not another dog in the house. How much are you feeding her and when/how? If you’re free feeding she may be eating very very small amounts at a time. If you go by the dog food bag it’s usually WAY too much food. The bag recommends 3 cups for my dog. I feed her 1 cup and she’s a healthy weight. If I fed her 3 she would be obese - and she’s a very active dog. For my other dog it recommends 4 cups but he eats just under 2, even more active than the other dog. Switch to measured and timed feedings. Free feeding makes it very difficult to gauge what she’s actually eating. Agree with others - give up the bowl and either feed her by hand by making it into a game or use a puzzle technique with a toy or something homemade. You can use a snuffle mat or just kibble rolled up in a towel and tied in a knot. Former strays are used to “working” for their food so that may feel more natural to her.
And please find a food a feed it. Don’t change the food. That will make them sick. Dogs will eat when they’re hungry. I promise you, they won’t starve themselves if they’re healthy. Regular exercise access to fresh water and a nutrient dense food is all they need. Don’t be switching their food around. Good luck!
How's her general condition? If she's healthy, then I wouldn't worry about it too much. I had a dog like this growing up, at first we were concerned, but came to understand that that's just how she was, we got her when she was 6 months old, and she lived a healthy 16 years. I always used to joke that she was watching her girlish figure.
We found that mixing in yogurt, peanut butter, or canned pumpkin helped our picky eater. There is also a powdered supplement called Glandex that seemed to help too, as it's basically powdered beef liver.
I second pumpkin. I have a picky foster and it helps him eat.
Whenever I had to give medicine or try to get them to eat I always bought braunschweiger/liver sausage, basically it’s pork liver pate and put in warm, not hot, rice. With some broth and a few kibbles. They always ate that!
We get chicken bone broth and random organic baby foods to use as a topper. One dog loves blueberries, the other loves red bell peppers raw. Both thoroughly enjoy a splash of bone broth on top of kibble and a tablespoon of apple pumpkin baby food
My 3 year old German Shepherd eats when he wants since I had him at 2 months. He sometimes throws up bile as a result when too long of time has passed since he last ate. When talking to his vet about it, he suggested I give him pantoprazole or omeprazole to help with that. He gets it every day in case he chooses not to eat. He’s doing great and his weight is in top range for his breed.
I have a cavalier and he’s completely uninterested in eating, the issue is my cat will eat his food right away so I can’t let him graze. It’s a big game of pick up and put down but not the end of the world. As long as bloodwork’s clean it could just be your dogs personality, much like humans we have the standard guide to follow but obviously everyone is still different.
I've started locking my cats completely away for a half hour or so or until my border collie/mix has polished off his bowl. I think for him part of the issue of pickiness was the stress of pushing the cats away/picking up/putting down the bowl. Now I shoo them away into a bedroom and while the cats might cry my dog can eat without interruptions and with less stress.
I will try that! My cat historically acts like she’s being sentenced to rikers if we restrict her space but it’s been a minute since we’ve tried.
Oh yeah, the bully of my two cats cries non stop but he'll live 🤷. He's just so aggressive about trying to get the dog food he really can't be in the same room.
Assuming your vet has done bloodwork to rule out any problems, does she need more exercise? Does she have any anxiety issues or seem nervous?
We had a Newfie who wasn’t food motivated and some days wouldn’t eat a meal. We eventually lost him at 5 bc he just stopped eating. $5000 later nothing worked to get him to eat and he wasted away so badly we had to do the humane thing. I’ve often wondered since then if he had something brewing and we could’ve prevented his untimely death Talk to your vet about maybe doing a stomach x ray. You said you rescued her? If she was a stray I wonder if she ingested something she shouldn’t have in order to survive. Either way, push for a different answer than just “she’ll eat when she’s ready” Good luck ♥️
I am so sorry to hear about your pup:( Maybe if she keeps at this, I need to get a second opinion from another vet?
