christinepi Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) Tracker is 5. I've had him for 2 years. I feed him 4 cups of TOTW (change flavor every two weeks when I buy a new bag) and 1 cup (before I hydrate it) Honest Kitchen, divided into 2 meals, at ca 8 am and 4:30 pm. We've been doing this w/o problems until recently. Ca 2 weeks ago, he showed increasingly less appetite in the am. Right now, by 1 pm he's only eaten 1/2 Honest Kitchen and not even one cup of kibble. He's so far still eaten everything by ca 5pm, the meals are just much closer together now. I tried offering him Evo Turkey/Chicken, thinking he might be tired of TOTW altogether, but that doesn't seem to be the problem. He's not interested in Evo either. When I sprinkle some Stella and Chewy's on his kibble, his interest definitely goes up. But then he'll try to get the sprinkles off w/o having to eat the kibble, which is quite amusing to watch. He's also right by my side in a flash in the kitchen practically before I even THINK about getting meat out of the freezer, and still loves his treats and biscuits and cheese like always. Is he just trying to get me to give him grass fed Filet Mignon from now on? Has anybody had this happen? Of course this could be medical, and I will take him in before too long. But for now--is his metabolism maybe changing? Is it bad to feed a larger amount of food later in the day (past 6 pm, say)? He has given me no signs that it might be physical; he's his usual energetic, happy self. If anything, he's got more energy than ever before. Edited February 22, 2012 by christinepi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spottydog Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I'm no expert but my guy occasionally goes off his food. I had to feed him raw for awhile to get him to eat properly, but now we are back on a different kibble with a raw topping (sometimes it's a spoon of wet cat food). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnF Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 If not done so recently, please go to your vet and have his Kidney function checked. They like you to bring in a fresh morning catch of urine. All of my dogs over the years (one was only 5) who have had CRF first went picky over their food. Useful info on kidney disease can be found at http://dogaware.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest june Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 First, I'd check him out medically. Then I'd start putting his food down only for 15 to 20 minutes and then pick it up until it is time for the next meal. Sometimes when they are left food all day they are not as excited about eating their food. Also, I'd cut out the treats and any people food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kudzu Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Big changes in appetite that persist for more than a day or two deserve a vet check before deciding on how to proceed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinepi Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 So we've got a date with the vet this morning. I'm hoping it's just a phase... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhounds Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Big changes in appetite that persist for more than a day or two deserve a vet check before deciding on how to proceed. Agreed- but, IDK- does seem like a lot of food you are feeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbbuzby Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I have been having similar problems with my guy; He is healthy, but is very lackluster on his kibble especially in the morning. He will eat eventually, if I put him in his crate for like 45 minutes. But he is all about wet food (if I put wet food with his kibble, he'll pick out the pieces), dehydrated food, treats, and raw meat. I find it helps spike his appetite if we go on a long walk in the morning first, but not always. Certainly have your vet look at him, but sometimes they just go off their food...especially if they think there's a chance they'll get something better . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinepi Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 I have been having similar problems with my guy; He is healthy, but is very lackluster on his kibble especially in the morning. He will eat eventually, if I put him in his crate for like 45 minutes. But he is all about wet food (if I put wet food with his kibble, he'll pick out the pieces), dehydrated food, treats, and raw meat. I find it helps spike his appetite if we go on a long walk in the morning first, but not always. Certainly have your vet look at him, but sometimes they just go off their food...especially if they think there's a chance they'll get something better . It's funny how that works, isn't it?? He's got me jumping through hoops, oh my... the vet looked at the urine this morning and it's definitely not the kidney, but the bilirubin might be elevated (apparently there are frequent false positives, so she took his blood and I'll hear tomorrow). If the bilirubin is still elevated, that would indicate there's something going on with the liver. I'll lay off the treats until we know what this is. The amount of feed seems to be fine for him--he's not gaining (or gained) weight. He does get a lot of exercise, maybe he burns it all off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kudzu Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Hope it's a false positive. Will admit that kidney or liver probs are the first things I worry about when appetite changes significantly. Sometimes dogs, like humans, just changed their tastes or feeding schedule preferences. Have had a couple girlies like that. Hopefully that's all it is. But my experience with health issues first appearing as a change in appetite has made me cautious. As for the amount of food, my moderately exercised, 52-55 lb girls get 3.5 cups TOTW per day. (Flavor varies.) They remain quite lean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinepi Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 I'll switch this over to Medical soon. So the results were all negative, though his T4 is low. So tomorrow he'll go in again and get a whole thyroid blood panel, sent to Michigan. I'm just curious: on the one hand this apparently can be a cause for low appetite, but he's so full of energy, even more so in the last, say, 4 weeks, than ever before--no increased aggression, weight gain or change in any other way. Also, today I gave him his kibble in other forms: wetted, stuffed in a hollow bone and frozen, and just plain old dry, but floating in some water, and lo and behold, he gobbled it up (though not the regular, full amount), whereas when I just offered it in his bowl without water, just like normal, he turned his nose up! I also offered him 3 times his usual wet food amount, and he wolfed that down. Very strange. Seems the problem lies a lot in the presentation! Or is more liquid the answer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnF Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I'm SO happy to read it isn't kidney problems! Often it can be normal things like amount of exercize, the weather, if the family are happy or tense etc. Certranly once you have all the body chemistry and hormones worked out you'll have an incredibly vauable baseline from which to test diet changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeofNE Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 That's more than twice what I feed my Greyhound. It's possibly he's not as hungry as he was when he was younger. Example: my last dog (a mix) used to eat 5 cups of kibble a day when he was a young fellow. As he got older, he ate less and less, and by the time he as 12, he was eating 2 cups a day. It's normal for a male Greyhound to have some bilirubin in his urine; mine does. You probably know that. How does his coat/skin look? Quote Susan, Hamish, Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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