How do I get dog to eat?

[kissmelittleass]

He's a rescue dog shih tzu/ Maltese, we have him about ten weeks roughly he's been a terrible eater since he arrived.
Rescue lady gave us a bag of dry food select gold that they had him on and said to continue giving him this so we have but it's hard work and a lot of the time he's surviving on one meal of 100g a day.
Occasionally he eats two meals he's supposed to have 200g a day we were told a 100g a meal, it can take him hours to eat one meal with me taking away and offering it back again!
I've tried wet food to mix in but he will mostly eat the wet and leave the dry food occasionally even leaving the dry!
I've tried pasta, carrots, peas with the dry food but he will eat that and leave most of the dry! Have spoke to the rescue centre who've said to preserve with him and that he was used to human food but to keep going with the dry!
Hard work worse than a toddler!!! Any advice please I'm desperate to get him eating more.

Put it on a human plate!!

Typo should read that when I mix the wet food with the dry he sometimes even leaves the wet

Slow hand feeding?

Is it a good quality food? My first hated kibble. It’s dry and boring. We switched to raw.

Give him stuff he will eat. Our dog is indifferent to dried food and mostly eats chicken, oily fish and rice. He is fine on it.

Try mixing wet and dry and leave it for a bit to soak in before offering it, ours is a fussy boy but this method usually works...also dont fill the bowl, maybe small meals split in half?

How much does she weight? 200 grams a day sounds a lot.

We have a maltese/poodle cross. He is also very picky. He will stand two feet back from his dish, give the air a sniff, and then turn and walk away.

He recently had pancreatitis. We are now mixing a bit of kibble into a low fat wet food that he really likes and the vet recommends. He gobbles everything. I know people don't think it is a very good food, but he adores Chappie wet food. It stinks but he loves it and it is safe for pancreatitis, and less expensive.. It is whitefish based. The other one is Royal Canin low fat gastrointestinal, which is very expensive. It too gets poor reviews on dog food review sites, but frankly a repeat of pancreatitis is not something we would ever want. He was so miserable.

The only few things I can suggest are feeding a kibble designed for small dogs as they are easier for them to eat. Big kibble chunks are daunting for little dogs. Then try and find a wet food he likes. Buy a can or pouch at a time.

It is good if you can to have the same protein source in the dry and wet food.

My dog hates kibble, I don’t blame her it must be like eating cardboard. I give my little dog various types of food as she is extremely fussy so she will eat James Wellbeloved wet packet food I also give her plain steamed cod with peas, plain chicken with rice, and her absolute favourite is a scrambled egg. It sounds as though the diet you are feeding him is just not tasty enough, you need to vary her diet more to find what he actually likes.

Small kibble soaked in some warm water, also put food on a plate rather than a bowl flat faced dogs are not always keen on eating from bowls.

He was weighed a few weeks ago at the vets and he was 8kg which the vet said was spot on.
I was told by the rescue centre to give him a 100g twice a day so that's what I've stuck with.
Some good suggestions I'm going to try his food on a plate to see if that helps tomorrow thanks for all replies.

Change the food , our dog is picky and we finally settled on Millie’s ranger kibble and Applaws wet ( chicken in broth ) . He also eats out of a ‘human’ bowl .

If his weight is fine then I really wouldn’t be too worried. Healthy dogs do not have the capability to starve themselves, they eat when hungry. One of my own shih tzus doesn’t eat every day, she’s a healthy weight and over the years Ive tried many different foods but she’s just not food motivated. I do agree with others though to try a plate as my girl prefers to eat from a flat dish. Another option I’d recommend to try is raw food, most dogs love this (not my girl but my other dogs love it and I’ve had skinny foster dogs that were not keen on dry food but wolfed down raw).

Kibble must be so dull for dogs.

I would switch his food (slowly) to a high quality kibble and mix it with something tasty like fresh chicken, sardines or even an egg.

Obviously you'll need to cut down the amount of kibble to compensate

If he weight is ok I would not worry.

If you are going to feed kibble I would NOT be adding extra food to his bowl. It will mess up the balance of the food which is the one thing in kibbles favour. If he eats more of the extra and less of the kibble he will not be getting the correct nutrients needed.

I would play games/training and animate the food as dogs love to work for their food.

I'd consider switching food - www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

Some of them are fussy - mine would prefer to go hungry than eat fish flavoured dog food. He was borderline underweight on the (crap) food his old owner fed him (bit naive that one - he thought a 5* review on Amazon meant it was a good option...).

He tends to graze anyway, but is a normal weight on better quality food

Looking at the feeding guide for Select Gold food, an 8kg should only need 105g a day:
www.select-gold.com/en-ir/products-dog/p/select-gold-sensitive-mini-adult-with-lamb-und-rice-bag-dry-food

@rbe78 thanks for that but I told vet that rescue centre advised 100g twice a day and he didn't dispute it?
Anyone else here with a shih tzu or small dog? How much do you give per day?

Vets are fab but they have no idea of the amount of food each dog should have with regard to the different brands.

Pet food brands always tend to exagerate the amount of food so to be feeding way over so it is no wonder your dog is not eating it all.

I woud cut back on portion sizes for a few days and see how you get on.

An example is a labrador would only be on about 300g a day and they will be 30kg so you are feeding a hell of a lot.

@PollyRoullson oh wow crikey I will cut back definitely, I'm a first time dog owner so I'm just finding my way and was going on the advice from rescue centre, thanks!

Try him on raw. My pup was fussy with kibble but loves raw.

@kissmelittleass
Every food varies in it's nutritional make up, so the amount you need to feed will also vary. As a rule of thumb, the higher the protien content of the food, the less you will need to feed.

For example, the food that my rescue was on when I got her was only 4% meat product (!!!), and the feeding guide reccommend 700g for her. The food I transitioned her on to is 80% meat content, and she only needs 280g of that.

[quote kissmelittleass]@PollyRoullson oh wow crikey I will cut back definitely, I'm a first time dog owner so I'm just finding my way and was going on the advice from rescue centre, thanks![/quote]
Take advice from your vet, they sell prescription food they do know how much dogs should eat and of course they advise on diet etc to avoid weight gain, they know what they are talking about. Your dogs diet is essential to their well-being so take advice from professionals.

If his weight is OK don't worry too much. Ours is a picky eater, and also likes to wait to see if she's going to get what we are having, once she's realised that isn't happening - she'll eventually eat a bowlful.

Also if you are using treats for training you have t allow for that too - or any other extras other people are giving and not owning up to.

A bit of sausage is quite a lot for a small dog...looking at my MIL.