Nearly 1 and still being a fusspot

[maxineh]

Well haven't posted for a while as I thought I had cracked it. Problem is Poppy has other ideas.  Its her 1st birthday next week and I still haven't found anything that she will happily eat for any period of time. Way back when Poppy was about 3 months old we had a severe upset tummy. This is when the trouble started     At the time she was on JWB puppy  kibble and wet food with no problems. The vet recommended pro kolin and chicken and rice until her tummy settled down.  I put her back on JWB and her food refusal began. Obviously she really liked the chicken and rice so was holding out for that.  She did kind of start eating again but after quite a few upset tummies I thought it could be the food causing the upsets.  I gradually swapped her onto Arden Grange with some Wainwrights wet tray. We had success for a while and then the upset stomachs started again.    At the beginning of September I decided to try Natural Instinct raw.  She was very reluctant and it took a while but she did start to eat it !  After a fashion.  I had to add vegetables and add a homemade gravy !! made from chicken.  We had about a two week period where she ate two meals a day and then this started to dwindle. The upset tummies had gone and the poos were great. I tried giving her chicken wings, mince etc from supermarkets too.  Again still not keen.  She liked pilchards but they upset her as did raw egg. I seemed to be wasting more food than she was actually eating and then after 11 days of complete fussiness enough was enough.  I had heard about wainwrights grain free wet trays so I bought some of these.  We had about 5  days of her eating the lot cleaning the bowl and looking for more.  It didn't upset her tummy and the poos were fine.  After 5 days back to the refusal again!!!!!  I am continuing to put down the wainwrights but most days she isn't eating a thing then she might have one or two mouthfuls some days.  She doesn't appear to have lost weight and seems fine in herself.  She had her first season back in September so its not that.  I am not giving her any treats and she doesn't get any of our food or titbits.  Apart from her dislike to food ! she is an amazing dog and has been an absolute little sweetheart through all the puppy stages so far.  I cant believe how frustrating it is that she wont eat properly    Has anyone else experienced this kind of fussiness and got through the other side ?

[bluegirl]

I can only tell you of my old dog, years ago. She was a cocker cross and loved food, trouble was she lived in our family and we spoiled her by giving her table offerings too. She soon realized that our food was more tasty to her than boring old dog food. We then spent the rest of her life going from this food to that. The bottom line was if she didn't want it she's starve herself (3 days when we put our heels down and so did she). We thought fasting was bad for her and back to the cycle, we'd offer human food, she'd pig out, we'd offer dog food she'd stop eating. I've sat on the floor and fed this dog with a fork, one bite at a time. She died of kidney failure and I believe we were to blame. She is the only fussy dog we've had and I've toughened up a lot since then, more to prevent going through kidney failure again. Since her we have chosen a food, if weight is maintained and coat looks good, eyes bright then that's what they stay on whether they self fast or not. Never had a fussy dog since but loved them all just as much.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I have a fuss pot. The first 16 months getting him to eat were a nightmare, we tried almost everything. We then switched to raw, he's been on it fit over a year now and he's doing well on it. I also think the variety he has with raw helps him.