My dog is a fussy eater and won't eat kibble. How do I get him to eat?

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Riley. It sounds like he may be acting picky. I would put his food down in the morning for breakfast and leave it there for 15-20 minutes. After this time, pick up the food even if he hasn't eaten it. Do NOT give him any other food. This is very important. No treats, human food, nothing. He needs to learn that he has to eat when you give him food, and he won't get anything else. At dinnertime, put his food down again for 15-20 minutes, picking it up after that time. No more food until breakfast the next morning. He will get hungry enough to eat. I hope this helps!

Congrats on your new dog, but I'm sorry Marley is causing you some problems! It sounds like he is being difficult about eating, and you need to be tough with him. Good on you for recognizing that he shouldn't have human food and not giving it to him. You need to start him on a feeding schedule. Put down his food in the morning for 15-20 minutes, then take it away until his next feeding time. It's very important that he gets no other food during this time. No treats or human food. At dinner time, again put his food down and leave it for 15-20 minutes. Take it away after that time even if he hasn't eaten. The goal of this is to teach him that he needs to eat when he's given food. He will learn to do this once he gets hungry. I hope this helps!

For picky eaters like this I usually recommend picking one high-quality dog food brand and sticking with it. This means when you feed Kacey you should put the food down for 15 minutes or so and give her the opportunity to eat it. If she does not eat in this period of time pick up the food and do not offer her any food or treats until the next meal time. If at the next meal she doesn’t eat again within 15 minutes pick up the bowl and continue this for two or three days. Eventually she will learn that she needs to eat the food you put down for her or she will go hungry. Most dogs respond to this very well and don’t let themselves go hungry. Some of the brands I recommend for high-quality dog foods are Royal Canin, Hills, Purina, Iams, and Eukanuba. I hope this helps. Best of luck. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

The good thing about dogs is that they can go for a few days without eating and they'll just get hungry, whereas it can harm cats to not eat for a few days. It sounds like Ginger is trying to train you instead of the other way around. First of all, no more people food! Until she will eat her own food reliably, giving her people food will only reinforce her efforts. If you leave her kibble out all the time, stop doing that. Figure out how much dry food she should have per day (the label on the bag should give you feeding recommendations) and divide that into however many meals you want to feed her. I usually feed my dogs in the morning and evening. When it's time for her breakfast, put her bowl down and give her 15-20 minutes to eat. Whatever is left at the end of this time gets taken up and put away until the next meal. Don't give her treats unless it is for training rewards. When it's time for her evening meal, put that down and again, give her 15-20 minutes to eat. She may try to make you feel guilty by begging, don't fall for it. Don't feed her any people food and especially don't feed her off the table while you'ree eating. Make sure any family members or other residents in your home are aware of and are participating in the training, otherwise you're wasting your time. After a few days, she'll get the idea that her food it out at specific times and if she wants to eat, that's the time to do it. Good luck!

Some dogs are just picky eaters or are not very food driven. So we have some dogs, like your typical labrador, that will eat anything and everything within 30 seconds of it being put down, and others that are more picky and graze throughout the day. There are not necessarily medical drawbacks to leaving her food down throughout the day, or at least leaving it down for a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening. Sometimes unfortunately with dogs who are picky we just have to be tough and not offer them a different food every time they decide they aren't excited about their current one. We can predispose dogs to food allergies if we are changing their foods all the time and we do get allergies later in life it is much harder to find a good diet for them. I would choose one food and stick with it, and she will eventually get hungry and eat it. The exception is toy breed puppies which can develop hypoglycemia if they go too long without eating https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952329 , but adult dogs should be able to tolerate this. I am a fan of the purina pro plan line, which is available at most pet stores and is good quality, they also have dry diets, wet diets, and their Savor line has kibbles along with softer/chewy kibbles which my dogs love. If there is some treat that she is very fond of you can mix it in with the food that you want her to eat and slowly decrease the amount of the treat each day so she gets used to the other food. Some people find putting some low sodium chicken broth on the food can entice them to start eating a food and you can slowly decreas the amount placed on the food, or warming food up slightly makes it more appetizing.

Great question! It sounds like Chickie is being picky, and you are going to have to get tough on her. Put her food down in the morning for 15-20 minutes, then pick it up after that time even if she hasn't eaten. Then do not give her any more food until her next meal time. This is very important. No treats or human food, and prevent any access to human food. At her dinner time, put the food down for 15-20 minutes, then take it away after this time and no more food until the next morning. She will get hungry enough to eat, and it will teach her that she has to eat when her food is offered to her.

Add warm water or a couple teaspoons of baby food to his food to stimulate his appetite. Check his mouth and gums for injury or signs of periodontal disease (redness, swollen gums, bad breath, visible plaque/tartar build up). Discontinue hand feeding. This may worsen his being finicky. Changing the food bowl may reignite interest. Prepare his food at mealtimes and leave it down for 20-30 minutes. Pick it up afterwards whether he has eaten or not. Repeat this at the next mealtime. Do not offer any other food or treats between meals. Zeus will not starve. He will eat when he is hungry as long as you are firm with him. Regular mealtimes are recommended since dogs thrive on routine. If he develops any other symptoms (lethargy, vomiting,diarrhea, loss of appetite), then have him examined by your veterinarian.