How do I get my dog to eat?

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

I have a 2 year old male Cockapoo. He used to be such a good eater - we had to use a slow feeder because he would almost inhale his kibble.

However, over the past few months, this has slowed down. He has kibble for breakfast and wet food for dinner. He is less and less interested in the kibble, and often doesn't eat it until lunchtime or even later. Today, he wouldn't touch his kibble until 5pm, which was almost time for his dinner. So it's now 7.30 and he hasn't had his dinner because he's only just eaten his breakfast.

Should I switch to him having wet food morning and evening? I don't want him to drop the kibble as its very convenient, but I don't want him to starve!

Any advice? Thanks

Is he losing weight? Or otherwise ill or off being his usual self? If not, he's a grown up and choosing to eat as it suits him. My 7 year old is similar and there's not a fitter dog in miles. Some dogs can eat sensibly and don't gorge.

The wet food is much tastier than the dry food, mix half and half in together morning and night. I know 3 poo's and none of them are big foodies although the more exercise he does the more hungry he will be and the more he will eat.

I’ve always fed unlimited. I find they learn to self regulate pretty quickly and don’t overeat.

biscuits always available. Small portion of wet food am and pm. He eats if he’s hungry.

cat is the same.

as pp if he seems well and isn’t losing weight he may just have learned to eat when he needs to.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate that kibble is very boring compared to Forthglade wet! I'll try mixing, and see how that goes. He's not losing weight, he's a very contented dog, and of course because of the bad weather he hasn't been as active, so maybe is self regulating

Some dogs are like that, ours has always been. Didn’t bat an eyelid when db’s dog waltzed in and ate her food!

When my spaniel was about 9 months he got really fussy, and we tried different brands of kibble but what cracked it in the end was putting a little squirt of salmon oil on the kibble. I think he was trying his luck to be allowed to eat treat food all the time. After finishing the bottle we didn’t get another and by then he’d decided he liked kibble so he doesn’t need the oil now.

We always fed wet in the morning and a bowl of kibble for snacking on during the day . She was not a greedy dog though , so many dogs will not be suited to this routine .

Ours is also like this, only eats food if it's a game or training. So mainly eats kibble despite a bowl of butternut box sitting there. Today he turned his nose up at sausage. It is worrying, but vet said quite normal and he's healthy so not starving. He's 7mo and I'm blaming his hormones...

Cockapoos are known for being quite fussy - I think it's the poodle gene.

However I would stop leaving his food down all day as he then has no real incentive to eat it at meal times. Dogs aren't natural grazers so having food available 24/7 goes against their natural instincts in a way.

If you want to keep the routine you have, I would go for two set meal times. Food down and leave it for twenty minutes. If he doesn't eat it, don't make a fuss, just take it away and don't offer him anything else until dinner. Rinse and repeat. It doesn't work with all dogs but it worked for us when our beagle went through a really fussy stage.

Another technique that can help is the "ditch the bowl" method - that means he doesn't get any meal from a bowl going forward. Instead, you use enrichment - scatter feed, stuff a kong, or use a snuffle mat or lick-mat - basically, you need to get your dog interested in food again by getting them to work for it.

Good luck!

"I don't want him to starve!"

In 20 years as a vet I have never seen this happen.

"Any advice?"
Yes. Stop worrying about it. And definitely don't faff about mixing handicrafted grainfree Wagyu strips in with the kibble and stuffing it into a Rubik's cube.

"you use enrichment - scatter feed, stuff a kong, or use a snuffle mat or lick-mat - basically, you need to get your dog interested in food again by getting them to work for it."

Isn't that kind of thing more for battery farmed pigs and obese cats that never get outside?

My dog only eats once a day around 5pm, I give him some soft food then. He has kibble down all the time and he will eat some in the evening if he's still hungry.

Isn't that kind of thing more for battery farmed pigs and obese cats that never get outside?

Of course not

And you claim to be a vet 🤣

I appreciate the he probably won't starve!
I have started mixing kibble with wet food in the morning and he's still not interested. But he will eat his frozen Kongs so will just feed him a slightly larger meal a bit earlier in the evening.

Thanks for all your help.

Poodles are very sensitive and any changes, like Xmas excitement can upset them.
Try feeding by hand, you might have to pretend the food is yours and ‘share’ it with him, or put the dry food in a Kong.

He may genuinely not be hungry.

Our beagle only has one meal a day and he's absolutely fine so that's always a possibility.

We feed him at around midday and he just gets a bedtime biscuit at night and a few biscuits in the morning.

Are his teeth ok? Gingivitis or a loose tooth could be making the kibble painful to crunch.

Have you tried moving his bowls? Do you have a cat?

Our old Great Dane went right off his food for a while and we finally found that the culprit was the cat who had bopped him on the nose whilst he was eating because he was near the cat flap and she wanted to go out. He'd obviously taken her bop to mean he was never allowed to have access to his food bowl ever again. And, being the big idiot he was, he obliged. We moved his bowls to a different spot and the problem was solved.