How long without food before you worry

[Foodrefusingpup]

8 month old pup. Usually ravenous and always ready for his meals, eats a good quality kibble that suits him really well. For a treat we gave him a wet dog-food turkey dinner for Christmas dinner and he has been a real pain with food ever since.

First couple of days he just left it a couple of hours, then ate it, yesterday he did the same, although ended up skipping a meal because it took him so long. Today he has just flatly refused to eat. He’s still taken the treat he gets for having his paws and stomach cleaned each time he’s been outside and is merrily begging for anything we are eating, but has flatly refused his own meals.

He’s usually fed three times a day and has missed two whole meals today now. I’ve put fresh down each time and taken it up after an hour, but he still refused to eat it.

Drinking, eating, playing normally, full of beans, normal poo and wee, doesn’t seem ill at all, but his stomach is actually growling and he’s still refusing his dinner!

We’re thinking he’s most likely had a taste of better things and is now of the opinion that his kibble is the most boring food on earth. (He doesn’t only get kibble normally, he has eggs, sardines, sardine paste on his licki-mat and various bits of veg and fruit regularly, but this was the first time he’s had actual wet dog food.)

I don’t want a battle where I persuade him to eat with some tasty morsels, then he continues to demand a gourmet menu and refuse his normal meals. So, with that in mind, how long can we go on like this? We are just coming up on his third meal of the day, I can hear his stomach growling really loudly and I am pretty sure he’s going to refuse to eat that as well. He’s only tiny at just under 4.5 kg, though and I know blood sugar can become an issue in tiny dogs.)

It doesn’t feel like a vet trip is in order yet, as everything seems to be in working order in terms of weeing and pooing and he’s not acting ill or lethargic in the slightest, he’s never out of our sight either, so extremely unlikely to have eaten something he shouldn’t. BUT it’s NYE weekend, so if I do need to take him without it becoming an OOH appointment it’s going to have to be tomorrow morning.

Mine does this. He’s refused his breakfast today but ate a piece of cheese earlier. I think they’re like us sometimes in that they just can’t be bothered to eat!

I would think it was that, if it wasn’t for the very loud stomach growling that proves he is actually really hungry. Daft pooch!

With my previous dogs I wouldn’t have worried much at all, but they were all big and more than able to skip a couple of meals and I would assume they would just eat eventually when they felt hungry enough. He’s so tiny though and I have read that they are more vulnerable if they don’t eat regularly.

You need to stop leaving his food down and go back to set mealtimes. He's playing you big time I speak from experience at exactly the same age!

Feed him as normal and leave his food for twenty minutes. Then take it off him and don't give him anything (including treats) until his next meal time. Repeat as needed.

It shouldn't take long for him to realise he's not getting anything else - but you need to be really strict and don't give him any treats or snacks or scraps in between meals, or he'll just keep holding out for his human food.

I would not be feeding an 8 month old puppy 3 times a day. Drop out his lunchtime meal. (unless a medical reason not to)

Give him smaller portions in his other two meals and he will usually quite quickly get back into the habit of eating his meals again.

Why can’t you add some wet food to the kibble? It must be very boring just having the kibble

Just feed him some wet food on his kibble , kibble is boring .

I think kibble is boring for a dog. Wet food will be smellier and therefore tastier to a dog.

Yes you can probably win the battle of wills but is there any reason you can't feed half kibble and half wet?

I'd tough it out for a good few days, OP. He isn't going to starve.

Make sure he has his bowl down for 15 mins then remove it. Don't give him wet just because he's doing what a toddler does. You wouldn't give in to a toddler (and yes I know we wouldn't make a toddler eat kibble, but there are various differences between humans and dogs. Behaviour wise, however, lots in common).

The issue is the behaviour. He's holding out thinking you'll fold. You run the risk of him harassing you for a walk at a set time, or to play with his toys when actually you need to go back and work in the study. He gets offered what he's offered. If you want to review this and add wet in regularly fine, but not now. Wait until this hurdle is over with.

I have had six dogs, four large breed and two toy. I'm pro positive reinforcement but there are some lines you need to draw especially with young dogs who are learning. He's just testing you, don't fall for it.

Don't worry basically. Our soon to be 14 year old was off his food for days over Christmas. Perfectly ok in himself though pissed off that he wasn't getting pure fish, chicken, steak leftovers we'd been giving him.

Couldn't maintain that so he refused to eat and we were worried. He held out a few days and then ate the kibble in his bowl and is now back to kibble, wet food and a few treats when available. Phew.

Take the food away when he doesn't eat it and put it down again for short periods.

Also just seen the previous post re three meals. It's usual practise to drop down to two at 6 months. I also have an 8 month old puppy, although he's a big lump and looks like a fully grown golden retriever already!

He’s just playing you. Don’t give him anything, no treats or anything except his meals. He will give in.
unless you think he’s unwell but it doesn’t sound like it.

I left it down yesterday, because we had visitors and I thought he was just out of routine. He did eat it eventually, but it took him a long time. I wouldn’t normally leave it down if he didn’t eat it though. Today I left it down for half an hour the first time, then had to deal with a poorly dd when the next feed was down, so ended up leaving it down for an hour, then taking it up.

