How to Get a Dog to Eat » small breed dog

Your Questions About [get Your Dog To Eat]

admin — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 18:05:02 +0000

Ken asks…

Dog won’t eat any dog food?

My 14-year-old mutt stopped eating a couple of weeks ago. The vet did some blood tests and we ended up putting him on an antibiotic. He absolutely refused any dry food and would only nibble at wet food. His weight appeared to drop significantly. We gave him his meds in small chunks of cheese, so we knew he he would eat a little cheese and occasionally some bread, but then even refused that. We thought it was the end, and then a friend slipped him a taste of beef stew and now he is hooked. He will eat homemade beef stew (doesn’t care much for Dinty Moore), ground beef, and chicken. If there is not enough meat mixed in he will leave behind the stew carrots and potatoes. He even refuses doggie jerky treats (Costco beef jerky sticks), preferring raw carrots instead. He refuses canned dog food, even if it is warmed up.

His energy is way up and he gobbles up his food now, looking for more. So do I continue to just feed him human-grade meats and veggies, with some raw carrot for the crunch factor? I was thinking of making a big batch of ground beef and cooked veggies and then freezing it in portions. He used to eat 2 cups of dog food twice a day. Do I still feed him that same amount?

I am going to try mixing in a little crushed dry dog food to see if I can add some bulk. I love this dog but 4 cups of meat and veggies people-style is expensive! Thoughts? Suggestions?
The blood tests showed elevated liver and white blood cell counts. He was on an anti-inflammatory, so we suspected that either he was having a reaction to that medication or he had some kind of infection. Worst-case scenario would be cancer but we are not going to go down that investigative path with this old guy.

I am all about giving the old man whatever he wants, and I really appreciate these great suggestions. Thanks!

admin answers:

I greatly encourage you to read up on what is allowed legally into commercial foods for pets. Here are some great links to some videos about that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkyBv2wA8…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfFmhgbZn…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHadGUXCf…

I also greatly encourage you to learn the benefits of a different dietary options, here is the link to part of a chapter of the book “Scared Poopless”, and award winning book on pet health. It’s only a few pages, but it will surely show you why homemade diets are the best way to go:

http://www.dogs4dogs.com/JR_PDFs%20from%…

If you are interested in a homemade diet option, then do your research. I did mine and ended up choosing a “prey model” diet. On this diet my dogs poops less because he actually absorbs what I give him to eat. The poop doesn’t smell either. It’s much cheaper than a commercial diet too. I only spend $30 bucks every two months on my small breed dog and my friend’s Dane only costs her $40 a month as opposed to $50-60 for a high quality bag that doesn’t last that long. On top of everything, my dog is healthier. He seemed fine before but now he is AMAZING. Here are a few resources to the diet I choose to feed, which by the way, takes little time to prepare:

http://www.rawfed.com/

http://rawfedcats.org/

http://rawlearning.com/

and a group on Yahoo! That helped me greatly:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfe…

EDIT: I have a Facebook group called “Natural Pet Care.” It will give you great resources as well.

So, yes you should continue in my opinion. Home Prepared diets are the best.

Lizzie asks…

my dog doesn’t like dog food?

he won’t eat any tinned or dry food. we only get him the good, vet approved brands, change the flavor regally and his bowl is cleaned each time so it’s not smelly.

it can’t be that he’s not hungry for two reasons:

1) he is fed twice a day, once at breakfast and once at lunch.so by the next morning he would be hungry.

2) he LOVES human food.

my family are vegetarians so it’s not like he’d find our food overly appetizing. but at lunch time today i gave him his biscuits and he wasn’t interested but when i got my own lunch he was sniffing round and waiting for me to drop the bowl

in the end i did give him a small amount of my lunch (pasta), which he ate the lot…

so any tips on how to get doggy food to tempt him would really help as i don’t believe dogs should be vegetarian, though he seems to.
@ ama he gets next to no human food. also by “vet approved” i mean it IS a good brand that his vet recommended him. he is healthy but he doesn’t like dog food, just like people don’t like some types of food.

admin answers:

There are some people who cook human food for dogs with safe dog friendly recipes and meat and vegetables. Look it up and consult your vet if insterested.

Daniel asks…

Why won’t my dog eat his dry food kibbles?

I feed my 6 month old pit bull puppy Wellness puppy kibbles mixed with 2 spoons of Wellness canned chicken each time. He use to eat it just fine, but for the past few days he has refused to eat the kibbles. He just licks the chicken off the kibbles and leaves. I get worried so I give him more of the chicken to eat to make sure he’s not hungry and give him treats throughout the day as well. He gobbles up all the chicken everytime. Is there something wrong with my dog that makes him not want kibbles? What should I do to get him back to eating the kibbles mixed with chicken again?

admin answers:

First off – good choice on the food, Wellness is great.
Cut back on the Canned, It doesn’t really benefit the dog in the least.
The Crunchy kibble pieces are good for cleaning plaque.
Do not break down and give him the canned.
There’s nothing wrong with him you are just being a worried mommy.
When he gets hungry- He will eat it.

Your Questions About [get Your Dog To Eat]

admin — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:05:05 +0000

Ruth asks…

Is it bad for a Toy Poodle to eat cat kibble?

