Eating Issues

[shekhina]

And we're back to not eating

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!

I NEED him to eat and he is refusing and I just don't know what to do anymore. It is that frustrating it has brought me to tears on more than one occasion (not that I let him see that).

He drops weight so fast, overnight in fact, and can go from looking good to terrible in a matter of 2 days. I can't show him when he's doing this and I can't tolerate this refusal to eat enough anymore either.

[TangerineDream]

..you can now welcome Tango to the "I'm not going to eat breakfast" club.......and he's like Daegon - drops weight overnight .

He changed his morning routine at the beginning of the week and that's when the problem started....so this morning he got force fed...will eat tea ok but just not as enthusiastic about food as usual....don't feel alone - I feel your stress....

[Miranda]

Shek I had a dog like this and he remained totally disinterested in food for his entire life. It was a real effort while he was being shown and I frequently resorted to force feeding him. He did get his title and did a bit of winning, but I would never bother trying to show a dog like that again, it was just too much of a hassle. I sincerely hope that Daegon isn't like this

[Sagittarian]

Also had one who would only eat if and when it suited her. We resorted to only offering a high energy dry food so that whatever did go down had the optimum amount of calories. These days she's the opposite, loves whatever is on offer!

Most premium foods have a high energy version - Hills Active, Royal Canin 4300, Nutrience Active, Euk Performance, Eagle Pack Power, Nutro Performance etc.

Some dogs just don't want a bulky meal so a smaller, but more calorie dense option may be worth trying.

Good luck with it!

[haven]

Are you sure there are no underlying health issues? Does your dog suffer from anxiety? How active is he?

I had this problem with my GSD for 2 years or so after I got him from the RSPCA. He would eat maybe 2-3 meals a week and if anything stressed him (like a person visiting) he would go off his food for up to a week. It got to the stage where I could not walk him because he would drop kgs overnight

Dealing with the anxiety was obviously a big part of the solution, but once I switched him to barf, fasted him once a week and supplemented with things like A, B,C and E vitamins, Copper, magnesium, zinc etc he came good. On a rare occasion now he will skip a meal but most of the time he will get into the cat food, rubbish bin etc given half a chance.

If you haven't done so already I would definately be getting a thorough check up to make sure there are no health issues causing the appetite loss. You can also get appetite stimulants from your vet if you haven't tried them before.

[shekhina]

Thanks everyone :p

I hope that this is just some silly phase he is going through, he used to be a pretty good eater and would clear his bowl and look for more...but for the last 7 weeks it's been a real struggle to get him to eat anything.

For now I may have to resort to force feeding him, he has 3 shows in the next 7 days. I did force feed him once but the look on his face just made me want to cry again. He'd hold the food in his mouth looking so sad

I have been wondering about switching him to BARF, Kovu wants nothing to do with BARF and gives me filthy looks if I put anything but kibble in his bowl...he also did shocking on it and looked terrible...Daegon did alright. The thing stopping me feeding BARF to Daegon is I just can't get my head around it, even reading links and whatever I just can't get it

If anyone does feed BARF and they could give me an exact menu of what they feed for a week that I could follow so it's right then I'd swap him over no worries, providing he decides he'll eat that

ETA: I don't think there's any health issues, he had a checkup when he had his adult booster vaccination a few weeks ago and he's not a stressy kinda dog, the lazy boy sleeps all day if you let him :D

Edited October 19, 2006 by shekhina

[sheltiesrule]

Hi Shekhina

My heart goes out to you my sheltie is also very thin and a troublesome eater and 5 weeks ago I finally got him eating regularly and now he's developed itchy skin and I don't know whether it's the spring season or the food

can't win

[Mornir]

Awww Shek he really is a little bast..ah darling now isn't he.

Did you try the nutrigel in the end?

I have just ordered some chicken mincef from that butcher, it will be ready to pick up on Wednesday night, you are welcome to try some of it if you like? Only thing is that I am getting some liver in it. Just a warning in case you don't like to feed liver

Other than that I am not sure. Perhaps don't even offer him food again for a day or so? Feed Kovu right in front of Daegs and make such a BIG fuss of Kovu for eating and ignore Daegs?

I know it has come at a really crap time for you though. Naughty Daegs.

ps I'm currently getting some help with my BARF diet (doggies coats ase crappy - lack of fats apparently) I'm more than happy to pass the advice along to you if you are interested in going BARF again for Daegs?

Edited October 21, 2006 by Mornir

[sas]

Not a traditional way, but there's a few people here who have had success with Optimum putting and keeping the weight on.

[manx]

I had 2 greyhound pups that were fussy eaters.

Try Vam Paste it got my pups eating again or try some Stout I gave this to the pups as well and it makes them want to eat.

Good luck.