Young dog not eating

fozzle

We've a male Shih-Tzu who's just turned one year old. The last month or so he's been less and less interested in his food. We've tried every brand of wet and dry food we can find and it doesn't make a difference. We tried leaving the same dish of food there all day instead of changing it in the evening and he just didn't eat. He'll eat some of the cat's food if we leave it down low (usually it's on a little table for her so he can't steal it.) but even then he doesn't eat much of it. He ate all round him when he was growing but now he's not growing he's not putting on any bulk at all and he's so slight! He knows the word "dinner" and gets all excited and then just looks at the food. We've found if we stand over him and praise him he'll at least have a taste of it, but he rarely has more than a couple of mouthfulls.

Anyone got any tips? We haven't really noticed any decrease in his giddiness and energy, but I'm still worried.

Thanks.

andreac

Hi there, firstly i would stop changing the food all the time as the poor dog doesnt know whats going on.

Find one brand and stick to it, the dog needs a couple of weeks to get used to a new food.

What to do is set a routine, and meal times.

Put down the food, dont mix anything into the food at all as a dog will not go hungry, trust me, he will eat, now it could take a few days, but they will get the message. It took my dog 3 days before he would eat his food without nice things mixed in, as he had got fussy and would only eat with nice things mixed in to it.

So when you put down the food, just leave it down for about 20 mins, and whether the dog ahs eaten it or not, take it back up again, and offer NOTHING, not even a treat til next mealtime.

The dog will soon learn that this is all he is getting and will soon get the message and then eat his food. You need to be strict and set the routine from the start and not give in. As i said, the dog will not go hungry.

Dont make a fuss of him trying to get him to eat as you are only encouraging fussy behaviour. Even if he eats a little mouthful here and there, take it back up after about 20 mins, he will soon learn to eat it all up or it gets taken away.

Do not allow the dog to free feed, ie leave food with him all day, he needs to learn to eat up whats put down for him or he doesnt get anything until next mealtime.

This process can take a few days to sink in, so dont panic if the dog doesnt eat for a day or so.
Until a routine is established and the dog starts eating i would offer nothing bar his food at mealtimes, so no treats or extra goodies.

mymo

Hi, my 15month old dog went through this few months ago. Got quite thin but still mad, I went to the vet just incase. He said he seemed healthy but there could be medical causes or he could be just a fussy eater. He was very thin and he said to try too feed him up with different food and if he still wasn't interested, bring him back.
I got some cheap bits of meat and cooked them up like casserole with brown rice and veg, then added a little(couple of spoons) to the food. He ate that fine and started to put on weight so I now know he was just fussy. We have since got another pup and he eats better now, but still not as much as feeding guide.

Forgot to say, he now eats the dry on its own, don't keep adding stuff, this was only to put the weight back on. If you can get the best brand you can afford.

anniehoo

Good advice there Andreac but my advice is if after 3 days of the same continual food id be worried if hes still picky. How are his stools? Gross question i know but you can tell alot by them.

andreac

Yep, deffo Anniehoo, if the dog goes much longer than that then there is prob something up and i would get him checked out by the vet, i only mentioned 3 days as my rottie didnt eat for 3 days, holding out for something tastier, even his belly was grumbling but i wouldnt give in, so 3 days later he did and started eating.

Dogs are clever and know us owners feel sorry for them and dont want to see them go hungry.
But if the dog is in good form and poo's etc are good, then i would think the dog is just being fussy.

fozzle

Thanks guys. I should have been more clear, we haven't been changing his food every day, but maybe once a week, but I'll take your advice andreac and try the food for more than a week. I'll start taking the food back after 20 minutes and see if he gets the hint. Mymo, glad to hear someone else has been in the situation. Thankfully we aren't restricted to buying cheap food, if we were we'd probably sell the car before giving poor quality food to one of our darlings.

andreac

Fozzle, what brand are you feeding at the moment?

Even changing once a week isnt good, as when changing over to new food it needs to be donr gradually to allow the dog to get used to new food so it doesnt upset their tummy.

fozzle

andreac wrote: »

Fozzle, what brand are you feeding at the moment?

Even changing once a week isnt good, as when changing over to new food it needs to be donr gradually to allow the dog to get used to new food so it doesnt upset their tummy.

At the moment he's eating Winalot. My husband tried him on it just over a week ago and it was the first one he ate a decent amount of, but he's pretty much stopped again, except when he steals a mouthfull or two of the cat's food. He's had Pedigree, Brandy, Royal Canin, one from the vet's that I've forgotten the name of, god, I can't even remember what else.

mymo

It is a worry I know, my fella was very thin and you could feel every bone protruding(he's very hairy so couldn't see how thin) and vet was bit worried. He mentioned blood tests, so rule out the "fussy" possibility as soon as you can. Changing food should be done gradually over a week or so or he could get upset tum.
I don't have exact same feeding time every day as we travel a bit and daily schedule can change daily, but if I put down food and its not gone in 10 mins up it comes for couple of hours at least.
Best of luck.

anniehoo

fozzle wrote: »

except when he steals a mouthfull or two of the cat's food.

Loads of dogs are the same...love cat food. I dont know whether its the added taurine in it or its just tastier..mines the same. It sounds like you've done the rounds with the brands. Try mixing a dry dog food with some cat food (it wont do any harm) and see how you get on.

andreac

Tbh, winalot wouldnt be a very good quality food, is it the dry or wet stuff, as that wet stuff has absol no nutritional value at all for dogs, its made up of mostly water.

I would recommend you get a good quality dry food from the pet shop like Red Mills, Burns, Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved, etc.

