Feeding Problem with My Very Spoiled Terrier

Shazanne

My dog, Millie, a rescue terrier cross bitch, is refusing to eat her food! I am giving her Royal Canin but, up to now, I have been mixing it with a very small amount of wet food to make it more appetising. Sometimes I mixed it with some of our own food. However, Millie has been getting rather over-weight so I decided it was time to take action. I cut back to little or no mixer and have now withdrawn it completely. But now she just sniffs at the bowl and walks away in disgust! She ate a little bit yesterday, a very tiny bit this morning and none at all this evening. Now I feel like a monster!!! What should I do? Should I persist until she gets the message (?) or give her back her mixer?

Blueprint

Well, you could add in the mixer and give her less of both, or you could just leave her to it. She won't starve herself to death! Try giving her the food for 15 minutes, then taking it up and not offering her anything else until the next meal time. You could try putting some hot water in it and letting it soak a bit first, as this is meant to bring out the flavours.

I know it's hard to put them on a diet and they can really make you feel guilty, but just remember that it's for her own good. Being over weight can seriously shorten her life span and affects the quality of her life a lot too, as she can't do as much as she would if she was in proper shape.

Shazanne

Thanks for your reply and advice. I have been taking her bowl away after 15 - 30 minutes. I'm just worried now that she's hungry. Am going to give her the dry food again tomorrow and see what happens. She is only on 50grms per feed (morning and night) which is a low enough amount for her. I just hopes she adapts before I crack!

happypuppy

i had the exact same problem with my westie for nearly a year! I changed his food 3 times thinking that was the problem but of course the problem was that i kept giving in (as I was afraid he was hungry) and giving him chicken and rice. After a routine visit to the vet where I told her his poop was not normally solid etc I realised I had to be tougher! I waited him out and after two days he started eating the kibble (although I do mix it with a SMALL amount of boiled chicken to encourage him). It really is true dogs will not go hungry. You are not being mean its best for her to eat the kibble its designed for their needs. Just hold out

sassychick

Hi der i also had this problem with my boxer Ruby..i got talken to a guy dat works in kinsealy pet store and he told me to mix about a quarter of a pouch of james wellbeloved in with the rc...mix it reallly well its the smell of the food dat makes them eat it...so i tried this and it worked!!!!!!:DHe told me two pouches should do me 6 days anyway and der only 99 cent...maybe you could try this;)

Shazanne

This is what I've been doing basically. Just giving her a very small amount of good quality wet food for flavour and she was eating it fine. But, because she was putting on weight, I felt that she would be best on just the dry Royal Canin. Anyway, she ate the dry food (very reluctantly) this morning but this evening, having been outside all day, she would not even look at it. It got the better of me so I gave her a small amount of mixer and the dinner was gone in a flash! Then she looked at me as if to say "I knew you'd give in!" I really just want whats best for her. I dont want to risk her health by having her over-weight but I don't want her to be hungry either.

ghost_ie

You could try adding a teaspoon of cod liver oil to the dry food for her breakfast and for dinner add a little bit of gravy. My middle dog hated dried food until I started doing this. The cod liver oil also has the advantage of being good for their joints

morganafay

She'll definitely eat it when she gets hungry. Don't feel too bad for her if she has to go a day or two without food, because some people think that's good for a dog anyway and don't feed their dog once a week.

Is it possible that you're giving her too much dry food anyway? If she's a small dog and the food is highly concentrated then it looks like a tiny amount but could be too much. My dad thought my dogs didn't like their food but he was just feeding them too much (when I was away) so they were leaving half of it. If she eats it in the morning but not in the evening then maybe she's not hungry?

I'd just feed her the dry food and if she doesn't eat it in the evening then I'd take it away and wait til morning. Eating once a day is fine for a dog. And it's fine if she misses one day

Dry food is really better. One of my cats never would eat dry food and eats at the neighbours house instead :rolleyes: and now he has to get all his teeth pulled out and he's only 6. But if he ate dry food they might be better . . . Good luck with her anyway

lorebringer

Shazanne wrote: »

Then she looked at me as if to say "I knew you'd give in!"

This is what you need to crack if you are going to get her to eat. Dogs are smarter than we give them credit for at times, they will not go hungry if there is food there. However, if they know there is something better coming along they won't eat. Very similar to children with veg - if they refuse to eat them and their parents then let them have a chocolate bar, they'll continue to not eat because there is something better on the way.

The key is to be more stubborn than your dog. Don't give her an inch because she'll take it and then some! Decide on what you want to feed her permanently - be it dry, dry mixed with wet or whatever you decide - and stick to it for every meal. She needs to learn that no longer how long she refuses to eat, nothing better is on the way. Put it down for 15-20 minutes and then pick it up, regardless of how much (or little!) she has eaten. Then at the next meal time do the same, and so on. Don't give her anything else to eat in between meals for the time being. It could take a day or two but she will eat if she is hungry. She will not let herself starve if there is food available. If your dog does not eat at every meal please don't worry, some dogs will go a few meals without eating by choice, as long as she is getting sometime good into her she will be fine.

A good way I have found to entice them (particularly puppies) to eat dry food is soak it in hot water for a bit, not until it is mush but just to get it a bit soggy. This releases the smells and takes the hardness out of it a bit. Once the dog is eating, reduce the time of soaking over time so that the food gets harder and harder with each meal. Eventually, you won't need to soak it at all.