Help!

[Danois]

Just an update.. I have been doing this..

Feed her the same thing every meal. If it is kibble then try dampening it with water and then stirring it with a smidge of vegemite on the fork.

If she does not eat it within 15-20 mins - put it away - don't free feed her.

Repeat at next meal time.

With no luck.

I'm going crazy. The vet has already ruled out no illnesses, like I said, everytime we go and mention it, there is no sign anything is wrong.

She won't even eat meaty bones.

Keep going - don't give her anything different as you are againr reinforcing that if she holds out long enough something else with come along.

[Clyde]

Is she having to eat from a bowl on the ground?

I had a pup once who got heartburn unless her bowl was raised or I had fed her. She stopped eating and for days we did tests etc and it turned out to be that simple. She eventually grew out of it.

Hope it's nothing serious.

[persephone]

Uhmmm... maybe she's just waiting for you to feed her what she REALLY likes... eek1.gif

*nods*

[MiniMum]

Hi again Kyra

I'm sorry you're going through this - its horrible and you feel so helpless. I used to worry myself sick when TD wouldn't eat.

Another thing we found (forgot about this one) is that he doesn't like to eat out of a bowl, so he has a plate and he can easily select which peice he wants to eat.

My brother in law has a toy poodle who refused what he was given for 5 days straight. The dog won - brother in law felt sorry for him and gave him treats to get him to eat. The dog now will only eat what he wants to, sometimes only eating if the food is put in his mouth.

Editd because I forgot someting

Edited October 30, 2008 by MiniMum

[Montgomery]

Hi, our little maltese was very skinny when we got her a few month ago. She wouldn't eat either. She weighs 2.1 kg. You can count all her ribs, and feel her spine. She was 10 mths when we got her ( about 13mths now) Eversince we are trying to get her to eat properly, tryed all different foods, warmed, cald, dry, soft. Seen a vet. she is fine, happy and playful, but skinny! The vet suggested Nutrigel. It made a little difference, but not a great deal. Seen a pet nutritionist. He has given us the best advice so far. We are giving her dry food that is the highest in protein and fat, so even if she only eats a little, what she gets is all going to help her. The food we are giving her now is Pro-Plan puppy food from Purina. She ate it, but not in great amounts. Yesterday, something strange has happened though. I usually have her next to me sleeping or sitting on a chair (office chair, with her soft blanket on it, so she is at my eye level), when I am at the computer. So I put some of her food in front of her, on the chair, and she ate it. OMG! I have repeated it 3 times during the day, and success every time! She has finished a full ball of it, that normally would have taken her 3-4 days to finish! Today we did it again, and I'm wrapped! Normally she takes one piece, runs away with it, then she'd come back for another, it can take 30-40 mins for her to et a very small amount, other times she does a dance around the food, than leaves it. She gets other food as well, but this seems to be the best so far. Her other favourite is when I put a little puppy milk(lactose free), and a little Optimum puppy food on her dry food, and mixed it.( I always warm it a little) Her poops are always "good" and regular. Another thing could be the competition issue, others mentioned before. It could be lack of it, or that there is a competition! You can also try feeding her in one of those plastic storage boxes so she wouldn't have any distraction at feeding time, I know it may sound silly, but we have tryed a looooot of things too already! Well this is our feeding story, you may find something worth trying in it. Good luck, hope your little pup will start eating better soon! By the way, what breed is she?

[pittylover]

I have a pitty who is extremly fussy hardly ate anything we finally figured it out if you take out scrapped (left over meat vegies anything) on a dinner plate she'll eat it if it comes from a can or a bag them no so I started her on dog food just put it on a plate first then acted as though it was left overs (works with dry and wet food) and now she eats all the time, we also got another dog recently who eats anything and have started to not use the plate trick and she will eat so the other dog can't get the food.

[Kyra]

Thanks Pittylover.

I'm STILL having problems with her. Day after day I take her food away and give it to her next meal time only for her to take a few mouth fulls and walk away.

When we put the bowl in front of her she looks as if she's scared of it and goes and hides behind something. I'm going to take her for yet another vet visit because I'm seriously, going crazy.

Nothing is working at all and if I keep this up, I'm going to go insane with worry.

[Pug Hugger]

If it is any comfort Louie was an extremely fussy eater until he was about 13 months old. Now he is a garbage bin on legs. She may just outgrow it, then you will have the same problem I am having, keeping her thin!

[persephone]

When we put the bowl in front of her she looks as if she's scared of it and goes and hides behind something.

Is this something new, Kyra? You didn't mention it earlier....

This is different.

It could mean she has been hurt or scared originally..and she associates it with the bowl. or the food..

Is she fed in the same spot?

