Refusing Kibble

[abzy0309]

Hi everyone. Happy New Year to you all.

Over Christmas Reggie has completely gone off his kibble. My guess is that it's because he has had extra treats as presents or given by family members, or us to keep him occupied when we've had lots of visitors but it's starting to worry me now. He is starting to look a bit thin.  I keep putting it down and he is refusing it, sometimes not eating all day. In the end I have mixed in a bit of something else and then be eats most of it.

Do you think I should change his food? Or start introducing something else? Or stop the treats and make his eat it by offering nothing else? I know he is hungry because when other food is around he is sniffing away and gobbles down the kibble when it has chicken mixed in!

[JennyBee]

Brodie was always a fussy dog, then one day aged four she decided she didn't want to eat kibble anymore. Nothing could convince her, she literally would starve herself. I tried for ages before giving up. I ended up moving her onto wet food because of it and things improved tremendously.

I think it's a case of go with your instincts - I would always prefer Brodie ate something she enjoyed, but I know others would be a lot more firm and persevere. You could try soaking it in warm water to see if it makes it more appetising? I also always mixed in a little wet food into her kibble to make it more tasty for her (not that it often made much difference!)

[mlynnf50]

Selby was like that, just walked away, didn't eat for days, changed him to raw, now when HE thinks it's tea time he just stares and barks still the fridge

[JamiesGirl]

To be on the safe side i would check his mouth and teeth just to make sure there's nothing medical going on that could be the reason. Jamie went off his kibble when i first got him and i ended up mixing nature diet in with each meal and he gobbles it down so fast now that i bought one of those anti-gulp bowls to slow him down.
Originally when Jamie stopped eating his kibble i took the if he is hungry he will eat it approach but then like you i got a bit worried as he dropped weight. If your happy too i would definitely see if he will eat it with wet food mixed it

edited to add: if you do mix wet with dry its nearly impossible to go back to just feeding kibble. if i just put down kibble for jamie at his meal times now i get the 'what on earth is this? you expect me to eat this?' stare and he will sit and wait for the nature diet to be added.

[Murphys Law]

Selby was like that, just walked away, didn't eat for days, changed him to raw, now when HE thinks it's tea time he just stares and barks still the fridge

Murphy went off his kibble so I changed to raw (natural instinct) and now I have never seen a dog so excited to be fed.

[Millipede]

Millie went off her kibble and I went through a stage of adding hot water. Eventually after seeing how enthusiastic she was about another dog's wet food (who was staying with us), I now add a small amount of mashed up wet food (a quarter of Wainright's smallest round packet each meal) with her kibble and she is like a new dog wolfing it down. I didn't really want to go down the wet food route as just kibble is easier when we go away, but she is much happier 

[Mudmagnets]

Millie went off her kibble and I went through a stage of adding hot water. Eventually after seeing how enthusiastic she was about another dog's wet food (who was staying with us), I now add a small amount of mashed up wet food (a quarter of Wainright's smallest round packet each meal) with her kibble and she is like a new dog wolfing it down. I didn't really want to go down the wet food route as just kibble is easier when we go away, but she is much happier 

But a couple of small wet packs don't take up a lot of room - and if it keeps her happy & keen, why not 

[Archie bean]

I had exactly the same problem with Archie. He was never a particularly food motivated pup and was always on kibble mixed with nature diet but he just stopped eating it. He started by sucking the wet off the kibble and spitting it out and then refused to eat at all. I switched to wainrights wet trays and he once again ate the wet but spat out the kibble. I took the plunge and stopped giving the kibble and we have never looked back. He is now totally wet fed.
I know there is an argument that if you give in to them, they will become fussy eaters and you should just keep putting the food back down until they are hungry enough to eat it. Personally I decided I didn't want Archie to eat just because he was hungry, I wanted him to enjoy his food.

[abzy0309]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I am getting concern as I think he is hungry and looking a bit skinny.  I have checked his mouth and all looks ok to me, had a bit of a poke and he didn't seem uncomfortable in anyway. I think he is being fussy tbh!

I might try getting some wet foot and mixing it in... I would prefer it if he was solely kibble but the most important thing is that he is eating and enjoying it. I'm off to the pet store tomorrow so might get some advice from the owner... He is lovely and his family own the 'moreton' food range that we feed Reggie.