Need Help With Very Finicky Girl

[Norskgra]

I have had finicky dogs before but my 19 month old girl is the worst I have ever had. She has been checked out by our vet and there is nothing wrong with her, she is perfectly health but underweight.

She will not touch BARF at all. She gets sick of her dry food after 2 - 4 weeks. We have tried her on all the super premium and premium brands readily available and also Supercoat. We are currently waiting for some samples of dry to arrive to see if she likes this this brand.

We have tried leaving her food out for 15 - 20 minutes but she will not touch her dry. She will readily go for over a week without eating and she is getting very thin.

If we add mince and vegetables, fish, chicken or anythingelse to her meal she will eat that but not her dry. We have tried hand feeding her and the most we can ever get her to eat of the dry is a cup and that is only if we put gravy on it. That makes it very messy to hand feed her!

Can anyone offer any advise as we are getting desperate? She needs to put on a lot of weight. We are hoping she will like the samples we are expecting.

Edited January 8, 2006 by norskgra

[shekhina]

Perhaps try satin balls to put the weight back on her?

Daegon was a fussy eater too...only thing he would eat for weeks was chicken wings

He starved himself for 5 days and now he's a pretty good eater...had a few off days this past week but I'm thinking it's maybe the weather change here.

Mixing wet cat food in with his kibble worked for me ;)

[gillbear]

As my new avatar says I LOVE NUTRIGEL!!!!

It is great for adding calories and vitamins to bulk up a thin or sick dog.

Definately try the satinballs.

My current foster came to me very underweight and barely eating at all.

Isaviz's tip of using whiskas mixed into the dry food(puppy or active) got her eating again.

I poured goats milk over her dry food and now after 3 weeks she is eating normally and back to a good weight.

A bit of competition for the food worked as well. Early on I think she only really ate because she just didnt want the others to get it instead.

Best of luck.

[Norskgra]

I will give the satin balls a go as I know she liked them when I gave them too her before. I will have to do a search for the recipe because I can't find my one. I will also try the cat food as long as our cats don't mind. LOL

She is sick every time she eats chicken wings but she loves her chicken necks that she gets for breakfast.

She is a real pain. She will not touch Nutrigel. Even if I put it in her mouth she will spit it out. I use it with my oldest boy when he won't eat.

She has competition at food time but all she does is snap at the others if they come near her food but she still won't eat it. we have also tried feeding her in her crate and also away from the others.

I also might give the goats milk a try.

We have tried her on active and puppy dry but she will only eat it for a short time. I am getting sick of having to buy a different brand each time just because of her.

Edited January 14, 2006 by norskgra

[KOE]

Use small biscuits and rub cat food through with your hands, Oliver loves any of the fish whiskers,

That is about all he will eat. bloody fuddy duddys

[shekhina]

Animals are odd...my cats much prefer eating the dogs food and my dogs much prefer eating the cats food

[haven]

If she loves chicken necks and eats them for breakfast, have you tried chicken frames? Do you know why she gets sick after eating the wings? Could it be the skin? Have you tried chicken thighs or drumsticks? They come with skin off or you can easily take the skin off before feeding.

I'd try giving her a multi B vitamin supplement, either a simple tablet, paste or by mixing brewers yeast into anything she will eat.

I had success with my dog in both switching to a natural diet and fasting him once a week.

Something else I have heard for fussy eaters, particularly GSD's, husky's etc is to leave small portions of food in the yard for them to find and eat.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

You could also try full-fat plain or flavoured yoghurt mixed in with raw foods such as meaty bones (you can also smash up the bones a bit...). Every dog I've ever offered yoghurt to has taken it without hesitation! You can also freeze some into a Kong toy, just stopper the small end with peanut butter, put the kong upside down into a glass or jar, fill with yoghurt then stopper the big end with PB and freeze. Dogs love it, esp in this weather!

I would definitely stop the chicken wings but consider continuing with other chicken parts. Also lamb is an excellent choice for fussy eaters, try lamb neck chops or diced lamb (casserole or stir fry). Satin balls are great if you have the time and inclination to make them.

[Norskgra]

If she loves chicken necks and eats them for breakfast, have you tried chicken frames? Do you know why she gets sick after eating the wings? Could it be the skin? Have you tried chicken thighs or drumsticks? They come with skin off or you can easily take the skin off before feeding.

