Dog food not acceptable

[Singlenotsingle]

My dog refuses to believe she's a dog. She won't eat dog food, and I've tried all sorts. Bakers, other dried food, tinned food, frozen food, it's all just a waste of money. She likes to eat outside but if the food's left out overnight, it gets eaten by the cats or hedgehogs.

I feed her fresh chicken, ham, or other meat but I know ham's not good for her and chicken could cause digestive problems. She will occasionally eat veg. eg. peas if she's in the mood. Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions?

[missbattenburg]

Two:

1. Stop feeding her human food, following the theory that a healthy dog will not starve itself. Offer her dog food twice a day for 15 nins. What she doesn't eat, gets removed until the next meal.

1. Cook her food. There are some good dog recipe books and so long as the diet is balanced (there are supplements that can help reduce the risk of it being unbalanced) then she should be fine.

They are little buggers, aren't they?

[adaline]

I speak from experience here - stop feeding her human food! Of course she won't eat dog food if she knows she can get chicken or ham!

Then go out and pick a healthy, nutritious dog food. Not Bakers or any of that nonsense, but a proper food. One with a fairly good meat content and no additives or fillers. I would mix a kibble with wet food to make it smell better too.

Then feed at prescribed meal times, and leave the food down for twenty minutes each time. If she doesn't eat it, that's fine. Take the bowl away and she gets nothing except water until the next meal. Repeat as necessary. A healthy dog won't starve itself. As soon as she realises you won't give in, she'll eat because she's hungry.

[Pringle89]

Can confirm that the above advice works! As soon as my husband stopped giving the dog bits of left over steak 🙄 and he realised he wasn’t getting anything else he now eats his food in seconds!

[adaline]

As soon as my husband stopped giving the dog bits of left over steak 🙄 and he realised he wasn’t getting anything else he now eats his food in seconds!

Yep - it really does work. It's hard because you worry that they're unwell if they don't eat! I constantly gave into mine when he ignored food - no wonder he ignored it, he knew he'd get fresh chicken/tuna if he did!

[agododopushpineapple]

Agree with above - however regarding the outside thing - I used to have a dog like that - we used to say, she was an alfresco dog!

[Smellslikebiscuits]

My dog refused all sorts, and I swear would have quite happily starved herself!
Butternut Box has been a huge - if expensive - hit with her.
Though watching her pick out the peas like a fussy toddler is something else!

[spoonyJoe]

My dog was/is like this too. I think we've tried every food. Some she will try, others she won't go near. Even if it's delicious home made food.

She did try Butterbox and when she stopped eating that they got a vet to do a phone consultation with me. The vet said she might have been from a puppy farm and taken from her mother too soon which makes them distrustful of food. We often have to give her the food in our hand. Or tip it on the floor.

https://www.healthyk9.co.uk This is the only food we've ever got her to happily eat. Which I find so weird as it's a dry food and she's had all sorts.

[nancyjuice7]

Feed Raw - google it

[adaline]

My dog rejected raw completely. We tried for a week and he wouldn't touch it even though he was clearly starving!

[HumptyDumptyHadAGreatFall]

My aunts dog never used to eat the dog food, always ate the cats so she bought double the amount of cat food instead!
I don't know if that's healthy or not, but never caused her dog any trouble.

[ash0800]

Hi, I have 3 Salukis and they are all fussy eaters, I tried loads of different foods at different qualities and prices then just happened to try this -
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15Kg-Premium-Working-Dog-Food-Meaty-Mix-Complete-with-Veg-Chicken-Oil-/131009015503
All 3 dogs love it and eat every last crumb, I buy 2 x 15kg sacks for £30 and it feeds them for a month. Think they charge about £5 for delivery.
If you still have a problem you could always mix in a bit of sardines as I haven’t had a dog yet that turned it’s nose up at sardines.
Good luck Ash.

[Lunafortheloveogod]

I have the fussy crew here.. 2/3 are fuss pots of their own accord. And one is the exception to the a dog won’t starve itself.. he will and has needed iv fluids n fancy weight gaining food (chihuahua so very small in the first place and blood sugars drop faster than a larger dog apparently)
They’ll eat the hopewells stuff above too.. it has like meat bits in it, like jerky so it’s more like a chew. We had to cook the raw too.. gradually less and less till it was just warm n mixed into dry in one dish.. one won’t eat moist things one won’t eat excessively dry things but they will not accept different bowls of things being offered to another as that simply must mean that the others is better! Will they eat from the other bowl.. hell no 😂.

So far hopewells, peanut butter and a bit (tablespoon) of fatty mince stirred in works. But unfortunately feeding human food to them made them worse as they were determined if they starved I’d give them steak.

[Chewysmum]

Don't feed cat food as above, whatever you do, terrible for dogs.
You've already received good advice re how to feed dog food again so I won't rehash that.
The Bakers /Pedigree etc etc dog foods have almost no meat in them whatsoever, no wonder our dogs don't want to eat them (yes, mine was the same, I was told when I rescued him that these were the foods he'd always been fed and he still wouldn't eat them). As soon as I changed onto better quality dry food with a high meat content he was happy. At first I thought it would be much more expensive, but it isn't much different, because they're much higher quality you only need about half the amount, therefore the extra price is negligible depending on brand and where you buy it. If you're on a strict budget there are many that are excellent value. Personally after trying lots, my dogs favorites are- Carnilove, which comes in several flavors so we have them for alternate meals - Barking Heads, several flavors again- and his newest favorite Edgard Cooper - 3 flavors again. My dog is allergic to beef, if he wasn't I'd be feeding him Farmfoods HE, which is excellent quality and great price.
Just thought I'd give you some ideas on exactly which kinds of food someone in your position should probably be aiming for. Just go into your local large or good quality pet shop and ask the staff to help you find a high quality dry food with a high meat content and if money is an issue tell them that, give them details on breed, age, activity levels etc, all these are important in choosing dog food.
And if pup still won't eat after several days, you can add some wet food (just a small amount) to the dry and taper this off after a while.
Hope all this helps x

[bodgeitandscarper]

I have a fussy lurcher, she would occasionally eat wet food and a bit of Skinners field and trial hypoallergenic, but will always eat Royal Canin. I know it isn't classed as a good food by the purists, but she enjoys it and no more worrying about her diet. She is doing well on it anyway. I think they do one specifically for fussy dogs too.

[adaline]

I don't know if that's healthy or not, but never caused her dog any trouble.

Cat food has far too much protein in it for a dog to cope with - while it won't necessarily HARM them, it's not ideal and can cause deficiencies and bowel problems.

However, never feed a cat dog food. Cat food needs taurine in it else the cat will become really ill - and dog food doesn't contain that. My pup loves cat food and I have been known to use cat food for emergency recall purposes but it's not something he gets on any form of regular basis!