On concrete,wooden floor, outside on grass??? where?

The bowl is? ceramic, plastic, steel????

Is teh bowl stationary, or can it move when she puts her head in??

have you tried feeding her directly off the ground, or off a sheet of plastic ?

It could also mean that eating caused her pain in her mouth or somewhere, now she's apprehensive.....

When you next feed her..can you manage a few photos of her awaiting her meal..eating, and then showing the 'scared behaviour'... ?

[Leema]

I like this and I post it all the time.

http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/Writing/TeachEat.html

[Kyra]

When we put the bowl in front of her she looks as if she's scared of it and goes and hides behind something.

Is this something new, Kyra? You didn't mention it earlier....

This is different.

It could mean she has been hurt or scared originally..and she associates it with the bowl. or the food..

Is she fed in the same spot?

On concrete,wooden floor, outside on grass??? where?

The bowl is? ceramic, plastic, steel????

Is teh bowl stationary, or can it move when she puts her head in??

have you tried feeding her directly off the ground, or off a sheet of plastic ?

It could also mean that eating caused her pain in her mouth or somewhere, now she's apprehensive.....

When you next feed her..can you manage a few photos of her awaiting her meal..eating, and then showing the 'scared behaviour'... ?

No, nothing new, just forgot to mention it before the bowl can't move, we've tried feeding her off a plate but that's as far as we've gone, haven't tried the ground yet. She's always fed in the kitchen on nylon & the bowl is plastic however she used to have a ceramic one.

When we picked her out as a pup and went to visit her weekly, the foster carer used to hand feed her as in shoving the food down her throat because she was apparently losing weight fast. Nearly everytime we went over, she was being fed this way & I was actually wondering if maybe she remembers and it worries her? Like I say, I've always had problems with her eating properly so is that a possibility?

[persephone]

Oh.... it DOES put a different slant on things.... maybe why she ended up in the pound or whatever???

Looking "scared" may not be from anything EXTERNAL, but rather could be an INTERNAL, pain-related problem. She is hungry.... HAS to eat, but after a couple of mouthfuls..it hurts... she reacts, and goes to hide and recover....

Maybe??? sorry... wish I could help.

You may have to get a specialist opinion.... I have no idea, but if this is a lifelong thing... there could be something there she was born with- either a physical problem..or something to do with an appetite regulator or something???

This is a worry....

the foster carer used to hand feed her as in shoving the food down her throat because she was apparently losing weight fast. Nearly everytime we went over, she was being fed this way

I now really wonder why she was offered for adoption, with this sort of problem Sorry.

I do hope that you can find something with which to help.

*sending thoughts*

Edited November 17, 2008 by persephone

[Kyra]

She didn't end up at the pound, her mother did and gave birth to her at the foster carers place.

But according to her it was always a nightmare at meal times. She thought it would improve once she was settled into a new home - nope!

So what sort of specialist would I need to look into & where could I find one?

[Keshwar]

She's always fed in the kitchen on nylon & the bowl is plastic however she used to have a ceramic one.

Did this start happening when you changed to the plastic bowl?

just wondering if she is perhaps getting a static shock from the bowl - plastic and nylon can = zap.

Bear.

[BittyMooPeeb]

My first dog (a rescue) was fussy and scared of his food bowl.

I taught him "wait" and "Ok" so that he had to wait for his dinner (hence he valued it a bit more) then "OK" so he knew it was allright to go and eat the food. It worked fairly well, but it has only been recently that he has gotten really enthusiastic about dinner time! (Ive had him for 3 yrs).

Is is possible too that because you are stressed about him eating that he is picking up on this, and thinks that dinner time is worrying and stressful? (maybe something that he felt in foster care too). If this might be the case, try changing the routine, messing things around a bit so he thinks dinner is something 'new;, and be calm and OK with his eating, no matter whether he eats or not. Just put his food down, give the OK, and walk away. After 20 mins take it away. Act like you dont care less, and pay him no attention while he eats/doesnt eat. You can change the routine by - using a different bowl, acting differently, feeding him somewhere else, feeding him with or away from other dogs (depending on what you were doing before). Another trick I use for fosters who dont eat for a few days is to put them on their own (in a room or a crate) and give them longer to eat (say and hour). This works well if they are stressed as it gives them time to settle and feel hungry, or if they are not eating because they are distracted (by play, by the other dogs etc). I also pretend to eat their food first - bowl up to face, hand in and out to mouth and lots of "mmmm", "yuuuuum", and fake chewing and swallowing. . This helps a lot too. I dont know why - maybe they think they are getting hooman food, or maybe they are happy that the 'pack leader' has eaten first, or OK'd the food .

