My dog seems afraid to eat his food

Lorian

Stools look normal?


Drinking enough?

zaksmum

Lorian wrote: »

Stools look normal?


Drinking enough?

Yes definitely. He's slightly lethargic though but livens up as he gets hungrier. And when I take him for a walk he's bouncing round like a puppy.

He has 4 walks a day, about 45 minutes each walk, and I'm home all day with him, so he has plenty of stimulation and company. He's always been a bit nervous which is probably the whippet in him, but happy and healthy.

It's just this issue he has about eating:(

Carer

If this were my dog I'd just lose the bowl completely and make food time fun.

I rarely feed mine from a bowl, it's boring for them and not really a natural way to feed for them. I make them work for it, it keeps their brains active and they really enjoy it as they never know how it's going to be done.

I use lots of different methods - kong, stuffing it in a hollow bone, games (hiding it under things, wrap in folds of blanket), Nina Olson toys are great, throwing it over the lawn so they have to find it all, scattering it across the floor, throwing it to them bit by bit so they catch it (they love this one the most).

Obviously some of these would be a bit messy with wet food but I feed mine high quality dried for meals, wet food is a treat.

zaksmum

Carer wrote: »

If this were my dog I'd just lose the bowl completely and make food time fun.

I rarely feed mine from a bowl, it's boring for them and not really a natural way to feed for them. I make them work for it, it keeps their brains active and they really enjoy it as they never know how it's going to be done.

I use lots of different methods - kong, stuffing it in a hollow bone, games (hiding it under things, wrap in folds of blanket), Nina Olson toys are great, throwing it over the lawn so they have to find it all, scattering it across the floor, throwing it to them bit by bit so they catch it (they love this one the most).

Obviously some of these would be a bit messy with wet food but I feed mine high quality dried for meals, wet food is a treat.

I've tried throwing it to him bit by bit and he will eat this way, but again only if he's desperate.

I'm coming to the conclusion that it's dog food he objects to. If I offered him a slice of beef he'd wolf it down, but I'm not going to make that a permanent feature of his diet.

He hid again this morning when I put his food out and it's really getting to me now.

pawsies

Try

http://www.naturalinstinct.com/

or

http://www.nutriment.co/

If he likes meat he will like those

sheramber

zaksmum wrote: »

Thanks fosterdog, mojisola and sheramber.

I tried having O/H feed him with the same result, mojisola.

Fosterdog, there's definitely nothing wrong with his eyes. Outdoors he can spot a twitch of a rabbit's whisker from miles away!

Sheramber, I will try your suggestion, thanks. I do think I'm somehow making him anxious and he now associates feeding with anxiety.

He ate nothing at all all day yesterday despite his bowl of food sitting there. I threw it out when we were going to bed and he did eat today's food about 1pm.

I try to be relaxed about it but feel quite desperate when he's eaten nothing all day.

Hopefully he might start to enjoy his food again and mealtimes will be less stressful for all of us.

Why was the food left down until 1pm? It shoudl have been out awa out of sight after ten minutes.

I do know how you feel.

My pup would not eat from the day ashe arrived at 12 weeks old.

Puppy food - no go.She would eat two orthree bits then walk away.

She ran into the kitchen with the other dogs at mealtime but went up to the dish, ate a couple of pieces the walked away.

I then deciede I would feed her as I had fed my pups in 'the old days'. this consisted of home cooked food. Made no difference.

We did progress to two weetbix or one scarambled egg a day. if she ate one she didn't eat the other.

She was healthy looking, shiny coat and did everythign at 100 miles an hour. She even peed on the move.

My vet declared her fit if skinny. There was not a particle of fat on her. You could feel all her bones when you stroked her.

She was working type golden retriever but everybody though she was a whippet cross.

At 6 months old she started eating my !!!!!es food so I held the dish and offered it to my !!!!! and then to her alternatively. Fortunately my older !!!!! was quite happy with this arrangement.

After another couple of months she started eating out of her own dish but if there was the least noise or someone entered the kitchen she walked away from the dish and would not go back to it.

It was a case of quiet, Amber is eating.

She was 10 months old before she was eating normally and never looked back from then.

She was regularly checked by my vet who said she just ate the minimum that she needed to survive and better slim that fat.

I also had contact with her breeder who also was stumped.

She was always a slim dog who ate twice as much as my other !!!!! who was 10 kgs heavier than her.

All that time she only got offered her meal at mealtime and if she didn't eat it it was lifted.

It was a very hard 7 months.

zaksmum

sheramber wrote: »

Why was the food left down until 1pm? It shoudl have been out awa out of sight after ten minutes.

I do know how you feel.

My pup would not eat from the day ashe arrived at 12 weeks old.

Puppy food - no go.She would eat two orthree bits then walk away.

She ran into the kitchen with the other dogs at mealtime but went up to the dish, ate a couple of pieces the walked away.

I then deciede I would feed her as I had fed my pups in 'the old days'. this consisted of home cooked food. Made no difference.

We did progress to two weetbix or one scarambled egg a day. if she ate one she didn't eat the other.

She was healthy looking, shiny coat and did everythign at 100 miles an hour. She even peed on the move.

My vet declared her fit if skinny. There was not a particle of fat on her. You could feel all her bones when you stroked her.

She was working type golden retriever but everybody though she was a whippet cross.

At 6 months old she started eating my !!!!!es food so I held the dish and offered it to my !!!!! and then to her alternatively. Fortunately my older !!!!! was quite happy with this arrangement.

After another couple of months she started eating out of her own dish but if there was the least noise or someone entered the kitchen she walked away from the dish and would not go back to it.

It was a case of quiet, Amber is eating.

She was 10 months old before she was eating normally and never looked back from then.

She was regularly checked by my vet who said she just ate the minimum that she needed to survive and better slim that fat.

I also had contact with her breeder who also was stumped.

She was always a slim dog who ate twice as much as my other !!!!! who was 10 kgs heavier than her.

All that time she only got offered her meal at mealtime and if she didn't eat it it was lifted.

It was a very hard 7 months.

There was no point in moving the food after 10 minutes. Jack avoided even going in the kitchen where he knew the food was. I left it down in the hope he'd pass it and decide to try it.

Today I didn't put any food down for him, just ignored breakfast time.

At 1pm I put it down and he ate it immediately so was probably starving.

Usually he has his second meal of the day at 5pm but won't be ready for it, having eaten at 1pm instead of the usual 8am.

O/H says not to offer food again before morning. I'm not sure though.

Johnny_Dangerously

I'd agree with your OH. At this point, I think your better off with the positive correlation of eating right away. Positive correlation for you and the dog. If you think about it rationally, 1 day of not eating that much isn't that big of a deal compared to what you have now.

zaksmum

Johnny_Dangerously wrote: »

I'd agree with your OH. At this point, I think your better off with the positive correlation of eating right away. Positive correlation for you and the dog. If you think about it rationally, 1 day of not eating that much isn't that big of a deal compared to what you have now.

Ok...I'm really gritting my teeth here because Jack is going to his bowl then coming and staring at me as if to say Where's my dinner?

It's a very long time since he's done that, and all I want to do is feed him!

But I will try my best to hang on now till tomorrow before putting any more food down for him

Johnny_Dangerously

Just remember, if you get it right, this is as bad as it gets. The key thing you want is a hungry dog who really looks forward to getting his food. Our boxer is a naturally fussy eater, so if he's getting picky, I reduce his food for a couple of days and he soon starts to really appreciate it.

Food is the most important motivator for a dog and the reason they were domesticated in the first place. Plus wild dogs generally feast or famine, a day isn't that much of a big deal to skip a meal.