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Growing Pickyness In Eating


Guest Matty

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Guest Matty

Hey everyone. Nemo has always been a pro eater. Then, about a month ago we purchased a 40lb bag of his normal food (Annamaet for adult dogs). He ate it for a few days, but started to get less and less enthusiastic about it. Eventually, he patently refused to eat it. But the weird thing was, if my fiancee offered him a treat, he would still eat it with a ton of gusto.

 

So, we tried a sample of a different type of food, Merrick chicken and sweet potatoes. He chowed down like he always had before. Problem solved, so we thought. We finished up the small bag, and ordered a larger one. About 3 days in - same thing. He won't eat it.

 

At this point, we think something may be weird, so we try adding a little browned hamburger. Boom, appetite restored. He eats through that, and we run out of burger. We try beef broth at this point along with the food - eats it up, no problem. But now a week later, he won't eat the food with the beef broth.

 

So, I am realizing that the dog is ok, no weird behavior change, nothing seems wrong. He simply doesn't want to eat the dry food we are putting in front of him. If we put anything else down, he eats it. We picked up another bag of his original food, ate it for 2 days, and he stopped.

 

At this point, I am putting out the bowl of food and letting him decide whether to eat or not. All treats have been cut off.

 

We have a vet visit scheduled for friday (emergency visit would have cost a ton, and since he seems to be just fine outside of the occasional resistance to eating his dry food), and are hoping to get him checked out on the offhand something is weird.

 

It's not bloat, or he'd be a goner by now.

 

He is due for a tooth cleaning, but I don't think that's the issue or else he'd be more continuously fussy.

 

Anyone experienced this before? Any advice?

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Yes, I've experienced it - several times - with several dogs. I think you're right to do a vet visit - but NOT an emergency visit. E-visit is not necessary (IMHO). Take a fresh stool and urine sample (Yeah - fun!) The dog is still eating what/when he "wants" to - so I'm guessing everything will come up clean. Probably the "worst" thing they'll find is parasites - which will sometimes put a dog off "normal" meals - but these chow-hounds will always perk up for something special! If it's worms of some sort - do the meds and all will be well. Problem solved.

 

If there's nothing medically wrong - here's some stuff I've dealt with over the years:

 

- Changes in the household - schedule changes/ other dogs/ etc. can throw a dog off his feed. I continue with regular feeding schedule - and the dog adapts. Dogs will not starve themselves.

 

- Changes in the weather. My Diana WILL NOT eat "normal" food when the temp goes above 90F. Even though the A/C keeps our house at 70F. Go figure. I continue with the regular feedings - and she will eventually eat. (This year - DH gave her special stuff during the hot week - cuz she's getting older, had some medical issues - and we know what the "heat" issue is, and don't want her to drop weight at her age - But when she was younger - you'll eat when you're hungry!) .

 

- Too much in a bag. When had 3 greys in the house we bought 40lb. bags. When we dropped to 1 grey - she'd only get through 1/3 to 1/2 the bag before she turned up her nose. I think it might start to taste stale? Dunno. Now we buy 20 lb. bags. Less cost effective - but fewer mouths to feed, so no biggie.

 

- Quirky greyhound random weirdness. This is a real phenomenon that I swear by (QGRW). Behavior caused by "something" that makes sense to them - that we humans cannot see or comprehend. For this kind of food aversion - I do "Here's your food - eat or not". 90% of the time - after 2-3 days (NO TREATS, NO ADD-INS) - no special drama about food - the dog will start to eat again. As long as they're medically sound - and drinking water - and have shown that they "will" eat something "special" offered to them - put the food down - leave it. Pick it up after an hour. Put food down at the next scheduled meal-time - repeat. No healthy dog will starve itself - but a dog showing QGRW WILL play you if you let it.

 

And I'm sure there were other situations I've forgotten about. In general - if the dog is medically sound - and not a senior - and not one that Can't loose any weight at all - I definitely am a hard-butt about eating. And most of them will get over it - and eat.