I'd try giving her a multi B vitamin supplement, either a simple tablet, paste or by mixing brewers yeast into anything she will eat.

I had success with my dog in both switching to a natural diet and fasting him once a week.

Something else I have heard for fussy eaters, particularly GSD's, husky's etc is to leave small portions of food in the yard for them to find and eat.

I have no idea why she is sick when she eats chicken wings. My others don't have the problem. I haven't tried her on chicken frames yet. I have only given her chicken thighs and drumsticks that were cooked and deboned and she loved them.

I have both vitamin B complex and brewers yeast. Which would you suggest I give her?

I have tried her on a totally raw diet and she didn't eat at all for over 2 weeks.

The problem with leaving small portions of food around for her is that the other dogs always get it before she does.

This is why I said she is a real pain. She is very sweet and affectionate but it is a real hassle trying to feed her.

[Norskgra]

You could also try full-fat plain or flavoured yoghurt mixed in with raw foods such as meaty bones (you can also smash up the bones a bit...). Every dog I've ever offered yoghurt to has taken it without hesitation!

I used to give her and the others plain yogurt with their raw diet and she was the only one that wouldn't touch it.

You can see why I am having trouble getting her to eat. She seems to know that I am trying to do and is determined to be model thin!

I am sure that the word for a female dog came about because of her!lol

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

If she doesn't like plain yoghurt, please try her with a fruit one until you find one she likes. My pack go *crazy* for yoghurt and the flavoured ones are a real treat! Their all-time favourite is mixed berry (fruits of the forest, or berry heaven)...they adore these b/c there is real fruit pieces (big chunks too!) throughout the yoghurt. Plain yoghurt doesn't cut it for some dogs.

[Norskgra]

It just so happens that my daughter has a tub of flavoured yogurt in the fridge. If I don't tell her, maybe she won't miss some of it! (I hope she doesn't read this)

I will try some tonight if I can do it without my daughter finding out.

[haven]

I have both vitamin B complex and brewers yeast. Which would you suggest I give her?

I'd go with whatever is easiest really.

The problem with leaving small portions of food around for her is that the other dogs always get it before she does.

Yes i can definately see the problem there. Is it possible to feed her in a seperate place? Maybe even a walk in the park to 'discover' some food?

I'd definately try the chicken frames and if you have not already, lamb or beef necks, beef/roo/ox tail, brisket bone etc.

The reason my GSD didn't eat and was so hard to keep weight on is because he suffers badly with anxiety. By easing the anxiety, his appetite returned. Is it possible that your dog is suffering anxiety in some form?

[Norskgra]

Yes i can definately see the problem there. Is it possible to feed her in a seperate place? Maybe even a walk in the park to 'discover' some food?

I'd definately try the chicken frames and if you have not already, lamb or beef necks, beef/roo/ox tail, brisket bone etc.

The reason my GSD didn't eat and was so hard to keep weight on is because he suffers badly with anxiety. By easing the anxiety, his appetite returned. Is it possible that your dog is suffering anxiety in some form?

We have tried feeding her seperately and it didn't work. She koves going to the park, so that may be a good idea.

I will get some frames and lamb tomorrow. She will not eat roo either.

She is a very sweet, easy going girl and does not appear to be suffering any anxiety. She has always been like this but is worse when she is in season. She finished her season last weekend so she is even worse than normal.

I am planning to mate her on her next season, so I need to get her back into condition. Obviously if she is not in top condition, she won't be mated until she is. She will probably be a nightmare to get to eat when she is pregnant!

[cleo]

Cleo is also extremely fussy with her food. She will eat when I pour some chicken broth over her food though so maybe you could try that????

[Norskgra]

I know she will eat more of her dry if I put chicken gravy on it so broth could work as well.

I can't give her too much gravey or too often or she gets the runs. So I might make her up some broth as well.

It is costing me a fortune in dry at the moment because she normally waits until I get new bags before she goes off it!

[espinay2]

having dealt with finicky dogs in the past I can sympathise with you. They can really cause a lot of stress and worry!

Here are my suggestions:

Make a list of the things she WILL eat. You have already mentioned chicken necks, so that is a good start. You also mentioned that when you add things to the dry she will eat those things and leave the dry. What type of things are those?

Lets start with those and see what we have first.

