Other dog won't eat. Need help!

[piggielover200]

Yesssss defiantly ^^^^^

 

[4cavies]

[MENTION=33360]PeanutnCookie[/MENTION] I'm not to familiar with dog foods anymore, but maybe you can convince your parents to buy a can or two and see how he takes it. If he is by far more interested in it than the kibble, I would kind of lean towards teeth problems. He can have them, even at a young age. My cat had done it since he was a kitten. It would also help to rule out whether or not he might have a parasite like someone else mentioned. His appetite would be gone whether or not you gave him something he liked. With worms, animals will eat and eat but not put on any weight, so I kind of doubt it's that. If it turns out that he likes the wet food, a way you can save money on it is by mixing kibble in with half a can of wet and let it sit for about ten minutes before serving it to him. Then you can save the rest of the can, wrapped up in the fridge. But I would still recommend taking him to the vet. If a dog isn't eating and you're offering him a wide variety, I would kind of assume there must be something wrong. Especially as he doesn't seem to get hungry enough to gulp down a whole bowl of food after awhile. Even if he does go for the wet, you should still check it out to see if it is his teeth, the vet would probably be able to help you there.

 

[ClemmyOddieIndy]

You should tell your parents it's cheaper to by a high quality food in the long run. 1) because the dog will eat less and poo less. 2) google Beneful lawsuits and show them what happens when you skimp on quality foods 3) if he's not eating the food now you're wasting money.

If you have any small local food stores you should contact them and ask if they have any food samples available. I once got enough free samples from one store to feed my cat for almost a month.

 

[lunarminx]

Best for food allergies is a raw diet!

 

[PeanutnCookie]

It's not allergies, I can tell you that. His appetite has been going back and forth. Sometimes he eats a whole plate dry, sometimes a few wet plates, sometimes a nibble. I think he gets bored with the taste of the food or something. I've been waiting for the food level to go down before I get anything else. [MENTION=34152]4cavies[/MENTION] I asked about getting a couple wet cans, and my dad said no because it is way more expensive than dry food. It's not his teeth, either because he has eaten dry plates of food recently (in the past two weeks). [MENTION=27350]ClemmyOddieIndy[/MENTION] What store did you get samples from? That sounds like a good idea.

 

[ClicknCavy]

Hi! I come from a dog training background, so I might be able to help you out! If you ruled out health problems, you can try the following below:

1. Put a very small amount of kibble in a bowl (enough for a mouthful), feel free to flavor them as you wish.
2. Wait for him to eat it.
3. As soon as he finishes the bowl, open the fridge and plop in something he cannot resist. (Pieces of steak for example).
4. Wait until he's calmed down from eating that awesome treat and then repeat.
5. As soon as he's regularly gobbling the food up to make the treat appear, you can add more kibbles per bowl or put in less flavoring on the kibble.

You are training your dog that emptying a bowl = chance for something super yummy.
If he doesn't eat the small amount of kibble, just try again later without changing anything to what you originally did (if you added a topping, add it again; if you didn't, then don't add one now).

 

[StarTaleMaddnes]

So I have a random suggestion, my dog is a super picky eater. She's been on a million different foods on the full spectrum of quality. The trick I used to get her to eat, was a little bit of bacon or hamburger grease (Just save it in an empty can or how ever you usually do.d Then every morning when you feed your dog take about half a spoonful and melt it in a microwave safe custard dish.) Pour the bacon grease over the food and mix it in a little, just to add a bit of flavor to it. Does your dog like cheese? I sprinkle a handful of cheddar cheese over Scouts food every morning to get her to eat. She loves it. Now she's so used to the cheese that I don't need to do the bacon grease anymore, but it still makes a good treat at night. Some dogs are really picky, and some aren't. Is he still on puppy food? Puppy food tends to be blander in flavor so it may be time to transfer her to the adult food if you haven't already.

 

[AnnikasMommy]

My dogs are grazers. If they get hungry they will eat. I'm not sure how old you are but maybe you find ways to make your own money and buy better quality dog food for your dog. You can either make raw food which there are tons of recipes online OR you can find a quality food. We use 4 Health which I purchase from Tractor Supply.