I sincerely hesitated to tell you my story bc I honestly hate when people do that….like when you hear someone who has a disease and you say oh, yeah my friend died of that. That’s such an azzhole move but I really am an animal lover and if Oliver’s death can help just one dog….if wasn’t totally in vain. Try to get her on anything that excites her….food wise. The entyce is not a bad option, especially if it works. Can you cook for her? Crockpot….meat, butternut squash, white potato, green beans, rice and then you can get a powder vitamin/mineral to add to it. (Online) you can add a probiotic in for her..some bone broth, colostrum…all are great for gut health But I still might do an X-ray just to get a baseline on her stomach. It would out my mind at ease anyway
I had a dog that did this, turns out. She was in pain. She had baby teeth that had not fallen out and her big teeth were unable to descend and were rotting out in her jaw. Ultimately we had to extract some 20 teeth (babies and adult teeth)
Oh that sounds horrible! I don’t think mine is in pain since she plays with all the energy in the world.
Do NOT make that assumption. Take tour dog to vet for full dental exam. We lost a 1yr old pup to an aggressive bone cancer in the jaw. That dog did not act sick until 3 days before we had to put him down. Being off their feed is often the ONLY way you find out there is something g wrong g with your dog.
my cat aways had a huge appetite but suddenly he would not eat anything so To make a long story shorter I had to take him to the vet to figure out what was really going on. TLDR it could be a sign that he is sick
Is she underweight? Ribs or hip bones sticking out? If your vet prescribed an appetite stimulant then I'd go back to the vet for follow-up advice because reddit doesn't have the whole picture. If she's not underweight, and if the vet doesn't identify any medical causes, she might simply need to eat less than you're offering. Only if she is not underweight, and only if she's healthy, and only if she's emotionally a happy dog (not super anxious about eating or anything like that): Measure out her total food for the day. Put it in a covered container. That's it for the day, no extra. Store that up out of her reach. The food bag/can will give you guidelines for roughly how much to feed for her weight. Aim for the lower end of the range for her weight. So measure out her daily total ration in the morning. When it's done, that's it for the day. Every couple hours or so throughout the day while you're home, get her some exercise or activity (like play or go for a walk) and then go back inside and give her a small amount of food. Just pull out a fraction of her total daily ration. Put the small serving on a wide shallow dish, not in a small deep bowl. Make sure it's in a quiet area, with good traction on the floor, where she is relaxed. Make sure the dish is clean and there's nothing else dirty or stinky right nearby. Make sure she has access to clean fresh water nearby. Make sure she isn't wearing any extra gear (harnesses etc) and that she doesn't have dangling collar tags which might clink against the dish. After you put out the small amount of her food, ignore her for 20 minutes. Just sit nearby with your back to her, or wash dishes, or work, or study, or something where you don't look at her at all. At the end of the 20 minutes, throw any remaining food in the trash. Don't save it for later. It is only a small portion of her daily rations, so it is not the end of the world if she skips it. At some point, if she is healthy and not already underweight, she will get hungry and eat some food. Praise her and say good job after she eats, but don't add more food right away! She gets just a small amount at a time. Whatever you put down in her dish is all she gets. She can eat it if she wants, or she can skip it if she wants (and you throw it away). You never add more or better goodies after you set the food out for her. Whatever you set out is all she gets until the next mealtime. The reason for the small frequent meals rather than one or two big meals is that wat it's not a huge deal when she skips a meal (she doesn't have to wait a whole day for the next meal) and because eating more frequently prevents nausea and bile vomiting in certain dogs. If you're going to take this kind of "tough love" approach, it can really backfire with some dogs if they go too long without eating *anything* because they feel nauseated when they haven't eaten recently so they want food even less. But if she's eating something relatively frequently even if she skips some meals, she has a better chance of feeling good and hungry at the next meal. If she eats nothing for a whole day, give her a small bite of anything you think she's willing to eat. A dog cookie, or a piece of meat. This needs to be tiny so it doesn't fill her up. Don't be tempted to give her more of the treats. The only reason for giving the treat is to prevent empty belly nausea and whet her appetite so she realizes she is hungry, so she'll be more likely to eat proper meals soon. If you fill her up it will be counterproductive. If she's healthy and happy, getting some exercise, able to relax, and not fed any scraps or chews or extra treats, she should be eating dog food regularly within two days as her appetite grows. You can use good food. You can include canned food or a little meat as a topper, whatever you think she likes and you're willing to feed her long term. Just always add it to her dish all at once, and that's all she gets. No adding extra goodies after she's sniffed what's there. Letting her reject the food and then adding something better is how you create pickiness.
