Feeding headache

[Rhodri0311]

I'm really hoping someone can give me some advice as I'm really starting to worry about Rhodri.

He's been off his kibble for weeks now - he was eating just the wet food but now he's hardly eating anything and what he does eat I have to feed him. I've tried different flavours but to no avail.

I'm sure there's nothing wrong with him as he's quite happy to accept a bit of chicken or one of his treats or a dentastix.

Mealtimes are becoming so stressful. I seem to spending a small fortune on food for it to end up in the bin.

Rhodri is seven months old - he's a big dog and doesn't appear to be losing any weight although I haven't had him weighed for a little while. He's fine in all other ways and has plenty of energy!

For various reasons I don't want to go down the raw route. Has anyone any ideas, I'm nervous about chopping and changing his food as he can be prone to whippy poops.

Thanks x

[Londongirl]

Henry went off his kibble too. I started mixing it with wet food. That worked for about a week. Then he started picking the kibble out and just eating the wet. Then he started refusing the mix altogether. Like Rhodri, he still happily ate all his treats and any human food he could steal. Last week I gave up on the kibble and just served him the wet food I'd been using to mix. He's wolfing it down.

We are now back to whippy poos which is frustrating as the kibble sorted that out. Now trying to find a way to serve wet food AND have dry poos!

[Theo961]

Hi
I don't know what you have tried already but my mum has been just as stressed as she has a very picky rescue chihuahua who will eat something one moment then not eat it again, She would also rather starve than eat something she doesn't want to. Mum tried kibble, wet foods and raw and a mix of all. The only thing we know she will always eat is cooked chicken.
I asked about some of the cold pressed foods on here a few weeks ago and we bought a small bag of gentle which so far she is eating far better than anything else we have tried her on including the raw, I have also used it for treats for Reese and he loves it. Someone gave me a link to another cold pressed food they had bought which sounded just as good but worked out even cheaper, however I had already bought the gentle.
Hope things settle for you soon. Tracy x

[Letichia]

Hello

This sounds exactly like what I went trough with Lilly. I too was so stressed about her not eating but really it was me causing the whole problem. As every time she went off her food I would add something different or swap flavours etc and she soon learnt that if she refused I would add a tasty topper or switch her food. I too was hand feeding her and she thought that was great!
In the end I got fed up of popping to the shops every other day to pick up something different when I new she was fine. She would still want treats and chicken breast etc
I would personally find something that you know suits him and he likes and stick with it. Put his food down for 15 minutes and what he doesn't eat after remove it and offer nothing until his next meal time. Then put it down again for 15 minutes etc. he won't starve himself.
At the time I settled for forthglade wet food with some Lillys kitchen kibble mixed in. She didn't eat every meal but eventually she learnt that I wasn't going to give her something else.
Now she loves her food! Although still has a day where she won't est a meal but as long as she is fine in her self I don't worry.
Good luck, hope you find something that suits soon 

[tenaille]

another fussy one here, exactly the same.  Unfortunately she can out wait me, she'll go days hardly touching her wet and dry mix but leave a human meal unattended or cook up some chicken and rice and its wolfed down in a flash, doesn't touch the sides.
So frustrating

[Andrea Ellie]

Ellie is 4.5 years old now but I remember as a pup we fed Arden Grange then one day she refused to eat it. We ended u adding warm water to make a gravy and reluctantly she would eat it. We did end up changing her food to a grain free food (Simpsons sensitive at time) and ever since then she has liked any food we have given her. I do think she was playing us a little bit to see if she got anything better but as I didn't want to keep adding water I changed foods. We did try taking up her food and then offering it again which is why she reluctantly ate the moistened food. Ellie would love to have wet food which we have tried as a treat but unfortunately it gave her the runs.

