Is it safe to feed my dog baby food if they're not eating well?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sure, you can use baby food mixed into kibbles if you like. But the real question is why won’t Luna eat the dry food? Possibilities include: 1) A bad tooth or other mouth problem 2) An organ dysfunction, disease, or infection that affects appetite 3) She has you well trained. I recommend seeing your vet to help rule out medical causes. If nothing is found, it could simply be that she has you well trained and knows that if she waits long enough, you’ll put something good in her bowl. My advice for that is to wait her out. Don’t give in and within 3 days, every healthy dog I know has eaten plain kibbles. Of course if Luna is a healthy weight and you don’t mind pampering her, that’s fine too, so long as she does get some dog food (it has all the minerals and vitamins we need her to get). Best wishes to you and Luna!

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Belle. You can use a low sodium beef broth, but she really should be eating her dog food alone. I would keep decreasing the amount of beef broth you put into her food until she is eating the dog food alone. She really should not be having it, so it's best to try to wean her off of it. I hope this helps.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If he tolerated it well, this may be ok, However, this should only be used to supplement his regular diet more as a snack to be given every once in a while as opposed to using it mainly as a complete diet. He is also super handsome! Good luck!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would avoid human foods if you can. Once you go down that road of adding human food it is almost impossible to go back. If you need to add human food I would still with boiled chicken or hamburger as it is more bland then corned beef. Consider changing dog food brands or adding water or canned dog food to his dry food. Healthy dogs do not choose starvation and if you hold steady and firm that dog food is all he gets then he will learn. Dogs are smart and will hold out when they know something better will come along. A lot of times the dogs train the owner not the other way around. Be careful with what human foods you feed as they can cause an upset stomach or pancreatitis if too high in fat. I wish you the best!

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear that your puppy is not eating well and seems ill. Puppies need to feed approximately ever 2 hours when they are first born; if they don't, they can become dehydrated and also get dangerously low blood sugar levels. If the puppy is not feeding well and seems to not be thriving, I recommend bringing the puppy to your local veterinarian as soon as you can. Puppies can rapidly decompensate and even pass on their own when they aren't thriving. Bottle feeding is not the safest option for feeding puppies, as they can accidentally aspirate the milk into their lungs and develop fatal pneumonia. The safest way to feed newborn puppies is tube feeding, where you pass a feeding tube down into their stomach and directly deliver the food. This should be demonstrated by a veterinarian so you can do it safely. I hope this is helpful!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Norik. You can try offering him the baby food, but he may not take it. Some dogs prefer to only eat one meal per day. My main concern in this scenario is the stomach acid can build causes vomiting just prior to the next feeding. So in his case the vomiting would likely occur around 5-7pm. If is not happening, there is likely no harm in his current feeding schedule as long as he is not dropping weight. I worry that force feedig him will be upsetting to him. You ca try though and see how it goes. The baby food you mentioned should all be safe choices. Good luck!

I can certainly understand being concerned about your puppy not eating enough. It's really not the best for for your puppy, as it's not formulated to meet her nutritional needs. It's not something that is recommended to give to a puppy on a regular basis, usually only when the animal is sick. In addition, there may be ingredients in the baby food that is not safe for her to ingest. It could be that she isn't used to dry dog food, and you can try making a puppy mush for her to see if that helps. I would soak a high quality puppy formulated dry food in warm water until soft. Then mix that with puppy formula such as KMR to make a mush the consistency of oatmeal. Over the next two weeks, gradually increase the amount of dry puppy food and decrease the amount of water and KMR you use until she is eating the dry puppy food only. If she still doesn't want to eat much, then I would have her seen before the 15th.