Stopped Eating His Morning Meals And Scared Of Dishes

[Guest Samm88]

Hi there, my skittish greyhound and I have moved into my boyfriends house and obviously things have changed and he's adjusting to a new routine. Which for the most part he's been good with. He lets us know when he needs to go out, no messes made in the house, and he was eatting both meals a day and drinking. However in the past 2 weeks he's seems to regress and obviously something has happened that has made him scared of his bowls. I just don't know what. We watch him when he does eat something at night. But he stands so far away and shakes and looks like something's going to jump out and get him, then for no reason it seems he spooks and slides on the hard wood floors and looses it and it's like we're back to square one. I can't physically see what's scaring him, but he's only eating half a meal a day now. And he's weight is suffering. I've started hand feeding him, and he hoovers it. Any suggestions?

[mom2four]

My first move would be to move the bowls to a different area. He might be seeing a shadow or something that you can't. Give him a little area rug if he's scared of the floors which it sounds like may be a part of the problem. He may associate sliding with eating in that area.

 

Hopefully that will work for you.

[charbess]

Are the tags on his collar striking the bowls and frightening him? If so, try removing his collar when feeding him. Even if they never spooked him before, the new environment may be setting him off.

[Guest dmt]

My big boy is this way. I tried moving bowls to floor and tried changing bowls. I have to put the food directly on the floor or he won't eat. I can't even use a placemat. Not sure why he is doing this, he just started it this year and we have had him for 5 yrs. Good luck!

[grey14me]

I'm thinking that something scared him, too. Maybe he hit his tags against the bowl, the noise scared him, and he slipped on the floor. Now the whole experience frightens him. I agree with him on an area rug or maybe moving his eating location to something that seems "safer" to him.

[greyhoundlady]

Are you using a raised feeder? One of my greys is skittish. I feed both of mine with raised feeders on mats (I have hardwood floors) so the bowls don't slide and they face a plain wall. Neither has a problem eating this way. I agree the tags may have hit the bowl and frightened him. I had an incident when one of my grey's tags hooked on the bowl and when he raised his head it made all kinds of noise. He is pretty bullet proof though and a foodie so he just went back to eating

 

You could also try holding the bowl for him since he eats from your hand. He might feel better that way for the time being.

[JAJ2010]

LOL we went through this issue a couple years ago. We feed raw and the bowl moving as Sunshine would pull out the ground meat freaked her out. The solution was to feed her an a plate on the floor for a while then get a really heavy plastic bowl that is unlikely to move. Eventually she just got over it and the moving bowls no longer bother her. It was a bizarre out of the blue freak thing that disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived

Edited November 4, 2013 by JAJ2010

[3greytjoys]

I agree with all suggestions above. I'd go a step further to recommend runner rugs in the kitchen, plus other rooms and hallways your hound frequents with hard floors. It's important to get either rubber-backed rugs, or add rug gripper mats underneath. Greyhounds slipping on hard floors is common and can be very dangerous, even more dangerous later once he settles in if he tries doing zoomies on a hard floor, or on unsecured rugs. Cheap runner rugs and grippers are available at home center stores, etc.

 

In addition to resolving the hard floor concern, you might try sitting on a (carpeted) floor holding his regular bowl while he eats his meal for a couple of days to see if he feels safer with you holding the bowl. If he's still hesitant of "that" bowl, try a weighted plastic bowl (as mentioned in a previous post) until he rebuilds his confidence.

 

BTW, there are flat ID collars available that he could wear 24/7. His tags could then be placed on the side hardware of his martingale collar for use only during outings. Good luck helping your boy feel more comfortable eating.

[cleptogrey]

this is the new model of our non-skid bowl http://www.jwpet.com/dog/bowdetails.html

Edited November 4, 2013 by cleptogrey

[Guest sirsmom]

Braided kitchen throw rugs have helped our skittish ones. for some reason the food bowls sliding on the bare floors must be scary; we also use ceramic bowls as opposed to metal.

[charbess]

I use plant stands to hold the10" bowls individually. Don't have room for some of those beautiful pieces of furniture that hold two bowls and have their names engraved on them! Has the added benefit of portability if I have to separate slow picky eaters from inhalers...I also use a larger plastic bowl to hold a smaller metal one for water...cuts down on backsplash.

[Guest Marsroving]

I'm just reiterating that although hardwood floors are beautiful, high vet bills are not. My Mars, sweet boy, is also a klutz like his mother and accident prone. If I hadn't put down those floor mats I'm sure he'd of had a serious injury by now.

[charbess]

Another thing about hardwood floors...they hightlight doggie drool very well...it is area carpets for us...!