Is my dog picky if she only eats boiled chicken and nothing else?

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.

Your dog has decided what her diet will be, but that's not her job . . . it's yours. Stop feeding her the chicken. Put regular dog food in a bowl on the floor without fuss and leave it for 15 minutes. After that time, pick it up whether she has eaten or not. Do not give her anything--no treats, snacks or human food--until her next scheduled mealtime. Then repeat the process. It may take several times for her to realize that there will be no more chicken, and that she must eat her food. Remember that you are not starving her–she is choosing not to eat. When she is hungry enough, she will. Do not give in or "feel sorry" for her. It will only make it harder to correct. She must have a nutritionally complete diet, and chicken is not sufficient.

Hi there and thank you for using PetCoach to address your question. Some dogs can be quite picky with their food and this could be due to texture, kibble size and flavor. I typically recommend offering all varieties of texture (wet and dry, crushed kibble vs. whole kibble) and offer various sizes and shapes of kibble. You can also add in chicken broth to hard food to help make it more enticing. If a homemade diet is all she will eat, then I recommend visiting www.balanceit.com and formulating a balanced diet along with the appropriate vitamin and mineral supplement that is sold on the website. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Yes, it is bad for his health because boiled chicken and rice is not a nutritionally complete food for dogs. He has decided what his diet will be, but that is not his job . . . it's yours. Stop feeding him the chicken and rice. Put regular dog food in a bowl on the floor without fuss and leave it for 15 minutes. After that time, pick it up whether he has eaten or not. Do not give him anything--no treats, snacks or human food--until his next scheduled mealtime. Then repeat the process. It may take several times for him to realize that there will be no more chicken and rice, and that he must eat his food. Remember that you are not starving him–he is choosing not to eat. When he is hungry enough, he will. Do not give in or "feel sorry" for him. It will only make it harder to correct. He must have a nutritionally complete diet, and chicken and rice is not sufficient.

Hi there and thank you for using Pet Coach to address your concern. Based on the description you have provided, I am not too concerned since she seems to eat anything but her kibble. Many times, this is a preference problem. Some dogs like kibble and some like canned food. Some dogs prefer home cooked food over canned or dry dog food. Flavor can also be a factor and size of the kibble. I would suggest by switching to a different sized kibble and see how she does. If she still won't eat, then I would recommend switching to a different flavored kibble. If you are still unable to get her to eat the dry food, then I would recommend you switch to a canned diet and see if Luna will eat the canned food. If you are still not able to get her to eat her food, I would recommend adding a probiotic such as Purina Fortiflora to the food as this makes food more palatable in addition to providing good bacteria to help aid in digestion. If you are still unable to get her to eat dog food, then I would recommend home cooked meals. I recommend using the following website: www . balanceit.com and use the free autobalancer along with purchasing a vitamin and mineral supplement through the website. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

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.

As long as she eats and is not losing weight, don't stress out over it. It is true that smaller breeds can be a bit more finicky. Switching foods would not be recommended as it can lead to gastrointestinal upset and reinforce her finicky nature. Instead, try mixing in a bit of warm water or a teaspoon of baby food to stimulate the appetite.