We’re not giving him scraps or treats, other than the one he gets for getting cleaned up when he comes in from the garden, purely because that’s his routine and a reward for having something done that he hates. That’s just one treat when he comes in and had his belly cleans (he has a very poor aim and manages to wee all over himself, so we need to clean him up each time).

He’s on three meals a day as directed by the vet, because he suffers with reflux, so needs smaller, more frequent meals to manage it. Oddly enough, no sign of reflux today, despite having a very empty tum. I would have thought he would be really acidic, but apparently not.

I'd be bored with just kibble every day

It's only been one day - you need to keep going and be really strict. I understand he's small but nothing bad will happen to him in such a short space of time.

He may not like being dried after a walk but he doesn't need a treat for it if he's going to play silly buggers about his food.

I know you feel bad that he's not eating but he will if you don't give in. Twenty minutes, then no more food until next time.

To add, I would just offer a few pieces his kibble after being dried off - no need to give him anything special or high value.

I’m not anti wet food plus kibble, my old dog had both. He doesn’t only get that normally, sometimes he gets just the kibble, others we add eggs, sardines, fruit and veg etc, but I don’t want him to refuse to eat unless he gets that at every meal and equally don’t want him to become one of those dogs that makes mealtimes a battle, by demanding a constantly changing menu. It took a while to get him settled and comfortable on this kibble, as he had reflux issues and we worked out via elimination that he’s sensitive to kibble. He genuinely seemed to love this kibble and ate it with great gusto until the Christmas disruption.

Just about to try him with his evening meal now, so we’ll see how he goes.

You need to stop with boring kibble. Would you like to eat the same dull food everyday? No.

My 3yo cockapoo is such a picky eater. Yesterday she ate her breakfast at 3pm when my friend popped in with her dog. She only ate it in fear that the other dog might! Today she’s picked at her breakfast. She’s had a 7km walk and been pretty active. She’ll eat biscuits/treats though!

I would really look at what you are feeding him and the reasons for his reflux.

A high fat eg sardines added to an already balanced diet will really not be helping reflux at all.

Kibble is complete food it does not need anything added to it.

If your wet food is complete again adding other food to it just throws off the balance and is highly likely to make any gastric issue worse.

Is your vet investigating the reason for reflux? I would want to find out why an 8 month old puppy is having reflux. It not usually a condition on its own.

That's a really good point about adding high fat/human foods to his diet regularly if he suffers from reflux.

We’ve just had our 4.5kg dog go through surgery and it took him almost a week before he ate again.

Small dogs are difficult little buggers - ours literally turned his back on the vet nurses and faced the corner of his cage when they tried to feed him. The vet said if he was a lab he’d be concerned but he wasn’t worried about the fluff ball. It only became an issue when we wanted to get him off the morphine and onto anti-inflammatory medication.

8mths in toy breeds is the start of prime jerk time (especially with the males) but he will give in and eat. Don’t add anything to his meals until he’s eating properly again and don’t worry about him only having kibble. There’s nothing wrong with him having a good quality dried food everyday.

Good luck :)

Give a wet topper in the dry food. A really good brand is chappie original, great for sensitive tums & cheap too, people don't realise it's good stuff.

I would think if he continues with not eating I'd be worried after a few days - if you have insurance they often have free vet consultations attached to the policy, I've found these really helpful with things like this.
They will talk on a video call with you & check vital signs of your dog. And advise accordingly. Honestly I've found these really useful & reassuring.

Saved me a fortune when one of my dogs had a poorly tummy after eating something she shouldn't have. It would've been test after test if I'd taken her to the vet I'm sure of that.
Check out your policy.

He’s just eaten his evening meal.

For those asking about the reflux, he’s not had it since we removed chicken from his diet. The vet’s initial thought was a food sensitivity and the elimination diet seems to have backed that up. His diet is now mostly fish-based, but we occasionally try a different protein source and see how he gets on (he was fine with turkey on Christmas Day for example). I’ve been cautious about dropping the middle of the day feed, just in case, but after today I think he would be fine with it now, as he’s had no signs of reflux even with a very empty stomach. I will ask the vet if they think it’s worth dropping it when we next see them. If the elimination diet hadn’t worked he would have been investigated further, but they wanted to try the least invasive approach first and thankfully that worked.

Since we eliminated chicken from his diet he’s been fine, he eats eggs and sardines without them causing reflux on a fairly regular basis.

Yes kibble is sold as a complete food, it has vitamins and minerals etc, but is not high in antioxidants, only fresh food is and I am not in a position to feed raw or home cooked. All my dogs have had additions like egg, sardines, veg and fruit on occasion and done very well on it. Have a read of the Forever Dog book for evidence based info regarding adding healthy fresh food to dogs’ diets. Our vet knows what he eats and is very happy with both him and his diet. Eggs, fish, fruit and veg are not ‘human foods’ they are just healthy fresh foods that both wild and feral domestic dogs include in their diet naturally.

@Foodrefusingpup yay!! Whoop whoop!! He's eaten!!!!