How To Feed a Dog That Won’t Eat. It’s something we will encounter at least once in our lives as dog owners, and in my opinion (possibly because of a cultural heritage that associates food with comfort and love) it’s one of the most frustrating of all problems. Our dog won’t eat. You need to rule out illness before embarking on solving a dog’s eating problem. My approach to such things is to first look for obvious, but often overlooked reasons (put another way, when hearing hoof beats, think horses not zebras). That’s why you want to check the dog for a bad tooth as this is often overlooked as a cause of an eating issue.
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Include the gums and throat while you’re at it. I offer a second caveat: Eating problems can be complex, the diagnosis often difficult.
The tips offered here are admittedly simplistic and you really should discuss them with your vet to see if any of them are a realistic remedy for your pet’s situation. Let’s assume that you have a healthy dog, but he’s just not a good eater.
Consider these potential reasons why that might be, and some solutions: If you feed your dog treats during the day, stop. You want your dog hungry at meal times. If you have a show dog whom you bait, remember that bait should be offered in tiny pieces, it’s not meant to be dinner. When it comes to meals, put the dog’s food bowl on the floor, give her ten minutes to eat it, and if it isn’t touched after ten minutes, pick it up and put it away.
Don’t feed her again until the next meal, and resist the temptation to give her treats. Do this for a whole week because what you’re doing here is behavior modification. Remember, a healthy dog won’t starve itself to death, but a stubborn, healthy dog could modify your behavior if you cave in; Change your dog food.
It’s possible your dog has grown tired of, or never really liked what you’re feeding; On the other hand, if you change commercial pet foods frequently, stop. Frequent diet changes can create a finicky eater. The dog learns to “hold out” to see what will be offered next because just maybe, it might be better the next time. Why, it could be a side of beef! If you must change his diet, do it gradually over a two- week period. Add a small amount of the new kibble to the old food each day, and the next day, increase the amount of the new feed while decreasing the amount of the old.
This gradual change will help prevent diarrhea, vomiting and finicky eating; As the old adage goes, a tired dog is a good dog. A tired dog can also be a hungrier dog, so step up the dog’s activity level if it’s not very active now. Play fetch, go for a walk, and even take a car trip to get the dog out. With picky eaters, it’s especially important to feed a “super premium” brand of dog food. These foods cost more, but they’re made with better ingredients and are nutritionally dense.
This means that your dog is actually eating less in quantity than he would of a cheaper brand bought at a super size stores (most of these foods have the nutritional value of bark), but because there are more “calories per cup” in a premium food, they’re actually getting more nutrition. I’d encourage you to learn for yourself how to assess an ingredient panel, and learn what the importance is of, say, protein percentages, “grain- free,” the meaning of “by products” or what fish/chicken meal are. Does your couch potato need kibble that is 2. Also consider mixing the dog’s kibble with a small amount of canned dog food with a bit of water to make it enticing with “gravy.” (this web site lists some canned dog food options: http: //www. Some picky eaters get the appetite of a sumo wrestler when their diet is switched over to a BARF diet, an acronym for “Biologically Appropriate Raw Food or Bones,” or “Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.
Raw dog dietsare controversial, but proponents of feeding raw meat, bones, fruits, and vegetables are zealous in their enthusiasm for the improvements they believe they see in their dogs. Racing greyhounds and sled dogs have long eaten raw food diets, and extending that feeding method to the family dog is a more recent idea attributed to the Australian veterinarian, Ian Billinghurst.
He believes that adult dogs thrive on a diet based on what canines ate before they became domesticated. BARF has its detractors, including some veterinarians and the FDA, and there are concerns over bacteria, which are easily addressed by a conscientious owner.
Personally, I don’t care because I don’t have a “cookie cutter” approach to dog food. She’s under a vet’s care, but the task of getting nutrition into her still falls on you each and every day. Now what? You must understand that the less a dog eats, the less he wants to eat. Let’s assume that your dog is on a high quality food but he’s still not eating. You may need to go to the next step: making dog food taste even better. Don’t make these next foods a daily staple because the high sodium content of many of them would be contra- indicated for dogs in renal failure or with heart issues. These foods have been tried and tested by people in the dog fancy and are suggested only as a means to jump start the appetite in a sick or compromised dog: Weruva canned dog food (human grade), sardines, canned cat food, Gerber’s baby food (especially turkey or sweet potato), Braunschweiger, Limburger Cheese, broth, pureed liver, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, yogurt, cottage cheese/cream cheese, canned mackerel, scrambled eggs with cream cheese, chicken noodle soup – and even this one: hard- boiled eggs smashed up in French Vanilla yogurt, slightly warmed.