 

[PeanutnCookie]

@StarTaleMaddnes He is on adult food, we actually accidentally started too early when he was about 9 months old. He is now 14 months by the way. I have tried putting cheese and sometimes little pieces of lunch meat in the food, but he picks it out instead of eating everything with it. Tonight I will try what @ClicknCavy suggested and @AnnikasMommy I am switching him to a better food ASAP

 

[AnnikasMommy]

It's a learning curve with pets. I know until I researched I thought all dog foods were created equal. Kind of like piggie food... I don't know what we did before the Internet

 

[PeanutnCookie]

I was just looking up dog foods, and one of the brands someone suggested on here was Pure Balance. They have different formulas of the food, the cheapest being chicken and brown rice. I saw they have a small dog formula, but it was more expensive and they (Walmart) only sell a 9lb bag, no bigger. So my question is, do small dogs need the small dog formula? He is a mini schnauzer, but eats big chunks of other stuff.

 

[PeanutnCookie]

Haha yes same here. [MENTION=34523]AnnikasMommy[/MENTION] Good thing this forum came into existence, or my pets would not be very happy right now...

 

[ClicknCavy]

[MENTION=33360]PeanutnCookie[/MENTION] -- it depends on the small dog food (it's never an easy answer with dog food).

Some small dog foods are made for the tiny tinies (like the little Chihuahuas and Min-pins, etc.) which need nutrient and calorie dense food in several meals so they don't get hypoglycemia.
Other small dog foods are formulated to be the same as regular dog food, nutritionally, but they have smaller bites, making it easier for the small dog to eat and chew.

It's easy to see which one is better for a small dog. Now, about miniature schnauzers... they typically do fine with regular dog food given their body size, so you do have more options and can probably use any of the Pure Balance foods for your dog. The kibbles are not very large for any of the PB foods, as I have experience with feeding that food to my dog in his kibble rotation

 

[UniqueCavy]

How much food do you give him?
Make him eat his food and in ten minutes if he hasn't finished it all just take it away. He will learn eventually that he needs to eat it straight away or it will get taken from him and he'll be starving for the rest of the day. Add a raw egg in his biscuits and mix it around. Eggs are also really good for their coats.

 

[Paula]

If you can get your parents to consider a raw meat diet, I strongly suggest giving it a try. It is the healthiest way of feeding and the most species appropriate. You would see SO many health and behavior benefits in your dog, you can't even imagine and you likely wouldn't ever have a picky eater again.

And it can be very cheap, I feed three big dogs (totalling 190 lbs) for between $.90 and $1.25 per day, max, and often cheaper.

 

[PeanutnCookie]

[MENTION=34584]UniqueCavy[/MENTION] He gets about 1/3 cup of food per meal. I don't know what the recommended amount is, but if he gets any more than this, he won't eat it. And also, my dad doesn't like it if we give him "too much" (more than a level scoop) and blames it on us (me and my siblings) if he doesn't eat. This weekend I will probably go find some Pure Balance for him.
[MENTION=7434]Paula[/MENTION] If my parents let me, how exactly do I do a raw meat diet? I have heard of people doing it, but I'm not exactly sure how I would do it myself.

 

[Konungarike]

I'm not experienced with homemade raw food, but a friend of mine buys BARF for dogs and stores the packages in the freezer. It's essentially raw food for dogs, but without the hassle of having to prepare it yourself. All you have to do is take a packet out for thawing a day in advance. Here's a link to their website.

 

[Paula]

There isn't a "hassle" and commercially prepared raw foods tend to be WAY more expensive than raw feeding.

Getting started can be overwhelming but once you have the hang of it it's no big deal. Basically you feed a percentage of meat/bones/organs. There is a lot of good info on it online. There are two schools of thought - BARF and prey model raw. The latter is more sensical and easier, for me.

 

[Konungarike]

There isn't a "hassle" and commercially prepared raw foods tend to be WAY more expensive than raw feeding.

Getting started can be overwhelming but once you have the hang of it it's no big deal. Basically you feed a percentage of meat/bones/organs. There is a lot of good info on it online. There are two schools of thought - BARF and prey model raw. The latter is more sensical and easier, for me.

Oh, okay. I learned about raw food for dogs in school and I remember it being quite a bit of work to get the balances right. Sorry about that!

 

[mmas4]

Prey model raw is pretty simple. You feed about 80% muscle meat, 10% bone and 10% organs. If the dog gets 2 meals a day that roughly breaks down to 8 bone in meals, 5 boneless meals and 1 organ meal a week. To begin you want to feed a single protein source. Most people go with chicken because its cheap. If you feed too much variety too soon, the dog might have diarrhea. So stick with chicken only for a couple weeks and then you can start adding in new protein sources one at a time.