new member with picky puppy

1234 Views 4 Replies 5 Participants Last post by NutroGeoff, Sep 17, 2014

ivory214

Discussion Starter · Sep 16, 2014

I adopted a rescue blue nose Staffy back in June and had her on TOTW Pacific Stream because she has broken out in hives and has flaky skin (dandruff). I also give her 2 tablespoons of coconut oil daily and one 1000 mg fish oil pill daily. About 2 weeks ago I switched her food to Acana Pacifica dry food which was good because she had definitely lost interest in the TOTW. At first she loved her new Acana dog food. But now after 2 weeks she is only eating one feeding a day (1 cup). I try to stay with a routine and give her 1 cup in the morning and one cup in the evening but because her day feeding stays in her bowl all day I don't give her the night feeding. She's about 1/3 through the bag now. I thought it might be she was tired of the coconut oil but even without it she doesn't want it. She definitely has an appetite because when I giver her her pills I wrap them in American cheese and she devours it. I hand fed her the other night and that seemed to work but I don't want to make a habit of it. I want to keep her on a premium fish based grain free food because of her allergies and her skin issues but it seems she is over it.

Just a little about her- she is 55 pounds, approximately 1 year old, and spayed. She is very active so with the feeding suggestions I tend to give her the higher suggested portion. She is also taking Only Natural Pet Immune Balance plant steroid formula in lieu of Temaril P prescription steroids.

Any suggestions?

Save

1 - 5 of 5 Posts

Celt

· #2 · Sep 16, 2014

Personally, I feed different foods on an almost daily basis to help prevent "boredom" , so you might try that. Although, she might also just not be hungry. Most dogs will take a "treat" even if they're not hungry, simply because it's a treat. Our Isabella will take a treat and growl and whine at it because she's full but didn't want to "pass" up a treat. Blaise will eat treats 'til he vomits (the puppysitter found this out the hard way) but won't do that with meals. So maybe try cutting back or switching foods up.

Save

Georgiapeach

· #3 · Sep 17, 2014

Two words: tough love. I had a boxer (RIP Duke - love you sweet boy!!) years ago who did this to me. He's go great guns on a new food (always a good one, btw), then about a week or two later, he'd turn up his nose at it. I asked advice from the good members of a boxer forum I'm a member of, and they recommended tough love. Leave the food down for 15 minutes. Take up whatever's left at the end of that time. Save what's left and re-feed at the next meal, adding a little more to it if any had already be consumed. I also fed twice daily, so Duke had two opportunities to eat every day. Duke had gotten to the point of refusing to eat at all, but after three days, his stomach called, and all of a sudden, the premium kibble I was feeding looked REALLY good - lol! Every so often, he'd go on a hunger strike again, and I'd employ tough love again. A healthy dog won't starve him/herself.

If your dog routinely leaves kibble even after employing tough love, then cut back on the amount fed until your dog is cleaning the bowl each time. With premium, high calorie kibbles, they usually don't need to eat as much. I've found that TOTW Pacific Stream has lower kcal/cup (only 350 kcal/cup) and will require more per feeding than Acana Pacifica will.

See less See more

Save

Shamrockmommy

· #4 · Sep 17, 2014

GeorgiaPeach is wise!

I like Fromm Salmon Tunalini and Precise Grain Free Salmon/Garbanzo Bean dry foods for my sensitive Echo (PWD). She gets ⅔ cup twice a day.

My poodle has tried to get all picky on me a few times! "Lets see if Mom will pile on the goodies for me!" I've found that less is more. I have always fed 'toppers' (cooked chicken/meat, canned, yogurt, sardines, salmon, etc) with a splash of warm water. I got all kinds of fancy with that, would mix and stir it in with the kibble... He would lick every morsel of whatever topper was on the kibble and then walk away, tail down "mom feeds me toxic waste!" Ugh!

I STOPPED being fancy. He gets a small spoonful of whatever the topper is ON THE SIDE of his bowl now, and the kibble is separate and no water- he eats it right up. I did have to let him be hungry the few times he decided what I offered was not for him. he went 3 meals eating only the small spoonful of just the topper (most recently I have been doing a teaspoon of plain yogurt for b'fast and a teaspoon of cooked chicken for supper) before he decided he'd better eat the kibble, too! His tummy was growling and complaining the whole time (day and a half!).

So, long story short, I agree with some tough love. You and I both buy a good quality brand of dry food, and they are going to eat it

LOL

HTH

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 1

NutroGeoff

· #5 · Sep 17, 2014

Welcome to DFC first of all. As far as the keeping them interested, I would recommend finding one of two good foods and just feed that. I do agree with the tough love and basically not giving them any choices as to what they are going to eat. Either they eat what you have for them or they don't eat. I do, however, also like to do a couple of different foods for my dog to give him some variety.

Save

Reactions: 1

1 - 5 of 5 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month