10 1/2 month old bulldog not eating out of bowl anymore, but will eat out of our hands..help!

[Mosley10]

Recently our vet had us switch Mosley off of puppy food and onto adult food, due to the fact that he was growing too fast, he was at 60 pounds when he was 9 months old. So when we switched he became a "grazer" where before he would get excited about food. For the past 2 weeks or so he started not really eating and leaving a lot of food in his bowl at his feeding time. We feed him 3 times a day. We assumed he didn't like his food, so we got him a new flavor. We are now feeding him Natural Balance Bison & Sweet Potato, before it was Duck & Potato. The first day he chowed and it seemed like he loved it. Yesterday he ate both his breakfast and lunch, and picked at dinner. Today he didn't eat his breakfast and the only way he would eat his lunch was if we put it in our hands to feed him. We feed him out of a stainless steel bowl, which is big enough to fit his head in. We are at a loss! Any suggestions?

 

[LariP]

How much are you giving him at each feeding?
Perhaps its just more and more often than he needs now.
HRH is small, so comparing her might not be apropos, but she eats twice a day. 3/4 to 1 cup each meal depending on if she's getting yogurt or not. The few times we have given her a third meal when we are eating lunch she has only gotten 1/2 cup and doesn't usually eat it all. So we also cut the dinner meal to 1/2 cup.

 

[karenben]

put a bit of fresh meat into his kibble,hand feeding is a no no as he will expect it all the time,if he doesnt eat after 20 mins then put it away till his next meal time,as hes big then try twice daily feeds ,,karen

 

[Lucy-licious]

I agree stop the hand feeding.
He will eat when he is hungry. As [MENTION=2242]karenben[/MENTION] says if he has not eaten within 20 minutes pick up his dish and leave him until next feed time. As puppies our dogs learn that if they don't eat fast there will be none to eat that's why they wolf their food down on sight. He just needs reminding that someone else will take his food if he doesn't eat it. Another trick a friend of mine used was while his dish is on the side pretend your trying some and make a big "yum yum" show of it, then put his bowl down. Leave it while he looks or sniffs then pick it back up and do the "yum, yum" show again. Repeat it 3-4 times each feed. It worked for her within a week. My friend had many problems with her boys, Olde English Sheepdogs, and got a trainer in to help. This was just one trick that worked.

 

[Davidh]

Some good advice above, i would only feed twice a day, now that he's getting older he go longer between meals. My Buddy Boy will do that now, we put his food down and sometimes he will eat and sometimes turns his nose up at it so we pick it up and at the next feeding time he usually will eat it all, but sometimes only eats half. We have tried different flavors and the same results. He is 2 years old and weighs 55 lbs. When he gets hungry he will eat. hope this helps.

 

[lexterwayne]

Lex will go in stages sometimes he will eat all if his food at once and sometimes he will nibble through out the day. We only feed once a day, we never pick up his food. If he gets hungry he knows where it will be.

 

[kim n the guys]

I feed my boys twice a day about a cup and half each time. I put their bow down for breakfast and leave it. Oliver doesn't like to eat right away in the morning and Sebastian does. That way their food bowls are down when he wants to eat, by dinner time their bowls are usually empty or pretty darn close. Then when they eat dinner, the bowls come back up after 20 minutes until morning. BTW, my boys are 6 months and Oliver is a very big boy probably around 50 + pounds right now.

 

[Mosley10]

Thanks for all the responses. His feedings are usually 1 cup in the morning, 3/4 cup in the afternoon, and 1 cup at night. Today is the first day we are trying to feed him 2 times a day. He nibbled on some of the food, but he knocked it off of the plate on to the floor and ate it. We are going to pick him up a bowl that is elevated off the ground, to see if that helps at all. We also made an appointment with his vet, just to have him checked out to make sure nothing is wrong. We are going to try some of the tips you guys provided and I will keep you posted. Thanks so much for the responses, it's greatly appreciated!

 

[bullmama]

Sometimes if they are not feeling well they will refuse to eat. As long as he is eating something, however, you should be okay. No more hand feeding unless you plan on doing that forever

 

[Mosley10]

Well we bought him a new bowl that stands up off the ground so he doesn't have to bend anymore. He ate almost 3/4 cup last night. This morning, he kept looking at my hands to feed him, but I restrained. He eventually took a few bites, but after 20 minutes we picked it up. We also tried the "Yummy, look at this food, it tastes so good!" and that seemed to get him intrigued and a little more excited than he has been. We aren't really sure why he started this all of a sudden, but we have a feeling that he is boycotting us because we stopped giving him peanut butter and cream cheese because we were trying to see if he had a food allergy or if it is a pollen allergy. We will keep up with your suggestions and hope that they work. Thanks again!

 

[laurendoodler]

Delilah does this occasionally.

Don't give into it! It leads to them being even pickier. Delilah is highly finicky about her food.

If he gets hungry enough, he'll eat it. Sometimes I try dropping a few treats in there and show her first..and I'll put them in the bottom of the bowl. She'll eat it all then, lol. Don't know if that's a good idea..but it works!

 

[Maximus]

You're not alone ! Maximus doesn't eat out of his bowl either .....and will only eat when hand-fed. Maximus is 18-months old. And he normally only eats once a day ..... at 9:00PM. He won't take food at any other time of day unless he is really
ravenous! Sometimes he will have a bit of food at 3:00PM, but normally he eats the most in the Evening.

 

[Mosley10]

Well we had to take Mosley to the ER vet yesterday morning. He refused to eat, had diarrhea, and threw up 3 times in a row, so we were a little concerned. Let me say on Sunday we gave him benadryl due to his severe pollen allergies, and he ate his whole bowl of food that night. But Monday morning we panicked. We brought him in and the ER vet treats multiple bulldogs (there was actually another one in for an ER visit too for throwing up and not eating), he was concerned that there might be something blocking his stomach, after x-rays they found nothing. They injected fluids between his skin for the day, they didn't want him drinking or eating to help him not throw up again. They did tell me to make him chicken and rice. Last night around 7 or so he walked to his food bowl, so I put 1/4 cup down and he chowed. He ate all of his food this morning, and most of it tonight. They still aren't sure what happened with him yesterday, but he's on an antibiotic for 5 days, so we will see how it turns out. Hopefully he continues to eat. Don't worry we aren't hand feeding him anymore!

 

[ABEBD]

Oh that is too funny!

"Another trick a friend of mine used was while his dish is on the side pretend your trying some and make a big "yum yum" show of it, then put his bowl down. Leave it while he looks or sniffs then pick it back up and do the "yum, yum" show again. Repeat it 3-4 times each feed. It worked for her within a week. My friend had many problems with her boys, Olde English Sheepdogs, and got a trainer in to help. This was just one trick that worked"

But it works with children also!

Good Day~

 

[ABEBD]

Hello,

Yes. Changed to 2x @ day. Bigger dogs don't just need more food.
I have a year old Bullie Boy that weighs 75 lbs and my Big BOY as an adult weighs 85 lbs ( really 90, but he is on a diet). Neither of these dogs will EVER be the 55-60 lb for a male. My dogs are of the bigger boned European and S.Africa pedigree. So, the weight does not concern me much.

As for feeding from your hands. jsut like others have said, stop.

They will eat when hungry.

Good Day~