Fussy eater

Hi All, just looking for some idea's / opinions,

my 2 year old bitch Bella has always been a fussy eater and i have propably made it worse by pandering to her. In recent weeks she has become a more picky and will turn her nose up at what i put down, i think i the hope i will change it for something more tasty. again probably my fault for doing this in the past but i was so paranoid about her not eating as she is quite a small girl anyway.

Anyway after turning her nose up at lamb and tripe this week (both mixed with her usually complete kibble) i have decided to take to hard line and put down just kibble, leave it for 10 mins and take it away. We are now on day 3 and she has eaten about a mouth full. I am not worried about her other than the weight loss, she is full of beans and is drinking and toileting fine.

From what i have read on other forums this is going to be a battle of wills and hopefully i will win this time.

Also i feel i should add that i am currently separating her from my other 2 girls at feeding time
so they dont steal it but im not sure this is really the right thing to do, whats your opinon?

Has anyone else experienced this or similar would love to here how others have managed this sort of situation?

Many thanks

Gina x

Our weimaraner goes through that when she gets sick of whatever kibble we are giving her. we usually mix 2 or 3 different types together, and when she gets sick of one of them, she'll spit it all over the floor and leave it. We started mixing canned food in with their kibble and she eats it right up! Though if you are already adding lamb and tripe, I don't really know what to suggest. We used to just leave the same dry kibble out until our weim ate it, though it then caused her to throw it all over the floor. She showed us.....

Good luck, I've never heard of a saint that doesn't like to eat! My Ben didn't always eat at first and didn't always eat every day if he wasn't feeling well or something, but he always ate when he was hungry, and he usually prefers to eat in the evenings when he is alone. He doesn't like to feel like he's being watched. He's the same way when he poops, he tries to hide behind bushes or the tallest piece of grass in the yard (even if the tallest is only 8 inches high! lol)

Ocassionally both b and r will turn their noses up. I add some yogurt and that usually does the trick.

Just checking in to let you know that Bella has now eaten 4 full meals with no fuss WHOOP WHOOP It took nearly 4 days and a lot of will power (from me and her) but she has finally given in!!! Fingers crosed she will keep it up and strat to regain some weight.

I'll Keep you posted with her progress.

xxxx

Well done Gina !!!!
Tony,Bud,Bhindi&Jackson

well done, Saints are not the easiest to break...not that I'm saying they are stubborn or anything. What you did was the only way to do it.

Yey Gina...

Guess it goes to show that they will eat when they get hungry enough

Thanks for the support guys

I have to say she is almost a different dog, she gets excited about meal times and is clearing her bowl for the first time for ages. its such a relief.

Gina and Bella xxxxx

We made the mistake of changing foods with Maisy when she was about 9 months old & set ourselves up for 'food time drama' for a good couple of years.. never again!!!

We finally adopted the 10 minute rule, which is hideous when you get to day 3 & they still haven't eaten much!
I always feed my dogs together as I find that just by the virtue of one finishing first seems to make the others sense they could lose theirs if they don't eat it - however I never allow them to poke their noses in anyone else's bowl & it does mean that all meals are supervised.

The only exception to the 'fussy food' scenario I would say is when I have one who is ill or in whelp & then I would accommodate most culinary whims.
When Maisy was expecting her pups (14 of them) she refused to eat anything but rotisserie chicken liver & Tesco Finest ham. The last few weeks of her pregnancy cost me about £30 a DAY!!!!

reminds me of dora when she was in whelp

i broke my 2 rules!!!

firstly she ate only human food ( we worked it out at £30 a day aswell)
AND i hand fed her it all.................. something i will not normally do for a "fuss pot" but as you say heather in whelp or ill and you do anything!

as soon as her pups arrived i stopped hand feeding, it took her all of one day to eat out of her bowl!!!

Hi All,

Heather / Cheri I completely agree Ill or in Whelp is a time rules can be broken.

Well Bellas enthusiasm was short lived!! after 4 days of eating great she had only a mouth full of breakfast this morning then went a lay down i gave her 10 mins and then put it in the bin and completely ignored her! i have been giving her lots of praise and fuss when she has been eating so hopefully ignoring her will be a step to breaking this what i think is an attention seeking habbit, What do you guys think? is there anything else i should / shouldn't be doing?

Thanks

Gina xx

How many dogs do you have again?

Hoping yesterdays breakfast incident was just a blip she ate her dinner and breakfast today

I have 3 dogs Lora, Bella 2, Beau 3(on saturday) and Bracken 4

xxx

hmmm I'd suggest you just leave the food down for her to graze (some dogs are grazers) but not with the other dogs. Dont have any suggestions other than adding a small bit of wet food to entice her.