Sometimes, you may need to “jump start” an appetite with something so enticing, it’s irresistible. Here is the original recipe for “Satin Balls,” one of the most requested recipes on Wellpet, Showdogs- L, Vet. Med, and other popular e- mail lists for serious dog people: 1. Total cereal. 1 large box oatmeal. Mix all ingredients together, much like you would a meatloaf. Divide the batch into 1. Thaw as needed and feed raw!
This isn’t a substitute for meals, it’s meant only to whet a dog’s appetite. If the dog is eating this eagerly, start mixing it with kibble gradually. The idea is to wean the dog off the Satin Balls and onto kibble. Next, I move on to “fixes” that come in a tube or pill. Remember, the point of these products is to stimulate an appetite. None are a long- term solution; Re- Vita products that are said to be effective for problem appetites; Pet- Tinic, is a liquid dietary supplement containing iron, copper and 5 essential vitamins. The palatable meat- flavored liquid is readily accepted, and one “tester” reported that it brought back her pet’s appetite almost immediately.
Because of its contents, you’ll want to have your vet’s approval before using this; Nutri- Cal, pure nutrition that squeezes out of a tube like toothpaste. Dogs like its taste, and it’s a quick way to get nutrition into a dog; When diluted with water, Dyne High Calorie Dietary Supplement (http: //www. What you’ll read next isn’t pleasant – but if you love your dog, you have to get nutrition into her. As far as I know, there are four ways to do this when the dog can’t eat on his own: Syringe food into the dog’s mouth; Stuff food down the dog’s throat; Hook the dog up to an IV; Insert a stomach tube. I’ve done all of them at one time or another. And they all stink, but they’re preferable to the alternative: A dog who wastes away and dies.
Syringing: You’ll need a couple of large syringes from your vet. Using canned food; determine the amount of food your dog needs to sustain his weight. Divide that amount in half, and spoon it into a blender (you and this blender will become inseparable over the coming days). For each meal, gently syringe the puree into the side of the dog’s mouth. Or, you can cut to the chase if the dog resists. Pry the dog’s mouth open and squeeze the syringe plunger down so that the food trickles to the side and back of the dog’s mouth.
It takes a bit of time to get the hang of this since you don’t want the dog to aspirate food into his lungs. Speak to the dog soothingly and praise him when you’re done. Remember, it’s not the dog’s fault he’s unable to eat, and it’s only temporary until his appetite comes back.
Stuffing: This is my least favorite means of getting food into a dog because it’s messy and degrading. Some people get really good at doing this – and some dogs who just don’t eat well become so used to eating this way that they’ll stand calmly, lift up their little heads and open their mouths like guppies in anticipation for the next “bomb.” Since all that matters is getting nutrition into the dog, you do what works. An IV hook up: This is a “no brainer.” At this point, a dog is so ill that an IV is about the last resort. It is no substitute for the calories gotten from real food, but sometimes it acts like a Band- Aid until the dog is back on his feet and able to eat on his own; Nasal Gastric Tube, Esophogostomy or BARD Stomach tube: Proverbially speaking, this is what separates the men from the boys. When I was faced with a dog whose heart medication caused anorexia but who was otherwise healthy, I had little choice but to pull out all the stops.
Syringe feeding, food bombs – these were not long term solutions. Guided by my vet, we made a difficult but informed decision to insert a stomach tube. Mind you, at the time I believed it was only a short- term fix until my dog ate on his own. The BARD system fits flush against the skin. The first tube we put in was an ugly, brown narrow hose that was SO long, it had to be wrapped around my dog’s mid section and secured in place with a lady’s tube top. I prepared my dog’s food as if I was going to syringe it into his mouth, only it was syringed into the tube that had been inserted into his stomach. In less than a week, the dog knew the sound of the blender, knew what was coming and would lie down on his side in preparation for his meal.