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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Is it possible that my fog will starve herself?

30 replies

crazydoglady6867 · 26/02/2018 19:54

I am finding it difficult to get my dog to eat her meals, she will happily have treats so I know it is not a medical problem but as I don’t want her to live on treats I have stopped all extras and just put her food down, nothing, she just ignores it. Are they like children and if they are hungry enough they will eat what I put in front of them? She will try and eat old, mouldy food from the pavement but will still ignore her food bowl. Any advice?

OP posts:
missbattenburg · 27/02/2018 18:50

A healthy dog will not starve itself, but you probably also don't want every meal time to feel like a gamble on whether or not she will eat.

Get her checked out by a vet because that's always a sensible precaution.

Following that, start to experiment to see what foods she likes.

We have a little JRT who would stop eating kibble as he got bored of it. We would change it and he would eat the next one for a few weeks before losing enthusiasm for it. Through trial and error we have a system where he gets one of 3 or 4 flavours of kibble plus a spoonful of Forthglade wet food (diff flavours) and a smidge of water to make it all juicy - all mixed up. He now always eats his dinners greedily.

Fish4 dogs do a fish mousse that is designed to add as a tasty topping to complete foods.

A tin of mackerel in spring water can do the same thing. As can a raw egg.

I have a springer who gets fed a wide variety of foods - raw, wet, occasionally kibble. Sometimes with an egg on it, sometimes a bit of fish, sometimes leftover tea veggies or plain rice, sometimes a bit of fruit like mashed up ripe banana. Basically, I switch it out so he gets something different every meal. He has never had an issue with such frequent changing about and always eats keenly.

I suspect that many dogs could cope easily with changing foods if it's done regularly. They are scavengers and so should be able to. I wonder if feeding the same thing day in, day out, gradually reduces the enzymes in their stomach to only those needed for that food - and that when food is switched it makes them sicky because they no longer have such a wide variety of digestive enzymes. A dog fed on a variety of foods maintains a wide variety of enzymes and has a greater chance of getting all the right nutrition.

Chippyway · 27/02/2018 18:56

My dog will sometimes have phases like this despite getting different types each day, she’s raw fed too

Yesterday for example she turned her nose up at chicken mince and lamb/duck. I purposely put the bag on the floor and she started eating from the bag! Despite it being the same stuff in her bowl!

Spoon feeding her might help, or making a game out of it and put it in a kong etc. You can’t get any better than raw so please don’t change her food just yet

deste · 27/02/2018 22:34

Have you tried putting something with a strong smell in with the food. I give our dog kibble but mixed in with cooked carrots and a spoonful of sardines. He is not greedy but eats it all.

crazydoglady6867 · 28/02/2018 19:15

I have stopped all treats for the last 2 days and she seems more keen to eat her food tonight. She is a lazy dog who hates the cold so isn’t going out much in this cold spell and my dh thinks she just isn’t hungry and I should relax a bit. I will keep her off the treats and keep with her raw as I know this is the best food she can get, I added a sardine to it on the last two days too and that has helped, Thanks everybody for your advice.

OP posts:
WombatStewForTea · 28/02/2018 21:03

Have you changed the brand you feed? With raw some like the finer mince mixes and others much prefer bigger chunkier mince so could be worth trying to change the texture?

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