My dog isn't eating for days. What safe food can I give a picky dog?

Hi there! Scooby sure sounds like he's becoming a very picky eater! A lot of dogs do this, and the more you give in, the more they will demand new and different foods mixed in and people food. The best way to break the behavior is to offer him his food, and no matter how long he takes to eat it, wait it out. Eventually he will realize that that's what he's getting to eat and that's it! If some people still have trouble at this point, I tell them to try balanceIT.com. it is a website that teaches you how to make a home cooked diet for your dog and also offers a supplement you can add into the food to make sure that they ate getting enough of the minerals and vitamins that they need. From the way it sounds, no matter what you add to scooby's food he's going to want something different in a few days, but you can try some plain low fat Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or pumpkin mixed into the food, or even just some warm water to help bring out the fragrance. Also make sure of course that scooby is up to date on his vet visits, vaccines, dewormings, and other preventive care, and that he is not having any signs of illness like diarrhea or vomiting. If he absolutely will not est, a vet visit is in order, but it doesn't seem that way.

She won't starve if she doesn't eat for a few days. That is the only way to train her get back on dog food. You can always add chicken broth or warm water to the kibble . Let it sit about 5 minutes until the kibble soaks up the liquid and try that. Often times that will enhance the flavor/smell of the food. Feeding human food only to dogs is not a good idea. Our food is not balanced for dogs and eventually she will end up with nutritional deficiencies. It is best to try and get to eat dog food only. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

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.

Hi there and thank you for using Pet Coach! In my experience, small breed dogs can be notoriously picky with their food choices. I would offer a variety and not only is flavor important but texture is as well. If you are offering dry food, make sure to dry various kibble sizes. Small bites would be most appropriate for Codi. If you are feeding too large of kibble, than it may be too difficult for Codi to chew. I would also try wet versus dry food as wet food may be more enticing for Codi. If changing textures does nothing for the appetite, I would recommend switching flavors / formulas of dog food to see if this makes a difference. If this does not change the appetite, then you can always try home cooked meals with vitamin / mineral supplementation. I would recommend going to (www.balanceit.com) to have a homemade diet formulated for Codi. On this site, you can also purchase a bottle of vitamin / mineral supplement powder to add to the cooked food. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. I am also available via phone or text based consultation if needed.

Poor Luna! Is she underweight? If not, I wouldn't be overly stressed about how much she is eating. Also some dogs are simply scared of eating from dog bowls. I would just feed her from the floor or in a paper plate. If she is underweight, I would talk to your vet about doing a GI panel. It is a blood test that checks for Vitamin B12, folate, and two different pancreatic enzymes. Sometimes this will guide the vet to what she may be deficient in and once you fix that, their appetite will increase. You could also talk to them about just putting her on an appetite stimulant if you want to try a more conservative method first. Finally, if all of this is normal, I would consider finding a holistic veterinarian who specializes in acupuncture and Chinese herbs. There are some great things with alternative medicine to help with appetite. I hope this helps!

I am sorry to hear Scully isn't eating well on her own. It is hard to say what is going on with Scully without knowing more details. Some dogs may get picky about their food and wait for their owners to put something tasty on top of their normal food. Some dogs refuse to eat if their stomach is upset. I would want to make sure there isn't something going on internally with Scully. She could have some gastrointestinal issues that are causing her to not feel well and not want to eat, like intestinal parasites. I would recommend you take her to your vet to be evaluated. In the mean time, you could try a bland diet, like boiled chicken and rice, as that is easily digested and easy on the stomach. I also like probiotics for dogs as this can help restore the balance of intestinal bacteria and often can entice dogs to eat as many of the canine ones are flavored. I hope Scully is back to her normal self and normal meal routine very soon!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Scooby. I recommend that he sees a veterinarian today. It is worrisome that he is vomiting so frequently. He will likely need fecal testing to determine if an intestinal infection is to blame. If not, diet could be the cause. Being so young and small, he will easily become dehydrated. I also worry about his blood sugar dropping too low from not eating regularly. I hope this information helps!