Another fussy eater thread

[3AndADog]

So the last week or so, 1 year old pup has stopped eating all but treats. She was on canagan dry with Lily’s wet. She literally backs away from the bowl now. I tried Lily’s dry with Edward Cooper wet - she wolfed it down then has backed away from it ever since. She used to love applies wet food - not any more. Won’t go near it.

The vet kept her in overnight last week as she hadn’t eaten and barely drunk in a week - she’s fine, had a fluid drip, but ultimately diagnosis was fussy eater.

the only two complete dog foods I can get her to eat, I can’t afford. They are natures variety freeze dried bites, which would work out at £25 a week, or the Lily’s kitchen breakfast biscuits. And even those she only eats as training treats, I’m happy to do that twice a day but I can’t really afford it long term. The natures variety stuff she adores so I’m looking for a freeze dried option that is priced lower - does any one have any suggestions?

as for water, she only eats ice cubes from my hand or water from a stream/puddle. Won’t go near a water bowl! Not ideal in a heatwave.

Mine is the same with food and water. Also prefers uk drink water only from a puddle or stream but then noticed her drinking from a watering can and now she will drink from that or a plastic jug - have tried a few different bowls - plastic, metal, ceramic etc but she seems to prefer a jug or watering can or running water!
For food she ate akela wet and dry for a few months then went off it, now having Millie's wolfheart kibble with wolf of wilderness wet. But it's hit and miss. I add a splash of water to it and put in microwave for 15 seconds as a pp said they don't like fridge temp wet food. Randomly some days she will eat dry plain kibble in a snuffle mat or puzzle toy but this is a very rare thing! She has gone to boarders this week and I know she'll come back thinner as she won't eat much there and the boarder won't pander to her and hand feed or whatever to get her to eat!
People also suggest raw to me but I don't want to go down that route for hygiene, cost and convenience reasons!

Same issue here too. Stupidly fussy 8 month old cockapoo who has had quite bad colitis so was/is on Royal Canin sensitive puppy food ££££££££ !!!

She also won't eat dry kibble unless the moon is waxing under Jupiter type thing! Occasionally she'll eat a few handfuls, so almost a meals' worth from my hand but not if we are at home, only at the park. Occasionally she'll eat it from the snuffle mat.

I've tried butchers puppy trays, lily's kitchen puppy trays, forthglade (all flavours, toppers etc), scrumbles puppy trays, tesco own brand adult food (desparate shopping at tesco express, was the only thing I could find that she hadn't rejected). Also tried chappie but she doesn't like it.

Best success I've had is some salmon fillet and Greek yoghurt mixed with kibble. Probably an 80% success rate with that combo. Grated courgette and yoghurt sometimes works.

She also pukes bile when hungry.

For the last week I've cut out all treats and gone down to two meals a day from three and that has really helped. I think she wasn't ever madly hungry, apart from when she was puking bile.

Crumbling a treat on top of food has worked sometimes but not always. If she pukes bile through hunger I give her a treat to tempt her and then hand feed kibble which sometimes works.

Flipping nightmare though.

Where do you get the salmon oil? Might be cheaper than feeding her salmon fillet!!

@CatherineCawood I think we got some from the person who suggested it and I think theirs came from Costco, but I’m sure we bought some from Amazon later on too. It makes their coat shiny too!

Thank you! I had a quick look on Amazon last night. I just got in from work and it has arrived. I got Pooch and Mutt. She doesn't like much (grrr) it but if its good for her coat then I'll mix it in.

I totally forgot to say that actually mixing in arden grange liver paste to the kibble works very well for us but recently it's been hard to get. Ordered from amazon last night but it isn't here yet. So for dinner tonight I offered:

Kibble and salmon oil - rejected
Added Grated courgette - rejected
Added a tiny bit of grated cheese - rejected
Gave in and stired in a bit of (human) liver pate - she ate it.

The liver pate was for me (it's not human liver but liver suitable for a human to eat!)

the Arden grange liver paste has worked for us too but I have to sit there with the tube and keep adding bits as she licks the first few bits off until she gets going and starts to actually eat the food

You can mix the Arden grange with a little bit of warm water and pour that over the kibble.

I just mixed it with the kibble. Made it a bit claggy but she didn't seem to care!