Help! Our dog won't eat :(

[KuttersMommy]

Okay, so my fiancé and I are staying with my mother in law while we build our house. We've "adopted" her dog, which is now our baby! I simply cannot get him to eat.. Before we started taking care of him, my mother in law fed him table scraps (BIG no-no!). We finally convinced her that he needs dog food and that hot dogs and Vienna sausages are bad for him! (it took forever to convince her of this). The bad part is..she feeds him Moist & Meaty. It's SO bad for him! The first ingredient is by-product. I bought him some Wellness Grain-Free but he HATES it! He will not eat dog food that is good for him. If we give him nothing but the Wellness, he will literally go a week without eating and then I worry about him! Will he not eat because he knows human food tastes better? What should I do???



Love,
Kayla & Kutter

 

[bullmama]

I would try adding a good canned food with it. Put the food down for 30 mins and then put it up until the next meal, absolutely no food in between. Good luck, keep us posted

 

[KuttersMommy]

I would try adding a good canned food with it. Put the food down for 30 mins and then put it up until the next meal, absolutely no food in between. Good luck, keep us posted

Thanks! Should I try the Wellness canned food since that's the dry food I give? I've tried this before, but he just puts his nose (or lack of one) in the air and won't eat. Ugh! It's so hard to see him not eat!


Love,
Kayla & Kutter

 

[traciehorne]

Try some vegetable or chicken broth.. warm it up and put it on his food.. perhaps that may entice him a little.. And BRAVO to you for converting him from table scraps to a healthy diet!! GREAT JOB!!
He will come around - it's just going to take some time. :D

 

[BruceP]

yes,, use the Welllness canned along with the kibble. Best of luck and let us know if it works.

 

[KuttersMommy]

Try some vegetable or chicken broth.. warm it up and put it on his food.. perhaps that may entice him a little.. And BRAVO to you for converting him from table scraps to a healthy diet!! GREAT JOB!!
He will come around - it's just going to take some time. :D

Thank you! He is such a stubborn punk! I know how bad that other food is for him, and I don't want to lose him because he doesn't eat right!


Love,
Kayla & Kutter

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

I agree with [MENTION=2]desertskybulldogs[/MENTION] ...he will eat when he gets hungry enough. And that should be good food. No treats!!

 

[KuttersMommy]

Thanks for the quick responses, guys! The hard part now is to get my mother in law to stick to this plan as well! She always breaks down and gives him the dollar-store food! *Grrrrr*


Love,
Kayla & Kutter

 

[Libra926]

Controlled feeding! That's the key. He won't starve.....he may just be stubborn, but he will eat. It's kinda like going from cookies, candy, hamburgers, hotdogs, soda and chocolate milk for every single meal for the first part of your life..then being told "NO MORE". Only healthy good stuff from now on. Who wouldn't put up a stink?

Make sure you do a slow introduce on the new food. Mix it in slowly. Eventually weeding out the bad food and only leaving the good food. Start by switching out 1/4 of the food for a few days, then 1/2 for a few days then 3/4 for a few days then 100% of the meal is all Wellness.

 

[KuttersMommy]

Controlled feeding! That's the key. He won't starve.....he may just be stubborn, but he will eat. It's kinda like going from cookies, candy, hamburgers, hotdogs, soda and chocolate milk for every single meal for the first part of your life..then being told "NO MORE". Only healthy good stuff from now on. Who wouldn't put up a stink?

Make sure you do a slow introduce on the new food. Mix it in slowly. Eventually weeding out the bad food and only leaving the good food. Start by switching out 1/4 of the food for a few days, then 1/2 for a few days then 3/4 for a few days then 100% of the meal is all Wellness.

Thanks! So how many times a day should I feed him? We waste a lot of food that we set out for 20-30 minutes that he REFUSES to eat. Sometimes he won't even eat the food that is bad for him! He is such a picky eater and we are having such a hard time with him :/

 

[Libra926]

He's old enough to only be fed twice daily. Once in the morning..then 12 hours later. If his weight is good, probably between 1/2 to 1 cup twice daily. After 30 minutes...seal it up and put it in the fridge. If there is enough of the old food mixed with a small amount of the good food, he shouldn't realize the difference. You could even do smaller increments and do it for longer than a few days. Offer him carrots and green beans also. There is a stew that my pups love on any given day and it's good for them.. Check out the Vegas stew link and it might also help with the transitions from bad to good.

 

[KuttersMommy]

He's old enough to only be fed twice daily. Once in the morning..then 12 hours later. If his weight is good, probably between 1/2 to 1 cup twice daily. After 30 minutes...seal it up and put it in the fridge. If there is enough of the old food mixed with a small amount of the good food, he shouldn't realize the difference. You could even do smaller increments and do it for longer than a few days. Offer him carrots and green beans also. There is a stew that my pups love on any given day and it's good for them.. Check out the Vegas stew link and it might also help with the transitions from bad to good.

Thank you! I'm gonna try it.. He is more stubborn than a teenager LOL

 

[KuttersMommy]

Update! So, last night we tried the wet food over the dry and he did NOT want anything to do with that (Haha) so then I got the bright idea.. I cooked up some chicken breast, and mixed it with the Wellness. Lo & behold! He ate the whole plate! So then this morning, I scrambled some eggs and mixed it in with the Wellness. Once again, he ate it! I'm gonna SLOWLY use this and hopefully he eats only the Wellness food.

The picture I took this morning, food is everywhere, and he was moving so it's blurry, but the food is eaten. I'm a happy mommy


Love,
Kayla & Kutter

 

[Libra926]

Update! So, last night we tried the wet food over the dry and he did NOT want anything to do with that (Haha) so then I got the bright idea.. I cooked up some chicken breast, and mixed it with the Wellness. Lo & behold! He ate the whole plate! So then this morning, I scrambled some eggs and mixed it in with the Wellness. Once again, he ate it! I'm gonna SLOWLY use this and hopefully he eats only the Wellness food.

The picture I took this morning, food is everywhere, and he was moving so it's blurry, but the food is eaten. I'm a happy mommy

Love,
Kayla & Kutter

Did you mix the old food with the new food, or just do a hard switch?

 

[cali~jenn]

Sounds like you have solved this problem already. If he tires or you tire of cooking for him, try adding in some canned pumpkin or yogurt or cottage cheese also, just little bits here and there. Make sure you do a slow switch or you will have a mess to deal with, unless you plan on cooking for him every meal. I think @desertskybulldogs did the transition to new food using chicken and rice as her base food since she ran out of the previous and had to do a hard switch. This will get him off the food fast and his tummy will still be settled.