My dog is a picky eater and won't eat her dry food. What should I do?

Some dogs can be very picky, and if Brownie enjoys eating food with a little wet food mixed in, that's not a problem. Many brands of dry dog food also carry equivalent wet foods, and you can mix that in while still providing a balanced diet that is healthy for Brownie to eat. If you do add in wet food, you may just want to decrease the amount of dry food slightly to account for the increase in calories for adding extras.

Mix a teaspoon or two of canned food in with the kibble. Leave it down for 20-30 minutes before picking it up whether they have eaten or not. Repeat this at the next mealtime. Do not offer any food between meals. Be consistent, dogs thrive on routine. Be firm, they will not starve.

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.

What Mia is doing is training you to feed her what she wants, when she wants it. You can turn it around by sticking with one diet and feeding her on a consistent schedule. Dogs thrive on routine. Prepare her food and leave it down for 30 minutes before picking it up whether she has eaten or not. Repeat this at the next mealtime. Offer no food or treats between meals other than tiny training rewards. Be firm and be consistent. She will not starve. You can warm her food slightly or mix in a bit of warm water to stimulate the appetite. Being that she is young and tiny, watch for symptoms of hypoglycemia and offer a dab of Nutri Cal or Karo syrup if she becomes lethargic. Once she perks up, feed her.

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!

Discontinue feeding ALL table food. Choose one dog food and stick with it. Frequent diet changes can create a finicky eater and may lead to GI upset. You can add warm water or a teaspoon of baby food (no onion or garlic) to stimulate Smoke's appetite. If you are not doing so, offer food on a consistent schedule. Dogs love routine and look forward to mealtimes. At her age, she can be fed twice daily. Prepare her food and place it in her designated feeding area. After 15-20 minutes, pick it up whether she has eaten or not. Repeat this at the next scheduled meal time. Do not offer any snacks, treats or other food between meals. Be firm and be consistent. Smoke will not starve. She will eat when she gets hungry.

It's absolutely fine to mix together wet and dry food to feed your dogs. Just make sure the wet food does not contain any of the ingredients that cause his allergies. Typically with picky dog eaters, I recommend putting food down for 15-20 minutes, then picking it up when the time is up even if the dog hasn't eaten. The dog then gets no more food until the next meal time, no treats, human food, etc. At the next meal time, again put the food down for 15-20 minutes, picking it up when the time is up. No food again until the next meal time. What you are teaching the dog is that they have to eat during meal time, or else they won't get any additional food. You have to be very strict on making sure Jax gets no other food except during meal times. Best of luck, I hope this helps!