Picky eater is turning into a nightmare!

coinxoperated

Hi all,

I have a 3yr old Jack Russell x Chihuahua who was recently neutered in April this year.

Since I had him as a puppy, he's been a picky eater. For the first 13 months he just refused to eat 'normal food' and would only eat Ceaser pouch things with a small amount of biscuits.

I tried to 'tough love' approach of food down for 20 minutes, not gone, it goes away. No treats, try again. This went on for about 10 days and I took him to the vet and the vet said to just feed him what he likes and problem solved!! Not so!!!

Over the last couple of years, my financial situation has changed dramatically and I can no longer afford fancy biscuits and 80p a day for fancy food. I've tried various other brands and he just won't take to them. In a week he only eats maybe two full meals!!!

He's in no way underweight, Infact at his last weigh in on Thursday they said to watch his weight as he was getting chunky.

The vet did some medical investigations while he was being neutered and said that there was nothing wrong and he was just a picky eater.

The main issues I have are:

1. I worry that he's not getting enough of the 'good food' to keep him healthy. He's a well and healthy dog, but for how long?
2. At 7pm each evening he will whine for food. We do dinner at the same time each night. Food goes down, he sniffs and walks away. Will still whine for our food, even thought we have stopped giving him treats off our plates for the last 6-8 months
3. He has two treats a day, a small soft chew before I go to work, and a rawhide chew in the evening. He loves chewing and this seems to curb any bad chewing habits. I don't think I would be willing to give him less treats unless it was really necessary!
4. He poo's once / twice a day, so whatever's in is coming out!

What do I do? I've given him choice in regards to different foods, sticking with the same one for a bit then changing. I've tried fazing one food into another, tried just dry biscuits etc etc.

Any suggestions welcome!

gettingready

Zara was like that.. tried so many different dry food but she only took to Orijen - and that was after I put my foot down and just left it in her dish for about 3 days... did not take it away after any amount of time, just left it there and ignored the "you bad mum" looks, sulking etc....After about 3 days of NOTHING (cats were fed on the kitchen worktops under supervision with their wet food, their dry food was even higher up- so she could not nick their food) - she started picking on Orijen.. bit by bit - turning round to give me "the look", o8icking another bit etc etc....

Some time later, Orijen was not an option any more and got her Skinners - Orijen worked about £40 per month but had to order bags at nearly £70 each so massive outlay.. Skinners works about £18 per month and a bag is about £25 so much easier to manage

Because she was eating dry food already - it did not take long to get her to eat Skiners - still got the looks the sulking etc but.... tough.

It will take time but your dog will start eating whatever you can afford so.. good luck

Notsosharp

Getting Ready has said it all really, you just need to persevere.

I would say if he's not losing weight then he is eating the right amount for him, you'd be suprised how many calories is in these dog treat things! I know because my jack-chi is a picky eater too.

BUT she gets treated the same, if she doesn't eat it then she gets nothing else and she's learned not to be so picky now!

I treat my cats the same, if they refuse to eat a food then it gets left out with nothing else until they eat it. Though I do change it every day (but the same food).

I can't afford to pander to a picky eater and that goes for my DD too lol

suzeesu2000

We went through similar with our kitty, now we have a choice system which seems to work: eat it or go hungry.

It is quite true that they will eat when they are hungry. They just make us feel guilty, bad and wicked in the meantime!

We used to give our dog a tin of proper dog food and biscuits and then they would have the dinner scraps too.

Sometimes cheaper foods with a bit of homemade gravy is the answer.

Think about it, if you had the choice of steak or mince, which would YOU want:)

Fire_Fox

How large are the treats? Two a day for a small overweight dog could easily represent too high an amount of calories, could be keeping the hunger pangs away and he also knows they are coming even if he refuses a meal. Have you tried mixing a tiny bit of one food into the other, increasing the amount every few days, taking several weeks to switch? Have you tried warming the new food slightly to make it smell stronger? Is he getting enough exercise to stimulate his appetite and keep his weight down?