Some dogs do not need to eat every day (like my Peebs) and some can get by on very little food. Fosters who are the same weight at Peebs get twice the amount of food because Peebs just doesnt need very much. If I feed him the reccommended amount, he only eats every second day. Instead I give him half every day which works well.

Good luck and DONT STRESS ABOUT IT unless he is obviously unwell. You've had him vet checked, so now just experiment with the methods above to see what works.

[persephone]

unless he is obviously unwell. You've had him vet checked,

yep.. but what did the vet do? endoscopy, or xray? Hard to tell if there is any abnormality in throat/stomach just by looking/palpating...

THIS sounds like a dog who is obviously either fearful or unwell to me

When we put the bowl in front of her she looks as if she's scared of it and goes and hides behind something.

The static electricity thing could be a factor..IF the pup hadn't been the eater of smallest amounts etc since birth, and displayed similar behaviour when at the foster carer's.

*goes and waits for someone more learned than me to offer suggestions...*

[enna]

I have a difficult eater as well, she has been all of her life and she is eight now. At the moment she is eating well, but generally once or twice a year she just fasts herself for no reason. It can last for a week or two and during that time, if I hand feed her she might eat a teaspoon of food a day, otherwise nothing... there is no physical problem with her and when she feels like it she starts eating again. She is also strange in that she will not eat raw meat, never has.

I tried so many things, everyone advised to just put the food down and if she didn't eat it in 15 minutes take it away. I tried that and she didn't eat anything for four days, so I gave it up.

At the moment she is eating well, and these are the things that seemed to help:

-Finding a good quality dry food that she likes (had to try a few kinds to find one).

-Adding other treats to her food occasionally but not every day so that she expects to get them.

-Not making a fuss of dinner at all. I just put the food down and walk away. I also let her free feed which many people don't agree with, but it helps my dog if she can eat in her own time.

-Walks help stimulate her appetite.

-General routine. Although her fasts don't usually coincide with any stress that I can see, last time she stopped eating was while I was away and she was left with the rest of my family. It took two weeks after I got back and she got used to our routine again before she ate normally.

I hope you find out what works for your dog, or if there are any physical problems that are stopping her from eating.

[Kyra]

She had a vet check this morning and she has no health problems - teeth etc.

The vet has given us the details of Kathy Mcleod, a dog behaviorist, she is apparently one of the best in Perth so hopefully she can help us out.

[Kyra]

Still nothing.

I'm in a lot of financial difficulty at the moment so unfortunately had to cancel with Kathy. She is getting worse every day and now shakes at the sight of her food bowl. Is there anything at all I can do without Kathy? anybody have any other advice that hasn't already been mentioned?

I can barely get by to live at the moment so I can't afford to buy different fancy foods for her to try or get a behaviorist in yet, which has really stressed me out because I wanted to get this sorted.

She's stressing me out so much I'm in tears.

:rolleyes:

[Jed]

Firstly, I think you should consider what Cavandra said about tonsilitis. And perhaps PM her for some assistance with trreatment for it. That can often be the cause of young dogs and pups not eating. And if it is, you have your cure immediately.

I can't quite tell what breed she is, and have only read this thread.

However, try cooking her up a little stew - a bit of meat in enough water to cover it, with about the tip of a spoon of vegemite. You can add a few veges if you want, but the veges should only be about 5% of the meal. Potatoes, pumpkin, beans. or something like that. The veges are not important. Don't make e a lot, and you can use offcuts from your meat if you wish, or you can stick a meaty bone into the microwave with water and let it stew well during the day. Feed this runny - not like soup, about like stew, or a bit runnier. Let it cool to room temperature before offering it.

Take her onto your lap, or if she is too big, onto the couch, sit with her, and let her lap it out of a soup bowl. If she wont eat it, don't worry (you're no worse off!!). Give her time, give her pats and cuddles.

Other option is either 1 or 2 eggs, depending on her size mixed with milk, scrambled and cooked in the microwave. Do the same thing. Offer it to her in the microwave bowl, on your lap, or on the couch.

Anyow, far away from where you had been feeding her before.

You could also try 1/2 cup of cows milk, mixed with a little honey, but I'd try the first two before I did that. Or, you could add 1/2 tin of Dine, or My Dog, or cat food (mince in gravy) mixed with it.

Like some others here, I think she could have a problem, but have no idea what it could be. Only vet tests will reveal if it is a problem. I had a very difficult dog once, and she had a terrible medical problem, for which there was no cure. But either of the above might get her to eat a little

The other option is to stew up a little beef liver in water, and try her with that, or try that sprinkled on her food.

Good luck, it may not work, but it is what Id try :rolleyes:

Edited November 25, 2008 by Jed