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If there is nothing medically wrong and the dog is not a senior, I put it down and they either eat it or not. A healthy dog will not starve itself. Once they figure out you're not going to play musical dog food any more, they start eating.

Judy, mom to Darth Vader, Bandita, And Angel

Forever in our hearts, DeeYoGee, Dani, Emmy, Andy, Heart, Saint, Valentino, Arrow, Gee, Bebe, Jilly Bean, Bullitt, Pistol, Junior, Sammie, Joey, Gizmo, Do Bee

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And when the dog is a senior, sometimes it's still just quirky behavior. My 13-year-old refused to eat his kibble for more than a month. He'd lick/eat whatever add-ons I used--vanilla Ensure, yogurt, oatmeal, rice, etc.--but not the kibble pieces themselves. (He'd pick up a piece, suck the goodies off, and spit the kibble back out.) Meanwhile, his appetite for peanut butter crackers never wavered, and he'd fish the cellophane wrapper from the trash to lick the peanut butter off.

 

He'd always eat add-ons, but I was worried about whether he'd get the nutrition he needed, so I started grinding up three cups of kibble every day in my food processor. At meal time, I'd mix a scoop of the kibble crumbs with whatever the add-on was for that meal (flavored yogurt was the most popular) and let him lap up the combo. And when he was taking an antibiotic and needed to take it in a non-dairy meal, I just mixed the kibble crumbs with rice or with oatmeal; sometimes, I'd let him have a peanut butter sandwich.

 

This went on for more than a month. Then one day he was hungry and I didn't have any kibble ground up yet so I tossed him a couple of pieces of kibble to keep him busy while I ground up the day's supply. He ate the whole pieces, so I just gave him more pieces, and he went back to eating his regular kibble--just that easily. And he didn't lose any weight.

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Kathy and Q (CRT Qadeer from Fuzzy's Cannon and CRT Bonnie) and
Jane (WW's Aunt Jane from Trent Lee and Aunt M); photos to come.

Missing Silver (5.19.2005-10.27.2016), Tigger (4.5.2007-3.18.2016),
darling Sam (5.10.2000-8.8.2013), Jacey-Kasey (5.19.2003-8.22.2011), and Oreo (1997-3.30.2006)

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I don't know how old he is, but you might want to have his kidney values checked. When my boy, Cruz, got picky like this, his kidney values were high and he had a UTI. We got the UTI cleared up, but he was in kidney failure by the time I knew what was going on. :(

 

:goodluck Hoping all goes well at the vet.

Cynthia, & Cristiano, galgo
Always in my heart: Frostman
Newdawn Frost, Keno Jet Action & Chloe (NGA racing name unknown), Irys (galgo), Hannah (weim), Cruz (galgo), & Carly CW Your Charming

Princess http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?i=1018857

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life, gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are." -- Unknown

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we're having the same issues here with Zeke, for the past couple months or so. When we got him, we put him on Canidae and he ate like a champ. He had severe diarrhea and hookworms so we didn't know if the food was making it worse, so we switched him to Iam's lamb/rice formula. Again, ate like a champ. Until we got the worms and diarrhea under control, I didn't add in any extra stuff like cottage cheese, sardines, etc. We then switched him to Kirkland's lamb/rice and he ate that well up until a couple months ago. He just up and started to not finish his meals, sometimes not eating anything at all. He's even gotten picky about what treats he'll eat, he'll simply snub ones he used to eat all the time. He also is eating WAY slower than he did -- he would eat so fast before this started we'd have to give Larry several minutes' head start (and he gets less food than Zeke) and now I have to have Zeke start 5 minutes before Larry.

