Guest iLoveLucie Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 We've had our latest for about 3 weeks now and boy is he a picky eater! This is new territory for us as our hounds and the fosters we've worked with have been good eaters. Maybe a little loss of appetite at first/in a new situation, but after a few days, they are cleaning out their bowls. It's been 3 weeks and the new guy is adjusting GREAT to everything else. He seems happy/perky, loves going for walks, is getting used to other breeds of dogs, is no longer afraid of the elevator in our building. But he still isn't eating consistently. He never finishes his bowl in one sitting. We started out with 2-2.5 cups of kibble (Purina Pro plan sensitve skin and stomach with water or broth) twice a day + some wet food in the morning. That seemed way to much and since he never finished, we thought maybe he was self-regulating so we've cut back to 1.5 cups of kibble twice a day with a few spoonfuls of wet food in there to try to entice him. I've also tried mixing in yogurt, chicken, cheese just to get him to start (and finish) eating. Typically he will pick out all the "good stuff" and not finish the rest. He'll go lay down on his bed. If I stir up the bowl and coax him back he'll jump up, wag his tail and then eat a few bites and then go to his bed again. We've tried crate feeding and feeding him out in the family room with our other dog - same result. He seems interested in food at first - he watches me make up his food dish and gets excited as I walk it over to the elevated feeder. He will eat treats just fine. He just seems to get bored with his food and never finishes it in one sitting. I'm sure I could give him smaller portions throughout the day, but I don't think that is a good habit to get him used to long term. He is a tad underweight (can still see all his ribs), so I'd like him to put a few pounds on, but I also want to get him onto a "normal" feeding schedule for when he goes to his forever home. Any suggestions? At this point, he seems to love wet food, so I'm thinking about increasing the amount of wet food at each meal just to increase his daily calorie intake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubcitypam Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I soak Poodle's kibble for about 15 minutes before I mix in the couple of tablespoons of canned and he eats it all -- he used to pick out the good stuff. Some might say wetting it decreases tooth cleaning, but I don't think kibble does much if anything in that department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest buttonwillow Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 (edited) I suppose Josie is a picky eater too. She wants nothing to do with dog food so I have to dress it up a bit. Even then sometimes she turns up her nose. I figure if she's hungry she'll eat, if not, that's fine too. I'd say she finishes all her food about 40% of the time, and about 20% of the time she doesn't eat any of it. She hasn't lost any weight even when it seems like she doesn't eat much at all, so I guess she knows what she's doing. Oh, I leave her food out for her if she doesn't eat it all right away. Sometimes she'll eat more but mostly not. Sometimes a cat will pick at it :lol Edited July 7, 2011 by buttonwillow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest iLoveLucie Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I suppose Josie is a picky eater too. She wants nothing to do with dog food so I have to dress it up a bit. Even then sometimes she turns up her nose. I figure if she's hungry she'll eat, if not, that's fine too. I'd say she finishes all her food about 40% of the time, and about 20% of the time she doesn't eat any of it. She hasn't lost any weight even when it seems like she doesn't eat much at all, so I guess she knows what she's doing. Oh, I leave her food out for her if she doesn't eat it all right away. Sometimes she'll eat more but mostly not. Sometimes a cat will pick at it :lol I've considered leaving it out, but then out other chow hound would go for it! So instead I'll usually pull it out for him a couple times a day - when I have time to hang on to my other dog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest june Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 My dogs get 15 minutes and if they don't eat their food gets picked up and they don't get more until it is time for the next meal. Even picky eaters soon figure out they need to eat or will go hungry until the next meal. Also, watch the treats. If they are getting enough treats why eat kibble? All of mine are now great eaters. june Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest iLoveLucie Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 My dogs get 15 minutes and if they don't eat their food gets picked up and they don't get more until it is time for the next meal. Even picky eaters soon figure out they need to eat or will go hungry until the next meal. Also, watch the treats. If they are getting enough treats why eat kibble? All of mine are now great eaters. june That is exactly what we did with our first girl and she caught on after a few days. We tried this at first with our new guy and he ended up just not eating. Since he is fresh off the track he is so skinny - I guess I've dropped the regimented routine with him just to try to get him to eat/put on some pounds. But I think we might be creating some bad habits.... maybe we are training him not to eat it all right away because if he waits, we end up putting more "goodies" in his dish to entice him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greysmom Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Reni, he's not going to keel over in the living room if he misses a meal or two. You might just give it a try for a day or so and see if it perks up his appetite. Put his food down, give him a set amount of time to finish, and then pick it up. No treats or cookies for not eating either! Though if he does eat, make a big deal with praising him afterwards. Try and keep to the same schedule every day. Another thing to try might be to not hand him any treats. Put all his treats and special things in his bowl for him to associate it with good things. I know he's a foster and you may want to run this by The Powers That Be first. Quote Chris - Mom to: Felicity (DeLand), and Andi (Braska Pandora) siggy by Chris Harper, on Flickr Angels: Libby (Everlast), Dorie (Dog Gone Holly), Dude (TNJ VooDoo), Copper (Kid's Copper), Cash (GSI Payncash), Toni (LPH Cry Baby), Whiskey (KT's Phys Ed), Atom, Lilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest buttonwillow Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 he's not going to keel over in the living room if he misses a meal or two. :lol When I first got Josie I was sure she would do just that if she didn't eat full meals... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Swifthounds Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 My dogs get 15 minutes and if they don't eat their food gets picked up and they don't get more until it is time for the next meal. Even picky eaters soon figure out they need to eat or will go hungry until the next meal. Also, watch the treats. If they are getting enough treats why eat kibble? All of mine are now great eaters. june The more you fuss , the more the dog will fuss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest iLoveLucie Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Reni, he's not going to keel over in the living room if he misses a meal or two. You might just give it a try for a day or so and see if it perks up his appetite. Put his food down, give him a set amount of time to finish, and then pick it up. No treats or cookies for not eating either! Though if he does eat, make a big deal with praising him afterwards. Try and keep to the same schedule every day. Excellent point Chris (and everyone else!). We'll give him 15 minutes in the morning and in the evening. No more treats until he finishes his dinner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Figmama Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I was reading your post thinking I could have written that very thing when we got out Grey!! After over 8 years, he is still a picky eater. I just pretty much let him free feed now but, when I've had other dogs/Greys here, he gets so long then the food gets picked up. Unfortunately, he was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma and I've been cooking up a stew to add to his kibble and he really does like the Solid Gold canned Tripe when I add it to his kibble. I've been adding low fat cottage and he loves that too. Good luck. I sure know a picky eater!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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