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Other dog won't eat. Need help!

PeanutnCookie

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I know people don't really post questions on here about their dogs, but I have a problem.
We have had our mini schnauzer Bandit for 8 (He is 13 months old) months, and we have always had trouble getting him to eat. He doesn't run and gobble it up like most dogs would.

We have tried three different brands of food, BilJac, which he liked but got too expensive, Some sciencey one that we got tricked into buying and he ate one bowl of that then never again :(, and currently Iams. He stopped eating it, so we got it wet, and now he eats a little bit of it, but most of the time we have food left over from the morning before and he still won't eat it. Occasionally after not eating a whole bowl for several days, he eats a whole bowl.

We train him and he gets other dog treats and stuff, but he can't live off of that. Does anyone know how to make him eat? It's really worrying me. :eek:hmy::confused::sad: He is not on any medications, so it's not that. However we put some flea medicine on him last night because I think he got something from the dog park.
 

bpatters

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Cut out the dog treats, and don't feed him anything at all except his dog food. As long as he's getting something he likes at other times, he's not going to eat the stuff he considers yucky.
 

lunarminx

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That is my Boo....

He like homemade dog food, horrible store bought food((broken link removed) loves it. But mostly he will eat his food with a spoon of wet cat food on it. Him and the cat will only eat friskies' Mixed grill, they will walk away from everything else. When i clean out the upright freezer and find freezer burned meat, I cook the up and mixed veggies( soup veggies) and brown rice. I may also semi cook an egg and mix that in their food. You could try a spoon of codfish oil over the dry food. I save hamburger fat and use that too. I give any leftover meat I may throw away mixed in the dog food. I moved him to https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/4health-dog-food-dry/, he hates it but he hates everything mostly.
 

ClemmyOddieIndy

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Iams is really crappy food (along with anything Purina). I wouldn't feed it to the racoons outside. That's probably why he's not eating it. Biljac is actually not a good food either, and the "science" foods are just as bad. I used to work at PetSmart, so I'm only familiar with their store brand SimplyNourish, but it's a higher quality food with a cheaper price tag. Nutro products are decent too, and they have some that are more affordable. They also tend to offer good coupons.
 

EcthalionMCB

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I feed merrick to my dog the have one you can get at petco that's only like 10 a bag for a small bag here . My dog loves it. It's grain free.
 

aqh88

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Ewww junk food. Those brands are the equivalent of a human eating mcdonalds all the time. Try going to a feed store for taste of the wild. It's grain free but not very expensive. They eat less of the better quality foods and poop out a lot less filler so it usually evens out. Diamond naturals is a slightly lower quality but a bit cheaper food you can also find at feed stores. TOTW is in pet stores but it's like $10-20 more than a feed store. Sometimes you can find Before Grain which is equally good and usually not too expensive for a grain free food.

https://dogfoodanalysis.com/
(broken link removed)
 

lunarminx

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Ewww junk food. Those brands are the equivalent of a human eating mcdonalds all the time. Try going to a feed store for taste of the wild. It's grain free but not very expensive. They eat less of the better quality foods and poop out a lot less filler so it usually evens out. Diamond naturals is a slightly lower quality but a bit cheaper food you can also find at feed stores. TOTW is in pet stores but it's like $10-20 more than a feed store. Sometimes you can find Before Grain which is equally good and usually not too expensive for a grain free food.

https://dogfoodanalysis.com/
(broken link removed)

When I feed Boo his homemade food, he eats less and poops less, it stinks less too. His breath is better, so it seems some of his bad doggie breath is from his gut.
 

EcthalionMCB

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the merrick I feed is apparently a 4 starr anyway. but if I can find Taste of the Wild might switch my Jupiter to that. he gets itchy with grains
 

ThatGirlMarie

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I have a lot of friends who ONLY feed their dogs a raw meat diet, or homemade food. When I had a dog, she had lived on nutro-natural choice for the first 8 years of her life so I continued it and she liked it.

I'd cut out all treats though.
 

EcthalionMCB

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thank you for those two sites just spent the last little bit pouring over them. definitely switching to Taste of the Wild either the Wetlands or Prairie formula both count under the 6 star dry food category.
 

mamaduck71

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Does he get a good exercise? And I don't mean running around the back yard. A good walk or run. If not, get him moving and I'm sure he will eat to fuel up.
 

