Turning Nose Up At Food In The Morning?

[Guest Sapphyre]

Hi all,

 

I have a 4.5 year old hound who we've only had for 2 months. Recently, he has been turning his nose up at food in the mornings. We've been experiencing rain for the past 2 weeks and the only thing that is different on the days that he is turning up his nose at food in the mornings is that it is sunny. It's as if he's so pre-occupied with sun tanning that he doesn't want to eat. He won't even eat treats! Weird, right??

 

My other hound chows down like crazy, eating the same food - so I don't think it's the food that has spoiled (PS - both hounds eat a raw diet - ground turkey with bone, turkey organs, and fruits and veggies 60/10/30 blend).

 

My boy doesn't appear to be showing any other signs of being sick. Anyone else experience anything like this?

[a_daerr]

Do you free feed... or is he given a certain time limit?

One of my guys started putzing around with food. Taking his bowl up after 20 minutes solved the problem.

[inugrey]

One of mine tends to lose interest in breakfast during the summer months. We add canned food and she eats it right up. It may just be something weird like that. Try something special like tripe or other organ meat, not just turkey.

[Guest bizzydesigner]

Breeze does this a lot. Adding wet food has helped but isn't a sure fire thing. Oddly enough if I put her food outside with her in the mornings she'll eat it right up usually.

[greyhead]

Mine had a bad problem with hookworm so, although treated, it's a recurrent problem. When a.m. food is refused and nothing else works, treating for worms solves the problem for us within 12-24 hours. I don't know if this a.m. food refusal is unique to hookworm or can happen with other worm species. (You might also listen for a tummy that gurgles.)

[claudiav]

both of mine go on breakfast strikes in the hot months... they started about 2 weeks ago so I stopped feeding them in the morning... and they don't seem any worse for wear....

[Guest Waterdog66]

Audrey has turned her nose up at supper time once or twice. I give her about an hour to figure it out and then I take her bowl away.

 

She definitely seemed to get the idea and was eager to chow down at Breakfast.

 

It seems to me that at least in Audrey's case, fatigue was a factor. Every time this has happened was after a full day of activities and she was knackered. I guess she would rather sleep then eat.

 

Seems like others have this happen more often and so is just another ploy to give us humans something to chat about on the Internet

[KF_in_Georgia]

I have a girl turning up her nose at her breakfast every morning. She then goes and stands over her brother's bowl, and when she intimidates him enough, he leaves and she eats his kibble.

 

It's exactly the same kibble I put in her dish, but he doesn't have the nerve to eat out of her dish.

 

I've given up trying to figure out which dog is going to eat on any particular day. I just put out kibble, then take the bowls up shortly. And these days I chase the girl away from the boy's bowl. A few hours later, I put the bowls out again.

 

When the old boy isn't eating, I grind his kibble and mix it with flavored yogurt or with Ensure. He usually eats then. He's old and can't afford to lose weight. When the girl isn't eating, she just doesn't get fed until she's willing to eat her kibble out of her bowl. (After all, she's put on weight eating his food for too long.)

 

The seasonal finickiness was more ordinary around here when I had only one dog. But since I've had two dogs (more than 10 years now), the problem hasn't arisen until this year, when Sam is too frail to insist on eating his own food.

[Guest Eyeblaura]

Enzo has been skipping breakfast about 3 days a week now that the weather is warm.

Edited June 5, 2013 by Eyeblaura

[Guest Sapphyre]

Hey all!

 

Thanks for all of your kind words! I am feeling better knowing that my boy isn't sick and that other hounds do this too. I did deworm him yesterday just in case of hooks (used interceptor) but he didn't have tummy grumbles in the morning. He does eat his turkey mix in the evening with no troubles, so perhaps he's just not a morning eater?

 

Would you recommend I increase how much I feel him at night time to compensate for the meal he doesn't eat in the morning?

 

Thanks!

[greyhead]

What made me think of worms is not only our experience with a.m. food refusal, but also the fact that your dog is recently adopted and, presumably, recently from an adoption kennel. That seems to be a prime time for worms to arise. Hope you'll let us know how things work out. If the worming works, you should see improvement within a day or so. If not, you probably should heavy-up the evening meal somewhat. Even better would be if you could offer the morning meal a few hours later than you have been. I've found that when they get like this, they'll eat at 11:00 when they wouldn't eat at 8:00, for instance. Here's hoping!

[Guest Sapphyre]

Ugh. He didn't want to eat his dinner tonight either. Finally I got him to eat a little plain turkey. What the heck, mister?!?!

[greyhead]

Oh dear. Are you going to talk to your vet?

[Guest Sapphyre]

I spoke with my vet and he says that it sounds like he is constipated. So, we put some extra fibre in his diet and added some fish oils to get things moving. Voila! A great poop last night and things started looking up. But this morning he doesn't want to eat breakfast again and now his tummy is gurgling and squealing and sounding just awful. What should I do?

[greyhead]

Report back to your vet. (Just cuz we solve one problem doesn't mean there's not another lurking.) Meanwhile, are you managing to get two meals per day into him when he skips breakfast?

 

Btw, what kind of worm treatment did you use? Was it a one-time thing or a several-day thing?

[Guest Sapphyre]

He was doing great yesterday! He ate all three meals. Now, the morning one was still a bit of a hassle - I had to offer his plate to my other hound before he showed any interest. He ate it slowly, but mostly. Yesterday at supper he ate great and bedtime snack he gobbled everything down. So I really thought we were on the mend. So for his tummy to be so gurgly and him refusing food again - I'm really at a loss of what to do?

 

I'm so confused by this new boy. He came to us severely underweight and was a land shark - would find absolutely anything possible to eat and eat it. Including his own poop! He was eating kibble before and his poops were gross, so we switched him to raw since our other hound was on it and he did great! Awesome appetite, put on 5 pounds (now at a respectable weight) and looking much better (and pooping much better too!). And now he won't eat anything? I'm so confused. My poor little bean - it's hard for me to hear his tummy sounding so upset.

 

I dewormed him with an interceptor tablet on Tuesday.

[greyhead]

Okay, that may be a problem. Interceptor doesn't de-worm, it just prevents (more or less) new infestation. It's a monthly preventative. Your boy probably got a mild benefit from it, which is why he did better briefly. If there is an actual infestation, you need to give Panacur for several days and then repeat it in three weeks or so. Fecals aren't always accurate, so you and your vet might consider treating for worms anyhow even if a fecal is negative.