My dog is a pain with eating!

[cheeseisthebest]

Any advice?
I put food out for him and he totally ignores it, he has dry and wet food.
Some days he eats twice, some days its once but its all guesswork and I can't leave it out, especially in warmer weather cos of flies. When it's once he won't eat until 5 or 6.
Yesterday he showed no interest in food at all, he eventually ate about half a bowl of food.
I do sometimes put cling film on it and put it in the fridge until later.
He's a very good weight for his breed. I've tried him on different brands but I'm not going to keep changing.
Any suggestions please?
He doesn't normally even show any interest in eating until lunchtime.

Take ddog to the vet?? It could be as simple as a tooth that needs to come out

Mine is the same but often will eat the exact same food out of someone's hands, a kong, spread on a lickimat, puzzle toy etc so just seems to prefer the challenge of getting her food and I've indulged this out of desperation to get her to eat as she's very thin. This isn't always practical though if on days out or visiting someone.
when mine stayed at home boarding recently she barely ate - partly I guess as it was a different situation but also because the dogs were fed at set time in their bowl and if not eaten after 20 mins food taken away - apparently by day 4 she was eating more so got the hint if you don't eat now it's gone lol.

Many dogs don’t want to eat until the end of the day.

We just use dry food and leave it out all the time. Dog picks at it throughout the day.

Thank you, he's actually had teeth out about 6 weeks ago and all is fine with his teeth now.

We had this with our dog - and he's a beagle, known for their insatiable appetites lol. Our vet gave us the following advice:

• Pick two or three set meal times that suit you, and that you can stick to everyday, and split his food between those meals.

• Put the allocated food out, leave it for twenty minutes, then remove it, whether he's eaten all of it, some of it, or none of it. Don't just leave it for him to pick at.

• Then he gets nothing until the next meal time, just keep offering him his usual food at his mealtimes.

He won't starve himself. Lots of dogs don't want to eat multiple times a day or even everyday, it's not an issue as long as he's healthy and has plenty of energy.

We only had to do this for a couple of times - he now eats all his meals and has never left a scrap behind since!

Some days our dog doesn't want her breakfast. For whatever reason she isn't hungry.

Most meals she dances around asking for it.

We have cats so if she doesn't eat it has to go away again.

One of mine is a snowflake with his food, and we just pick it up and put it away. He won't eat it if its been in the fridge all day, but the other dog will. We do rotate through foods so he doesn't get bored and he doesn't have kibble in with his wet food in the morning (his worst time). He's not underweight, so a day or so without eating is fine

Sorry not sure I'm following...he's a good weight.....so the problem is?!

My dad cooks chicken breast for my dog and gives her enough each meal to get her interested 😂

Can i ask what breed? I had the same issues with mine, tried butternut box recently which they LOVED, but last few days are either going off it (bored) or just don't fancy it because of the heat.
Any time i have spoken to vets about eating they are very much led by whether the weight is tracking ok overall even if its a change in the pets behaviour. Completely understand that approach, but know it can still be a worry

Our vet suggested placing a small amount of steamed chicken on top of the dry food. We did and our dog polishes off the dry food after eating the chicken.

My older dog was a complete PITA with food until we got our second, now he wolfs it down as he knows she'll eat it!

When I think back to cooking chicken/opening sardines to get him to eat

If he's a good weight are you feeding too much so he's not actually hungry? Dogs are (in the main) good at self regulating and will only eat what they need.
Perhaps try feeding slightly less than the recommended amount.

Well he still needs to eat and I'm wasting food cos I never know when he wants it!

Just over dry kibble and stop the wet food.

Not all dogs will eat dry food by itself though.

I tried that, he would eat it eventually but prefers the wet.
Yesterday we went out for breakfast and he had a sausage then I gave him his tea about 5.30 he ate all of it over space of about an hour.
Think I'm going to look out for his cues and maybe he only really wants one meal a day.

Sounds like my whippet... We now put kibble down in the morning sometimes she eats it mostly she she leaves it, then she has meat mixed in with what's left about 6 ish when she tends to eat. Having previously had a lab and spaniel... this is all very strange ! She drops weight very quickly so we needed to find a regime that worked. She won't eat wet food that's been in the fridge and we need to rotate between 2 or 3 makes to keep her interest.

My dog regularly chooses snuggles in someone's bed or sunbathing upstairs over breakfast.

I honestly think she'd be fine with one meal per day despite the fact she is the biggest treat beggar going and the local shops!