4cavies

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Maybe try wet food. Seeing as he sort of ate some that you wetted down, goes without eating, then gobbles some up after so long it sort of sounds to me that he may have teeth troubles. I had a cat that would do the same thing. Would eat a bit of his food, then stop, go a day without eating then seemed so hungry that he couldn't stand it anymore and eat some more. He definitely ate more if I wetted it, so I bought him wet food and he was so obviously grateful. I took him to the vet and he had some sort of gum disease and his teeth were loose and painful.
 

PeanutnCookie

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@4cavies We were thinking it was teeth, but he's only 1, so I thought it could be like loose teeth. Don't they have puppy teeth that fall out? My parents area ll about "the cheap stuff" so it would be hard to get them to give him wet food. They say he's becoming a diva and wet food sounds pretty diva-ish. Do you have any wet food recommendations? I might get them to let me try a can or two, since they are small. [MENTION=27327]lunarminx[/MENTION] again with the diva thing, I won't be able to make my own food...
@aqh88 I know the food is bad... But it's cheap and they sell it at Walmart. That's my dad's excuse anyway. I will try to get him onto something better asap, but we have a big bag that will go to waste... The closest feed store is 30 minutes away (or farther) maybe I could try to find pellets for under the pig fleece and get dog food at the same time.
 

PeanutnCookie

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@mamaduck71 He gets walked every day, and we play with him a lot. He loves chasing balls and a rope toy. And socks... Exercise is not the problem here.
 

hatley1717

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A good inexpencive food you can find a Wal Mart is Pure Balance....the chicken and rice is $16.88 for a 15lb bag....no corn or soy....i have a picky dog too, but he loves this....my dog wont sit and eat a whole bowl...he's a picker. Everytime he walks by just about he will eat a few pieces, then run and play. He does this all day. A dog will not starve themselves....if theres food there and theyre hungry they will eat. Just sounds to me like your dog is picky....but another possibillity is it could have worms/parasite. If changing food doesn't help, go to the vet.
 

aqh88

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One of my dogs does the wait until starving and then inhale food but she's done since I got her at 4months old and she's 9years old now. She just hates kibble and goes on kibble strikes frequently. We feed raw when things are available so sometimes all I can do is feed her frozen food until she decides kibble is edible again. Sometimes priming her stomach with a treat will make her go eat kibble. She realizes how hungry she is.
 

piggielover200

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We have had problems getting our dogs to eat as well. But the fact of the matter is if your dog is hungry he will eat, as long as you cut out treats. I recommend feeding meals, one in the morning and one at night. Leave the food out for 30 mins at a time and he will eventually catch on to the fact that is the only time he can eat. But please do make sure that he is 100% healthy before you make any diet or food changes. If he is 100% healthy he could just not be hungry. CHEAP FOOD IS NOT GOOD! Make sure you are feeding high quality food! I hope this helped we have many dogs in my family and this is the only way we have gotten them to eat like "normal" dogs, they used to ignore their food but now they gobble it up, and if they don't within 30 minutes it is picked up until the next feeding time.
 

PeanutnCookie

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@piggielover200 That is a good idea, but he gets hungry in the middle of the day, too. Would it hurt to try to feed him a little bit at lunch time too? :( I feel so bad that he'll will get too hungry. I don't think he will care if we take it away, he sniffs it and walks away anyways...

And my dad said no canned food because it's way more expensive. I will ask to try the pure balance stuff, though @hatley1717 He has been scratching more than usual, though so maybe he has some sort of parasite. I thought maybe he got fleas or something at the dog park, so we gave him flea medicine, but so far it doesn't seem to be doing anything.
 

piggielover200

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No I don't think it would hurt to do three meals! The point of picking it up is to show him that he only gets food at certain times. He will eat if he is hungry, so if he doesn't eat at one meal he has to wait for a LONG time to eat again. He will eventually catch on that he has to eat only when you offer it to him.

For the fleas look on his belly and go through his hair, if he has fleas you will see them. They make special madicated shampoo if he has them and all you do is bathe him in it and that will help.
 

Rayen

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And my dad said no canned food because it's way more expensive. I will ask to try the pure balance stuff, though @hatley1717 He has been scratching more than usual, though so maybe he has some sort of parasite. I thought maybe he got fleas or something at the dog park, so we gave him flea medicine, but so far it doesn't seem to be doing anything.

I highly suggest you get your dog to a vet for a good thorough check-up. Has your dog been tested for allergies? Cheaper dog foods tend to have a ton of fillers that many dogs are highly allergic to, which could be the reason for his scratching. Switching over to another similarly cheap dog food will not help if that is the case. You really need to know what you're looking at. If it is allergies, there may be other symptoms that aren't as obvious which could be the reason for his lack of interest in his dog food.
 
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