My little girl is a 5 lb. 2 yr old Apricot Toy Poodle. She has been a finicky eater all her life She might eat 10 pieces of small dog kibble a day. It took almost until now to get her to the vet recommended weight of 5 lbs. She is uninterested in food other than what I’m eating. I do not give her anything from my plate. I have tried Iams for small dogs, Orijen (fish ?), Caesar, and finally Science Diet. When she first started the Science Diet (I always start slowly with new food by mixing with the old and slowly increasing) she would just pick the S. D. out and eat it. Thought we had a winner in the ‘food sweepstakes’. Not so fast…she has stopped enjoying it. Back to maybe 10 bites a day. I’m currently looking after my grandchildren for a few weeks while my son and his wife are doing a big project. They have a cat. My Sadie seems to love the Friskies (for older cats) they feed the cat. Now when we come home at night she doesn’t eat any dog food. Any ideas? She appears healthy, the vet is somewhat happy with her weight, she’s happy and active and a good little girl. I just don’t want to find out later that the cat food was missing ingredients she needed for healthy maintenance.

admin answers:

My little guy doesn’t eat much either, but I don’t worry (he will eat when he’s ready) because he’s healthy, energetic, and playful. For example, I put 1/4 cup. Of food in his bowl and sometimes it takes him a couple days to eat it all. I will confess though, he does get dog treats (never people food) in the morning when I leave for work.

I personally would never feed a small breed dog soft (canned) food. Small dogs seem to have more dental issues, and feeding them soft (canned) food does not allow for the coarse texture of the dry food to help keep tarter and dental issues to a minimum.

Steven asks…

Don’t want to be taken for a ride by Banfield Veterinarian?

We got a german shepherd about a month ago from a couple. She has her shots, and they said she tested negative for heartworm. I do have to get her spayed and was planning on taking her to Banfield because that way she can get spayed and dewormed and it won’t be hundereds of dollars all at once ( they said it would be around $150 at first and then 50 a month after that) because I don’t have the large lump sum up front to get her spayed which I have to do ASAP. Anyway, she was on a raw meat diet with her old owners an I’ve tried to switch her over to nutro by mixing meat, canned dog food in, and she just is very finicky. She has lost a little weight and would be considered in between ideal and underweight on the scales.
I’m thinking I’ll change her food to see if she eats something better, but when I take her in to get spayed at Banfield, I know they’re going to mention her weight. I’m afraid that when I mention that she’s a finicky eater, they’ll try and get me to run a million tests on her. Just the heartworm/bloodwork is over $150 alone. I love my dog and I will properly take care of her no matter what the cost, but I also don’t want to be taken advantage of and pay for stuff she doesn’t need just because they want to make a quick buck.
My other puppy has a plan there and had a small sore on her lower snout area and they said they had to do a blood test, skin scraping, mange test, and fungal test, all was over $300, just to come up negative for everything and it went away with cleaning it. I can’t afford to pay for stuff that won’t help her gain weight.
Please, can you tell me how to get her the proper care she needs and get actual honest advice without being hassled into paying for tons of tests when I know she’s otherwise healthy? I’m afraid that if they say “oh, she needs this and this and this and that and the total will be $500, and if I say no that it makes me look like a bad dog owner. thanks.

admin answers:

Find a holistic vet if there is one in your area. A holistic vet will not give unnecessary vaccinations and yearly vaccinations are causing more problems than the diseases they are meant to prevent. Remember, Banfield is owned by Mars Inc, which also owns Nutro, Royal Canin and Pedigree. Royal Canin is probably the most overpriced food on the market. A different food for each breed is the biggest gimmick there is. They spend more on the package than on the food inside. Nutro is just as bad. They use the cheapest ingredients: corn, wheat, soy, menadione and boldly lie in their advertisements: “all natural,” (menadione is not natural) “whole grains,” (rice bran, rice flour, rice gluten, corn gluten are not whole grains) “no ground yellow corn,” (technically true, but plenty of corn gluten which is even worse than ground yellow corn) “high levels of Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids.” (half true – good levels of Omega 6 but very little Omega 3). It seems that this company is not to be trusted at all. I would have nothing to do with anything made by Mars Inc. I have even quit eating M&M’s with peanuts, which I love.

Lizzie asks…

Feeding schedule for chihuahua??

So, I just moved from my parent’s house, where i can actually get my dog on a real schedule! (my mom defines the work spoiled!) She is def. over weight and needs to lose about 3-4 lbs. Of course she is finicky now, i figured she won’t eat for about 2-3 days. Right now, I brought her Science Diet Light from home. What does everyone feed their Chi’s ?? Anyone ever have their Chi on a diet?? Any personal experience info will be great!!

admin answers:

First of all Science Diet is very poor quailty food. Go to http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ and choose a food rated between 4 and 6 stars. Also check out Science Diet’s rating. I know Vets recommend SD but they do not study nutrition. Then, once you have a good quality food, feed her twice a day at the same time (or as close as possible) each day. Do not feed the recommended amounts on the bag (remember they want to sell food) as these are generally too much food. Start out by putting about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of food down in her bowl and leave it for NO MORE than 20 minutes. If she doesn’t eat, take it up until the next meal. Then put down the same food again. She’ll soon learn to eat when fed. If she is eating, give her 5 minutes (10 maximum) to finish, then take up any left over food. This will give you a good idea of about how much to feed at each meal. And, whatever you do, don’t give in to her finikiness during the time you’re trying to put her on a feeding schedule.

In addition to her food, be sure to exercise her by taking her on one or two walks each day, playing games with her, and doing some obedience training.