ANy of that food in the supermarket like pedigree, Brandy, etc is very cheap food and isnt high in nutrional value at all, and is full of fillers and artificial colours and flavours so i would avoid them if at all possible.

fozzle

mymo wrote: »

It is a worry I know, my fella was very thin and you could feel every bone protruding(he's very hairy so couldn't see how thin) and vet was bit worried. He mentioned blood tests, so rule out the "fussy" possibility as soon as you can. Changing food should be done gradually over a week or so or he could get upset tum.
I don't have exact same feeding time every day as we travel a bit and daily schedule can change daily, but if I put down food and its not gone in 10 mins up it comes for couple of hours at least.
Best of luck.

Wow, you really were in the same situation. Our fella looks good and stocky but if you run your hands down his sides he's all skin and bone. And our shifts are pretty changeable so while we try to feed at the same time, it can vary a bit. I hope that isn't part of the problem. The morning feed rarely varies, if it's late the squeeky toy comes out and is squeeked to wake us. But then he still won't eat the food. And his evening meal can be pretty changeable time-wise.

fozzle

andreac wrote: »

Tbh, winalot wouldnt be a very good quality food, is it the dry or wet stuff, as that wet stuff has absol no nutritional value at all for dogs, its made up of mostly water.

I would recommend you get a good quality dry food from the pet shop like Red Mills, Burns, Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved, etc.

ANy of that food in the supermarket like pedigree, Brandy, etc is very cheap food and isnt high in nutrional value at all, and is full of fillers and artificial colours and flavours so i would avoid them if at all possible.

We've tried Royal Canin (the Shih-Tzu specific one) and another dry food from the vet's. The vet's one we tried when he was a pup (it was puppy food) and we followed the vet's assistant's advice on mixing to get him used to it and once we passed a 50-50 mix he lost interest. Now that he's not eating much he's entirely lost his appetite for the dry food.

anniehoo

andreac wrote: »

ANy of that food in the supermarket like pedigree, Brandy, etc is very cheap food and isnt high in nutrional value at all, and is full of fillers and artificial colours and flavours so i would avoid them if at all possible.

Im divided on this opinion tbh. My dog is 14 and will not touch for love nor money any of the expensive brands.She loves Brandy and i hate buying it but its given to her every now and then if shes being picky.Yeh supermarket food isnt at all the ideal food (because of the additives) but im not one for making people feel guilty for feeding their dogs it. It has perfectly adequate levels of every nutrient,carbohydrate and protein level.

My dog has a glossy coat, hardly any tartar, good even body weight,normal stools and high energy levels..even at 14 so i wouldnt feel bad for feeding her so called low quality foods. She gets cooked chicken, beef, veg randomly aswell so she has a decent (not perfect by any means) diet.

mymo

Have you checked his mouth/teeth?
Will he chew things? maybe a tooth or mouth problem?
Soft food smells nicer and is easier to eat so they will always prefer it.
I feed royal canin and find it great, they don't need to eat much of it.

andreac

anniehoo wrote: »

Im divided on this opinion tbh. My dog is 14 and will not touch for love nor money any of the expensive brands.She loves Brandy and i hate buying it but its given to her every now and then if shes being picky.Yeh supermarket food isnt at all the ideal food (because of the additives) but im not one for making people feel guilty for feeding their dogs it. It has perfectly adequate levels of every nutrient,carbohydrate and protein level.

My dog has a glossy coat, hardly any tartar, good even body weight,normal stools and high energy levels..even at 14 so i wouldnt feel bad for feeding her so called low quality foods. She gets cooked chicken, beef, veg randomly aswell so she has a decent (not perfect by any means) diet.

Im not making anyone feel guilty, im just saying it wouldnt be the best quality compared to other foods. I personally will always feed the best i can afford, the food i feed is very good quality but there are foods that are more expensive but i cannot afford them so i feed the best that is available for my budget.

fozzle

Mymo, his mouth doesn't appear to be tender and he's still happy to chew his toys, and the cat, so I think we can rule that out at least.

Roisinmor

Dogs often prefer cat food because the protein (from animal sources) content is much higher in cat food than dog food. The best dog food available in Ireland at the minute is Orijen, it is a grain free food and all of the protein in it is from animal sources e.g. meat, fish, eggs etc.
this type of protein is much more suitable for dogs than the protein derived from cereals. Check out www.dogfoodanalysis.com for a better explanation of this.
Then, check out the white paper found on the puppy page of the orijen website. If you read this, it will all make perfect sense to you then.
Orijen is available in a few places, I buy mine at www.petconnection.ie
As the meat level is so high, it is brilliant for fussy eaters, it's also great for the coat as well. Royal Canin is a good food but it only gets 2 or 3 stars from dogfood analysis whereas Orijen gets 6!

fozzle

Well my husband has figured out the magic formula for getting him to gobble up his dinner. We knew he was watching the cat eat, seems he won't eat until she's had her fill, and he'll only eat from her dish. So the trick is to put his food down first. The cat investigates and once she's given it a lick she gets scooped up and moved to her dish, and the dog is happy to devour his own food. Oh the complications we go through for our little fuzzy loves!

Thanks for all your help guys.

boardbrowser

My dog loves dry james well beloved. a balanced food-hypo allergenic- no pork,soya,wheat,dairy, eggs.
she also loves wet food- brand Bertie's, natures harvest. complete dog food,, contains glucosamine and chondrotin as a supplement, Salmon oil ,high grade ingredients- choice lamb/chicken/beef( 1st ingredient a protein), brown rice, and veggies, no animal derivities and is hypo allergenic.