 

It's just weird. A couple weeks ago, I got some samples of a few different brands/flavors of kibble and was varying mixing it in and he's been eating better. However, when I started doing this, I also stopped adding in plain yogurt (thinking it was too tangy for him?) and didn't put in nearly as much water (or let it soak) so it's hard to say which one is helping. He ate all but maybe 8 pieces of his kibble at dinner tonite. We don't free feed so if he doesn't eat it right away it has to be picked up (and thrown out). I'm mixing in cottage cheese, green beans, protein of some kind (canned salmon or sardines, liver, beef heart [cooked]), sometimes a hard boiled egg,

 

we've always had SUPER food hounds so I don't know what to think about this. Right at the end with Nube, when he started not eating his food, it freaked me out and this is reminding me of it. Zeke seems 100% healthy, think his teeth are ok (if not, he wouldn't eat the crunchy treats he likes?). :dunno If Zeke had been like this from the beginning, I would know he could just be goofy about eating but this came out of the blue, like yours. Let me know if you find any answers.

Edited by RaineysMom

Kim and Bruce - with Rick (Rick Roufus 6/30/16) and missing my sweet greyhound Angels Rainey (LG's Rainey 10/4/2000 - 3/8/2011), Anubis (RJ's Saint Nick 12/25/2001 - 9/12/12) and Zeke (Hey Who Whiz It 4/6/2009 - 7/20/2020) and Larry (PTL Laroach 2/24/2007 - 8/2/2020) -- and Chester (Lab) (8/31/1990 - 5/3/2005), Captain (Schipperke) (10/12/1992 - 6/13/2005) and Remy (GSP) (?/?/1998 - 1/6/2005) at the bridge
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." -- Ernest Hemmingway

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's also worthwhile to note that companies occasionally change the formula of their kibble, often without telling/informing consumers, not sure if that's the deal here, but it is another possibility of a dog turning his or her nose up at the "same food" they've always eaten.

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Are you free feeding? If so, I would stop. To me, it sounds like he's learned that holding out will get him something better. Put the bowl down and give him 15 minutes to eat it. If he doesn't eat, pick it up and try again at the next mealtime. It usually only takes one or two times, and they learn that they eat what's in front of them. As Judy said, a dog won't voluntarily starve itself.

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We dealt with this every summer as the heat intensified, but add ins would always solve it.

 

Have you been able to pay attention to his poop/pee output? Has that changed at all? Any puking?

 

Let us know what the vet says.

Colleen with Covey (Admirals Cove) and Rally (greyhound puppy)
Missing my beloved boy INU (CJ Whistlindixie) my sweetest princess SALEM (CJ Little Dixie) and my baby girl ZOE (LR's Tara)

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QGRW :rofl I am so adding this to my vocabulary, it describes them perfectly! I have been going through QGRW with Molly for 2+ months. She's had a vet check, mostly she eventually eats, I am even pretty sure I know the cause, but there are some days :headwall

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QGRW :rofl I am so adding this to my vocabulary, it describes them perfectly! I have been going through QGRW with Molly for 2+ months. She's had a vet check, mostly she eventually eats, I am even pretty sure I know the cause, but there are some days :headwall

Beware - QGRW is not limited to food. It can manifest in any situation. Sidewalks, random aversion to strangers, sudden inability to cross dark spaces .... QGRW can strike at any time. Usually in front of strangers that will then think greys are dingdongs.

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We'd been having the same issues with Maddy. Finally she refused to eat anything, even canned Grammies Pot Pie or cookies. Took her to the vet and she had some inflammation in her belly. They kept her all night on fluids and some meds and now she seems to be eating mostly normally again. Well, as normal as she ever eats. She likes it better when I fix her food than when Kevin does.

 

We did switch her to the Go Dog Salmon since it's supposed to be easy on the stomach and easy to digest. So far so good.

 

And Maddy is the queen of QGRW. Mostly in the form of refusing to walk at random times and places.

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Wingnut (DC Wingnut), Voo Doo (Voo Doo von Bonz), Barb (Myokie Barb) & Romey (Nose Stradamus)
at the bridge Molly (CM Blondie) 9/8/14, Maddy (Reuniting) 10/17/13, Rocky (Ranco Popeye) 1/7/12, Mimi (Flying Ringneck) 8/13/09 and RJ (RJ What For) 5/3/05

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