My puppy won't eat her kibble. Is she a picky eater or something else?

I am happy Luna is feeling better but a picky eater can be very frustrating. In my experience most dogs will not starve themselves. Changing foods often or back and forth Luna is learning if she does not eat she will get a better or different food. If the vet told you she is healthy I would start some touch love on her. I would get a food you want to feed and put it out for her. If she does not eat for 1-2 days than I would not be concerned. Typically once Luna realizes she is not getting anything else she will eat. Also if LUna is holding her body weight I do not get overly concerned. My own dogs will eat fast one day and slow or not at all the next. I think dogs will sometimes change there eating habits and this is okay as long as they are maintain weight and are still happy and healthy. I hope that helps

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!

Your instincts are right on this one. It sounds like she is just a [picky eater](https://www.petcoach.co/article/my-pet-is-a-finicky-eater). Small breed dogs tend to be picky eaters, and this is accentuated when the owner gives in and feeds people food. I know it is hard, but you have to try and slowly break this habit by refusing to give her the boiled chicken and only her dog food. Most dogs can go up to 3 days without eating and most will give in within a day or two when they realize nothing else is coming and their only option is the [dog food](https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food) that is available to them. It sounds cruel, but this is the only way to break this habit. You can also make sure that you are offering highly palatable, high quality [dog food](https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/category/dog/dog-food). Typically grocery store brands are generic and low quality. Try foods like Royal Canin, Blue Buffalo, Halo, or Evo to see if these appeal to her picky nature. You can add canned food to her dry kibble to entice her to want to eat it regularly.

Thank you for your question. There are some dogs that are very picky eaters, including mine. You can approach this a couple of different ways. You can decide to stick to one food and take the approach that Kimi will eat it when he is hungry. If you choose to do this, you need to avoid adding anything to the food, or he will simply wait until you add something to eat it. At his age, I would be comfortable letting him go 48 hours without eating before giving in and adding something to encourage him to eat. The second approach would be to recognize that he gets bored with his food and rotate through foods. You can find a brand with multiple flavors. Or you can change between brands. If you change between brands, I recommend adding some of the new food to the old food for a few days. Lastly, there are some dogs that only eat once a day, and if that is all he is interested in, that is okay too. He will eat when he is hungry, and as long as his weight is stable, and there are no other symptoms (such as vomiting or diarrhea), I wouldn't be concerned. For the barking, I recommend ignoring her when she barks. If she receives attention for this behavior it will continue. Here is a link to an article on barking. https://www.petcoach.co/article/5-tips-to-stop-excessive-barking-in-dogs/ I hope this helps. Thanks for using PetCoach.

It is likey just that - him being picky and stubborn. I would see if he would at least eat canned food. Canned food is at least more of a balance diet than just chicken and rice. If he doesn't eat, be sure to give him some nutrical to help keep his blood sugar up since he is so tiny. It will likely take you becoming stubborn as well to get him to transition to regular diet, but you don't want him to miss too many meals. You could also slowly mix in some soften kibbles with the chicken to help him get use to the taste and over a few weeks, decrease the amount of water you use to soft the kibbles and decrease the chicken as well. If you end up just cooking for him, I would visit balanceit.com to ensure he is getting a balanced diet. I hope this helps !

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.

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.