Does he like raw? Chicken wings, necks or meaty carcasses are good for cleaning the teeth and chewing, also contain protein, minerals and fat.

gettingready

Cut ALL the treats right out.

Food in the dish, leave it there and that is it.

Also - measure the food, cheap kitchen scales will do.

I measure Zara's food, one day allowance goes in the bowl and stays there till she eats it.

Weird thing is - Zara only seems to eat at night.

Good luck.

BananaMuffin

I would stop the treats and pick a good quality dried food to feed. Normally I'd recommend the BARF Diet (search it in google) but for a truely fussy eater it's not suitable for building a good eating habit.

If your dog is not thin, it's not starving. Offer the dry food with water (in the same bowl!!). You wouldn't eat a packet of crackers without a drink would you? Some dogs will wolf down food regardless, some dogs prefer to have a little water over it.

Day One: Offer nothing at all. Water, obviously, is allowed.

Day Two: Offer only a small about of kibble with water. No more than 10 pieces.

Day Three: If the bowl was licked clean yesterday, offer a little more food. If the bowl wasn't cleaned out, offer Day Two's menu again.

Carry on like this offering a little more food each day until you reach the appropriate amount of food for his size. Any day he doesn't clean his bowl out, reduce his food to the previous days amount.

Your dog may not need quite the amount of food for his size if he has a slow metabolism. Yes he might lose weight, but if hes a little tubby, he can afford too!

I own many dogs, one of which was a picky eater for months and months. He spent those months looking like a charity case because after having him checked out at the vets for any health issues that might prevent him form eating normally, I refused to listen to his further advice of feeding him food that was 'tasty' and fed him only what I deemed to be 'healthy'. You wouldn't allow your dog a diet of only horse manure and grass because your dog likes the taste any more than you would allow your child to eat only sweets and MaccyD's.

Once you've got over the part where your dog may be incredibley thin and bony or the sulky looks etc, you'll have a happy healthy dog thats happy to eat what hes given!

Fire_Fox

What is healthy about a dog getting thin or bony?? :eek: Starvation causes muscle mass to be broken down for energy, including the heart. Eating a substantially reduced amount for a few days or weeks yes, but not months.

PollyOnAMission

Does he have two meals a day? It might be that his body works as such that he'd prefer just one meal a day. I would cut out the treats and see if that helps; if not, then try doing just one meal a day to see if that suits him better.

I would agree that the two treats he is getting might be adding up to quite a lot for a small dog calorie-wise. If he loves to chew you could try giving him a raw carrot; this could keep him occupied but not fill him up so much.

The suggestion of trying chicken wings/necks could be worth pursuing; something along those lines could mean his chew treat IS his meal. Although you would still need to make sure he was getting a balanced diet.

libra10

My small Yorkie/Pomeranian loves his chicken dinners.

I buy a pack of chicken legs and thighs from Tesco each week. Boil for about 30 minutes and take off skin and bone the meat. The lean meat goes in a bowl which is cut into small pieces.

Some is placed in the fridge and small daily bowls given, a little is frozen for the remainder of the week.

Barney loves chicken and wolfs this meal down, and it's very inexpensive.

We always leaves dry food down but he tends to take this to different corners of the house, we find bits everywhere, although he does madly nibble his biscuits in excitment when we're off for our walk.

coinxoperated

To answer the main questions asked:

Cooper only has one meal per day. 1/4 of a tin of food and a handful of dry mixer biscuits. Even I feel it's not a lot for him to eat, but he is getting a bit chunky so once the soft chews are gone, I won't be buying anymore!

Copper already has raw carrots as opposed to chew some nights. The issue is he seems to be skipping his dog food as he is waiting for his better tasting chew!

Not going to start boiling chicken or cooking him food. Personally I think he's a spoilt picky little thing, and chicken might be yummy, but momma ain't doing that!

I don't agree with starving him, but I like the idea of a smaller bask. Meal so he's very hungry. I will be doing this.

He is currently sat whining and yapping. There's nothing wrong, he has biscuits available!

I will be having an early night!