Mix stinky wet food into the dry food. Make the food desirable. I get a big thing of ground turkey, brown it in a pan (no seasonings,) add a can of mixed vegetables, some watered down gravy. Mix it all together. When it’s time to feed her, heat up a little bit, mix it into the dry food & add a little water.
We went through this with one of our dogs. It was super scary at first and we felt like we were doing something wrong. It turns out, we were doing just a couple things that needed fine tuning. We changed his kibble to Royal Canin Poodle breed and we dropped him from 1/2 cup kibble per day to 3/8 cup kibble per day + freeze dried beef topper. It took us like 4 years to figure that out and now he’s been eating like a champ. Our other dog (rehomed to us) was suffering from severe diarrhea and would barely touch her kibble. Her poops were so bad, it was really hard on her. It turned out the previous owners would give her like 2 cups kibble a day (she’s only 16 lbs!) and just leave it out for her to graze on. We cut her to 2/3 cups kibble per day + beef mix with some psyllium and she is doing so good! Maintaining a healthy weight, super food motivated (we had to buy her a slow feed bowl!) How much are you feeding them in a sitting? How are their poops?
Try some eggs maybe
Buy some pedigree wet pouches to mix with kibble. It's doggie crack.
If her weight is fine i wouldn't worry about it. I have a pit as well and she had terrible food allergies. We ended up with no grain dry dog food and we add chopped up boiled boneless and green beans. That turned out to be the clencher to get her to eat. You seem like you've tried everything so I would say as long as the dog isn't sick or losing excessive weight then there isn't much for you to do, you just have a weird dog lol.
We had our Blue heeler for 14 years and she would eat a little bit of kibble every day or two and maintain 50 lb happily and sometimes if I had a little dinner scrabs like chicken or a piece of steak fat she would have that and be satisfied. I always thought dogs are like people in the sense some people eat less some dogs eat more. They will let you know when they get hungry.
Dry kibble we buy at the store has often sat on those shelves longer than you think. They can have bugs in it and be rancid. It is filled with carbs and not very enticing. And it can cause stomach upset. Our dog seemed to avoid food all day long. She didn’t care if the cat ate her food. We switched to Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach and she wanted to eat. We buy smaller bags so it is fresher. We did this for a year. But the REAL CHANGE started when we added Katherine Heigle’s Badlands Ranch. She loves it. We use it as a topper. 1/2 cup sensitive stomach and 1/4 cup Badlands Ranch. She can’t wait to eat. She will growl at the cat if he comes near her new food at mealtime. It’s expensive, but so are vet bills and wasted foods.
Sometimes I have to “prime the pump” to encourage my girl to eat. I’ll toss a Cheerio to her and she’ll toss it back. Or, I toss it and snatch it back before she can get it. Say, Cheerio-e-o in a kiddy way. Play like that a few times. Some she will eat. She also prefers raw broccoli, tomato, carrots, and sugar peas in with her food. All very small pieces. Doesn’t want them cooked. Usually once she gets started, she seems to realize she’s hungry and will finish a good portion of her kibble.
My border collie is the same. He is 4 and his weight rarely fluctuates, so I’ve accepted that he just eats when he wants to! He makes it clear when he is ready for a meal so I just feed him when he ‘asks’. I would monitor her weight and have food available for when she seems hungry. At this point in her life this seems to be more of a personality trait rather than a symptom of anything medical.
My dog always has food in his bowl. He eats when he wants it. I've also had a dog that would eat until he threw up if I did that. Dogs have different personalities
Vet for a check up
She stated in the post she’s been to the vet.
A healthy dog will not starve itself. She will eat when she is hungry. What's her body condition score? If she's overweight, missing some meals will be beneficial. If she's a healthy body condition, and isn't dropping weight, then let her be. If she's too lean, then take her to a vet so they can run some diagnostics to rule out or diagnose some common conditions that can cause poor appetite.
Pits are like that. Mine skips a day sometimes. And he only eats when he's alone. He'll wait til I go to bed or if I go to the store, that's when he'll eat
Gotta love them pits! 😅
Boiled chicken and plain rice is my go to for my finicky dog!