Help for Picky Eater

[SRipplinger]

Hi Everyone

I need some advice from the experts :D As I have already posted my Angel is no picky eater --she is my "health food rottie"!!!

But one of her female littermates is completely the opposite so I thought I would try to get her owner some advice. She is 11 months old, weight about 70 lbs. I am going to paste the text from the owners email below:

"Normally she picks at her food and we would be lucky if she ate 1 cup on dry food a day. She looks and acts healthy, still energized, etc.
I've tried cottage cheese and she picks at it too. I've tried numerous dry dog foods: Canidae, Innova, Nutro Max. I'm trying Natural Balance and AvoDerm today. My handler said to put Tuna in it, but I'm guessing she'll just eat the Tuna and leave the kibble. I want her to eat at least one brand of kibble dog food out there. "

I have had Angel on Canidae from day one and had wonderful results, but as you can see from his message she doesnt like it either.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks

:)

[AngelBunny]

SRipplinger:

11 mo old and 70 lbs?? That seems like one big girl to me. Maybe she's not eating because she's not hungry. My youngest girl, 3 yo +/-, abt 23" weighs 64 lbs; our oldest, 4 yo +/-, abt 25" weighs 71.5 lbs.

Perhaps dog's owners should put down her food for 5 minutes, let her eat what she wants, then pick the bowl up, and dog doesn't see any food til the next meal. All that futzing her owners have done w/ her food might have created a picky eater.

[tilerspop]

I'm certainly no expert by anyones vivid imagination, but I had the same problem with Tiler. He would only eat canned food. I started mixing the canned and dry at 75% canned to 25% dry and slowly increased the dry. You must mix it vigorously to get the canned all over the dry, otherwise you will find the canned gone and the dry still there!
When I got to 75% dry I started making a gravy out of the canned and poured it over the dry. We then progressed to dry only with fat free chicken broth over it. I also discovered that Tiler loves brown gravy from a dry mix on his food, but from another thread, it was recommended not to do this as the preservatives weren't that good for him. Now he's eating the dry alone or with water, although he still prefers it with some chicken broth. It also helped if the mix was slightly warm

All of the above was done with Canidae products (except the chicken broth)

Good luck, I hope this helps

[joquendo]

I had that problem with one of my picky eaters - it was a real challenge to find a dog food she liked, I tried pretty much all the good kibbles out there (it was costing me a fortune and a lot of time, effort and worry (as I was worried about how much nutrition she was getting), I had this for 3 years with her until I switched them all to RAW 8 months ago.. its definately not a problem now - the bowl is clean in 5 minutes.

[mark_sherry]

I tried pretty much all the good kibbles out there (it was costing me a fortune and a lot of time, effort and worry (as I was worried about how much nutrition she was getting), I had this for 3 years with her until I switched them all to RAW 8 months ago.. its definately not a problem now - the bowl is clean in 5 minutes.

Very true! They definitely lose much pickiness when being fed a raw diet.

In regards to the dog in question, I think 70 pounds at 11 months is about right. The breed standard calls for a female to weight between 80-100 pounds, and growth begins to level out somewhat and proceed much more gradually between 12-16 months. If the dog is at a good weight as it seems to be, then I don't think the person who's asking you for help is being totally honest about the situation. The dog is getting extra food from somewhere to add or keep on the weight. It's certainly not getting it from 1 cup of kibble per day. Perhaps they're table feeding her more than they realize. But something's up, or she'd be losing weight, especially if they say she's still active and energized. Doesn't sound like a dog that's not getting energy from somewhere. If pickiness is a problem at meals, then have them take the food up after five or ten minutes and wait to feed her at the next meal time. If she's not getting a lot of snacks, then she'll figure it out sooner than later.

Mark

[TrishB]

I've always been of the opinion that 99% of picky eaters are created by their owners.

It normally starts when they're puppies. The owners put down the food and leave it there, all the time. The bowl is never empty, it is always available. Then they start to notice that the pup isn't cleaning the bowl - so they start to add things to it. The pup gobbles it because it's new. But again, they leave it out all the time, the pup loses interest. Then they change the diet altogether. And so on and so on.

Feed your pup. If it leaves the food after 10 minutes - pick it up and bring it back a few hours later. Your dog needs to know that they have to eat what you give them, when you give it to them!

Constantly changing diets only encourages them to lose interest in a diet so that they can get something else.

Now if there's a medical reason for changing - of course do it. That goes without saying.

Healthy dogs will eat if they are hungry. Trust them to eat and they will. Altering their diet constantly isn't good for them.

An 11 month old pup at 70 lbs is not an unhealthy dog. She's obviously eating enough to keep weight on (maybe too much?). If your vet says that they're healthy, then you have to trust that she's eating enough to keep herself. If she's leaving it behind, she doesn't need it and you're overfeeding. ;)