Next, look at how you act and her environment around food times. Sometimes a finicky dog that has established a certain pattern needs to be 're-taught' to eat. Hovering, tempting and hand feeding and sometimes a lot of other dogs around only increases stress at mealtimes. With increased stress a dog may begin to see mealtimes as a bad or unpleasant experience and not a good one, and thus refuse food. They then need to 'relearn' that mealtimes are ok and need no be stressful. This can take time.

One of my 'finicky' ones is a master manipulator and I have to be careful with her at mealtimes as without knowing (and having dealt with finiky ones before that were much of my own creation) she could easily become an extremely finicky dog. I can NOT even make eye contact with her during mealtimes as she will not eat or will stop eating. Sometimes I can even be in the same room with her! My routine with her is to give her her food and walk away, leaving her on her own in her crate with it for about half an hour. When I come back it is generally gone. I dont stress if she misses the odd meal, but not too many in a row if I can help it.

I would probably lean towards feeding her separately, perhaps in a crate in a spot where she can take her time and away from all action. If she has established a particular pattern of not eating, it may take time to re-establish an environment where she wants to eat. Starting with foods she is comfortable with for a while - even if the menu is fairly limited - may help to reestablish a regular schedule. You can then start adding in small amounts of other foods to see if she will eat them.

Another way to add extra food is to give it as healthy training treats. How is she at taking food in that manner? If she is keen to take food as treats, perhaps try increasing he quota in this way as well.

Trying to give some of her water intake as broth may also increase her calorie intake.

Edited December 30, 2005 by espinay2

[Norskgra]

Thanks for all the advice Espinay.

She will eat chicken necks, cooked beef and chicken mince, tuna, sardines, salmon, sardines, cooked chicken, rice, sometimes pasta, vbegetables, cheese, cooked liver, cooked beef and lamb, gravy. I can't think of anything else at the moment. She will eat treats if I make them my self. She really goes berserk with chicken wings and tries to steal them from my other dogs.

We now normally feed the girls at the same time and the boys at a different time because one of the boys can be a little finicky at times. We put her food down for her but have lately ended up trying to hand feed her just to get her to eat something.

I will try her again in a crate with the cover on this time. I am willing to try anything to get her to eat.

[aatainc]

The things that you have listed that she will eat are all perfectly acceptable and can easily be used to make a balanced diet.

I would feed here approx 50% of her diet as chicken necks (or frames if she will eat those.)

For the rest, mix the chicken or beef mince with some oily fish, some liver and as many varied vegies as she will eat. Add a little rice for energy (or rolled oats are even better) if she's thin. Mash it all together and cook it. It would be better if she would eventually eat it raw so trying cooking it less and less every day, until you are just warming it up a little. Obviously if there is rice in the mix you will always have to cook that thoroughly.

Contrary to popular belief, dogs do not need to eat any dry food. If she gives you so much grief over it just don't bother with it! You're only wasting your money!!

She'd be fine on a mix of the things you've listed above.

BTW, when my pointer was eating 4 buckets of food a day but still underweight I fed him the following satin ball recipe (but didn't bother making it up into balls at all.)

-500g fatty beef (hamburger) mince

-125g cream cheese (full fat)

-1/2 a large tub of NATURAL smooth peanut butter. (buy the natural stuff as the emulsifiers in the non-natural stuff can cause big problems)

-2-3 eggs

-4 tablespoons of oil.

Believe it or not, this did not cause any diarrhea, and he is a relatively sensitive boy, digestively speaking. It put weight on very quickly. I fed it for 3-4 days before each show, once a day, on top of his normal (huge) meals. It is not a suitable long term diet obviously, as the pancreas would eventually suffer for it.

[Norskgra]

Thanks for the great advice aatainc.

We bought some chicken frames today and we will see how she goes with them.

We are not exactly wasting money on dry because our other dogs eat it.

With that satin ball recipe, how much would you give her?

She is supposed to weigh approximately 20 kg. How much would you feed her of chicken necks/frames a day to make up 50% of her diet?

We are lucky that she will eat lots of different vegetables and rice. She has only eaten rolled oats in satin balls and treats that I make for my dogs.

We tried her on some flavoured yogurt last night and she loved it. The only trouble was that it was diet yogurt. We bought her some full fat flavoured yogurt today and she wouldn't eat it tonight.

By adding some cat food and mackeral to 1 cup of dry this morning she managed to eat 2/3 cup of dry without any trouble along with a chicken neck. I gave her some more tonight without the chicken neck and she hardly ate anything.

Edited December 31, 2005 by norskgra