Help! New Dog Won't Eat!

[Guest tycho302]

My husband and I just adopted a beautiful 3 year old greyhound named Tycho. He's been with us for 3 days now. We have fallen in love with him already! We're worried about him though because he has barely been eating. He won't eat any treats. When we had him at the kennel he wouldn't eat treats there either. He will lick peanut butter off of our fingers or his KONG and thats it. We have tried mixing his food with water, chicken broth, plain yogurt, and canned dog food and nothing is working. We are feeding him the dry kibble that the kennel gave us. They told us that he had been eating that kind. We are worried for our baby! We're not sure what to do. Please help!!!!

 

Jen

[Guest zombrie]

My guess is that it's the stress. He is in a completely different world than he's used to. I've noticed when we get dogs into the adoption group straight from the track, some of them take a couple days to eat. Give him some time, he will eat.

[Guest JMinAugustaGA]

Sounds like he is stressed. Is he an only greyhound in your home? It's not unusual for a new greyhound in the home to not eat. Sounds like he was not in a foster home before you got him? Straight out of the kennel? There are a lot of changes he is going through, so patience is the key here. Do you have a crate for him. Some of them like the security of a crate in the transition from kennel to home. It's probably nothing to worry about, yet.

[Guest IrskasMom]

Have you tried to boil some Chicken . I use boneless,skinless Thighs or just Chicken Breast mixing in with his Food? I to make it little warm and warm Water with his Kibble.Leftover Spagetti or Turkey, green Beans . Mine will not take any Treats from nobody or nowhere. What kind of Kibble do you feed ???

Edited November 15, 2010 by IrskasMom

[mychip1]

I agree with all of the above posts....Give him a couple more days - and try the boiled chicken....maybe even some hamburger....anything to entice him. Good luck with him and welcome to GT from Rhode Island.

[Guest FreddyGirl]

Some dogs are enticedby smelly foods, you could try adding a little tuna fish water, or canned sardines, canned tripe to the kibble.

 

Boiled chicken also works for some.

[Guest Sweetreba]

Mine were use to being fed in the crate and I continued that for a week or so till they were use to their new home. I have had Petey for two years now and he just started liking his treats. He would eat them when he was given them in the crate but now he is becoming a food begger like his sister who always liked anything from day one.

[robinw]

He might be adjusting to his new environment. So much is new in his word. Relax and be patient and calm, and he'll eat .

[Guest Gweneth06]

Right now I'm going through the samething with my current foster who's straight from the track and been here since Saturday afternoon. He's my 14th foster so I know that for many of them that it takes a few days to decide to eat. I've been boiling some beef and little potato and mixing it in with his food. It's a big transition and so many new things to figure out. My foster won't come out into the kitchen to eat from the dog bowl stand. So I have been taking the bowl into the living room and holding it near his blankets to get him to eat some. This evening was the first meal he ate almost everything...not in the kitchen yet, but a big step! As I've been told...when they are hungry they will eat!! And as everyone else is saying...just relax and be patient.

[TheFullHouse]

First off, he won't starve. The strongest instinct he has is to eat to survive. He's a little stressed right now. Dogs in the kennel are fed in crates. If you have a crate, see if he'll eat in there. A lot of racers also will not take treats from your hand, put them on the floor and see if he will eat them from there. When he's feeling comfortable, he'll start eating. If you don't want to have to keep cooking for him, I'd just go the kibble route. You can make a dog who is not a picky eater become a picky eater by adding a lot of other stuff to his food.

[GreyTzu]

First off, he won't starve. The strongest instinct he has is to eat to survive. He's a little stressed right now. Dogs in the kennel are fed in crates. If you have a crate, see if he'll eat in there. A lot of racers also will not take treats from your hand, put them on the floor and see if he will eat them from there. When he's feeling comfortable, he'll start eating. If you don't want to have to keep cooking for him, I'd just go the kibble route. You can make a dog who is not a picky eater become a picky eater by adding a lot of other stuff to his food.

 

:thumbs-up

[Guest mcsheltie]

When I got Breeze she wouldn't eat either. I am a pretty experienced dog person and I was beginning to wonder if she was going to starve herself! I finally called her trainer and asked what they were feeding her. I duplicated it and she wouldn't touch it. I decided at that point it was "tough love" time. She finally started eating and hasn't missed a meal since. Now she will come and get me if she thinks I'm not paying attention to the time.

 

As far as treats go, most of my GHs won't take them from my hand right away. Often I have to put them on the floor and walk out of the room. Eventually they will come to trust you.

[GeorgeofNE]

First off, he won't starve. The strongest instinct he has is to eat to survive. He's a little stressed right now. Dogs in the kennel are fed in crates. If you have a crate, see if he'll eat in there. A lot of racers also will not take treats from your hand, put them on the floor and see if he will eat them from there. When he's feeling comfortable, he'll start eating. If you don't want to have to keep cooking for him, I'd just go the kibble route. You can make a dog who is not a picky eater become a picky eater by adding a lot of other stuff to his food.

 

Exactly!

 

He's totally freaked out. I'd give him the food he's been eating, mixed with a bit of warm water, and some peace and quiet in which to eat it. And try serving it to him in the crate because that's where he's used to eating.

 

It'll be fine!

[Guest Swifthounds]

First off, he won't starve. The strongest instinct he has is to eat to survive. He's a little stressed right now. Dogs in the kennel are fed in crates. If you have a crate, see if he'll eat in there. A lot of racers also will not take treats from your hand, put them on the floor and see if he will eat them from there. When he's feeling comfortable, he'll start eating. If you don't want to have to keep cooking for him, I'd just go the kibble route. You can make a dog who is not a picky eater become a picky eater by adding a lot of other stuff to his food.

 

:thumbs-up

 

What Judy said. It's tempting with a new hound to fuss over them, but that actually adds more stress to an already stressed dog. The best thing you can do is provide a routine with no extra fussing. The closer that routine can be to the kennel routine (at least for now) the easier the transition. Then you can gradually move away.

 

No healthy dog will willingly starve. The more you fuss over the not eating and add things, the more anxiety the dog will experience with the food and you'll actually teach him to be a dog that won't eat without the extras.

[Guest tycho302]

Thank you guys all for your responses!! We fed him canned food one night and were so excited that he finally started eating until we woke up at 4 am to diarrhea. Tycho has eaten kibble mixed with warm water 3 times now, about 2 cups each time. He is scared of the kitchen for some reason. That is another issue but I'm just happy he's eating!! Thank you!

[GreyTzu]

What kind of flooring do you have in the kitchen? That could explain why the dog is afraid of the kitchen. Sometimes tile, shiny or light colored floors will bother a dog. Slow, steady positive training may help. So can some throw rugs if the floor is tile or linoleum.

 

Sorry about the big D. Honestly, the stress of the floor may be a big contributor to why he won't eat.

[TheFullHouse]

The floor could definitely be the problem. Most hounds don't like tile or linoleum and some don't even like hard wood floors. Like Wendy said, area rugs will solve that problem.

 

Watch the amount you are now feeding him. He may put on a lot of weight quickly. My big boys (all between 95 - 100 lbs.) eat 4 cups a day, 2 in the a.m. and 2 in the p.m. That extra 3rd meal may put on too much weight for your boy.