[Londongirl]

Hello

This sounds exactly like what I went trough with Lilly. I too was so stressed about her not eating but really it was me causing the whole problem. As every time she went off her food I would add something different or swap flavours etc and she soon learnt that if she refused I would add a tasty topper or switch her food. I too was hand feeding her and she thought that was great!
In the end I got fed up of popping to the shops every other day to pick up something different when I new she was fine. She would still want treats and chicken breast etc
I would personally find something that you know suits him and he likes and stick with it. Put his food down for 15 minutes and what he doesn't eat after remove it and offer nothing until his next meal time. Then put it down again for 15 minutes etc. he won't starve himself.
At the time I settled for forthglade wet food with some Lillys kitchen kibble mixed in. She didn't eat every meal but eventually she learnt that I wasn't going to give her something else.
Now she loves her food! Although still has a day where she won't est a meal but as long as she is fine in her self I don't worry.
Good luck, hope you find something that suits soon 

This method might work with some dogs, but not for us. Henry kept up his hunger strike for two weeks despite me lifting the food just as you describe. As he's still a growing boy, I couldn't keep on hoping he'd stop being stubborn.

[Andrea Ellie]

Gosh, think Ellie is too greedy to have kept it up for 2 weeks but she does have a stubborn side but not when it comes to food :-)

[Archie bean]

Hello

This sounds exactly like what I went trough with Lilly. I too was so stressed about her not eating but really it was me causing the whole problem. As every time she went off her food I would add something different or swap flavours etc and she soon learnt that if she refused I would add a tasty topper or switch her food. I too was hand feeding her and she thought that was great!
In the end I got fed up of popping to the shops every other day to pick up something different when I new she was fine. She would still want treats and chicken breast etc
I would personally find something that you know suits him and he likes and stick with it. Put his food down for 15 minutes and what he doesn't eat after remove it and offer nothing until his next meal time. Then put it down again for 15 minutes etc. he won't starve himself.
At the time I settled for forthglade wet food with some Lillys kitchen kibble mixed in. She didn't eat every meal but eventually she learnt that I wasn't going to give her something else.
Now she loves her food! Although still has a day where she won't est a meal but as long as she is fine in her self I don't worry.
Good luck, hope you find something that suits soon 

This method might work with some dogs, but not for us. Henry kept up his hunger strike for two weeks despite me lifting the food just as you describe. As he's still a growing boy, I couldn't keep on hoping he'd stop being stubborn.

Same here. Archie would have starved rather than eat when he was young and going through this phase. It's not uncommon. My previous cocker went through it too, although not as badly as Archie. He wouldn't even eat raw food. He looked at a chicken wing like it was an alien being. And then guarded it horribly. Never again!  I was lucky that I discovered he adores Wainwrights wet. Once I found it, he never refused to eat again. I abandoned kibble completely. My first cocker never had an issue but his litter mate (my Dad's dog, Will) was a nightmare to feed. I remember my Dad lying on the floor hand feeding him to try to get something in him. This was over 20yrs ago and there wasn't such a choice of food back then. He refused all kibble and in the end the only thing he would eat was butchers tripe mix! Eventually even he was happy to eat everything and we could give him a better food.
I can't really offer any advice as I just tried different foods until I found something Archie loved. It's a bit hit and miss but as long as he isn't losing weight and is happy and healthy just keep persevering until he grows out of it. Which I'm sure he will in time.

[Letichia]

With Lilly though she was the same with every single brand of dog food I tried and I just couldn't keep changing food every time. I tried wet, raw, dry food and a combination but she was still the same. I lost track after trying the 14th brand of dog food so I'm afraid I had to be stubborn. she also developed pancreatitis which I probably caused by changing her food so much as I was desperate for her to eat 

[its.sme]

I had all this when Bea came out of Hospital, I went through all good quality dry and wet food, eventually I tried Bob & Lush and she ate it, but unfortunately after a month or so she went off this also.

Bea loves chicken but I couldn't keep her on just chicken, this is far from a balanced meal.

I now home cook for her , not ideal and not for everyone but at least I know what she is eating and she  it.

Sharon.