Rescued dog not eating..

moonshadow

Well he is very happy little soul in every sense but he is not eating any type of dry or wet dog food we have bought,he is drinking water so no probs there, so far tried all the usual popular suspects,
BUT this evening after four days of having him i gave in and tried him with a bit of dry bread/ham and he golloped it up (dont tell the other half),Now this to me spells out a spoilt little boyo!
So do we persevere with coaxing him to eat proper dog food or has he been spoilt in his previous life with titbits and "human"food.
He is a small yorkie approx 14 mths and in good health according to vetcheck,but a wee bit thin.

Whispered

As far as I know yorkies can be very fussy eaters. Any of them that I know certainly are.

What is your current feeding routine?

How many times a day, how long is food left down for etc?

moonshadow

Morning and evening food left for 30 minutes or so and then removed,access to small bowl of water pretty much all day.
We have had Yorkies before but always from 10 weeks or so,then we were the boss and were able to rear them to our routine and schedual food wise,its just that this guy is a wee bit set in his ways i guess.
Just hate to bully/starve him into a new/strange routine for him.

Whispered

Yeah I know what you mean. I'd usually say to leave him and he will eat eventually. But you've tried that haven't you. 4 days is a long time for him to not eat!

Have you ruled out medical issues? Is he drinking? Going to the toilet?

andreac

Sounds like he was probably one spoiled puppy.:)

I would persevere with what you are doing. Dont give him anything else bar his food, no treats or anything except his dinner.

I would try soaking his meal, maybe half of it in warm water and mix the rest in dry. Soaking it in warm water brings out the flavours a bit more and should entice him to eat.
Just be patient and hang in there. The dog will eat if its hungry.

rascalini

our yorkie was so fussy...he would ONLY eat cesar dog food....much to my mothers disgust

towards the end of his life he would eat our cats food

You could try him on the BARF diet?

moonshadow

BARF.......?
He has taken a wee bit of cat food on the sly.....
Ceasers is that nuts or soft food?
Very close to trying him on tinned food now its five days with very little so far except water,yep he pooh`s once a day.

Cheshire Cat

Our rescue wouldn't eat dog food either. We think she was never given proper food. Any scraps were devoured, no luck with dog food. I just mixed dog food with rice, veg or potatoes and then slowly reduced the amount of human food. She is on dog food now.
Good luck!

CC

toadfly

One of our Yorkies used to be very very fussy. She ate very very little, would only eat all her food at the weekends when we were on my mams house with other dogs around. She went a week without eating at one stage. She is so stubborn but fine the last year or more.

What dry food were you trying her on? I wouldn't give her wet food, Yorkies can suffer with bad teeth and need to eat dry food.

Graces7

Try a meaty bone...raw of course. Few can resist that.

Our wee russet will try it on if she thinks she has been
"badly" treated; but hold a raw bone near her nose and she cannot resist it.

Collie had been fed the cheapest tinned food and white bread soaked in water; and scraps occasionally.

Her teeth have suffered of course.

But for years, if you gave her a slice of any bread she would race round with it in her mouth for a long while. Prize! And she would inhale any food.

She had never seen a bone; now she will gnaw for hours with it held down in her paws. And is more choosy what she eats.

Cherry Blossom

moonshadow wrote: »

BARF.......?
He has taken a wee bit of cat food on the sly.....
Ceasers is that nuts or soft food?
Very close to trying him on tinned food now its five days with very little so far except water,yep he pooh`s once a day.

BARF - Biologically Appropriate Raw Food i.e. Raw meaty bones, offal, grated veg

Ceaser - No . . . Just No.

Persever with the dry food, have you tried adding a little warm water to it? Or you can give it a short blast in the microwave (just a few seconds) to bring out the smell.

Graces7

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

Our rescue wouldn't eat dog food either. We think she was never given proper food. Any scraps were devoured, no luck with dog food. I just mixed dog food with rice, veg or potatoes and then slowly reduced the amount of human food. She is on dog food now.
Good luck!

CC

Not sure what you mean by "proper food"? Special "dog food" is a fairly modern thing. Most of us have raised healthy dogs on what you call "human food" and still do.

We use almost no "dog food"; period. Very, very rarely a little kibble.

They thrive on what we feed them much of which is what you would call "scraps. All the main food groups etc...

moonshadow

Well after trying probably most of the brand type foods i eventually succumed and bought a tin of ceaser dog food,well he devoured it:eek:
So facts are yes he is a rescue,he was well cared for and he was spoilt by looks of things...BUT at least he is eating now.
Thanks for all the advice.

Cherry Blossom

moonshadow wrote: »

Well after trying probably most of the brand type foods i eventually succumed and bought a tin of ceaser dog food,well he devoured it:eek:
So facts are yes he is a rescue,he was well cared for and he was spoilt by looks of things...BUT at least he is eating now.
Thanks for all the advice.

Just keep this in mind.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=68361737&postcount=6

Zapperzy

Just persevere with leaving the food down for 15-20 minutes then picking it up again.
You could also try a brand called naturediet, it's a wet food but it is very good quality, Iv a fussy dog that has never turned it down. It can be gotten in most big pet shops. It comes in trays rather than tins, I usually mash up a slice of that in my dog's evening feed with his usual biscuits, I get it up the north for 77p a tray and a tray usually lasts me about 5-6 days for a small terrier. It would be much the same for your yorkie so actually would work out much cheaper than other brands like cesar and pedigree and it's much better quality stuff than these brands, nearly good enough to eat yourself!

moonshadow

You hardly get in Newry Zappersy by any chance? might shoot up in the morning and try it if so.

mymo

I have seem that Natures diet stuff in petmania from time to time, did try it for my fella about a year ago when he was very thin, and he loved it.
My vet suggested putting chicken (thighs and legs) in a pot with brown rice, water and veg and cooking like a casserole, remove all the bones and it should be wet but not soupy.
I fed this with dry food for about 2 months to get weight on him and gradually decreased the mix, so he was on dry only. (I still add left over veggies or rice occasionally, and give some raw bits sometimes, although raw should not be fed at the same time as other food, allow 4 hrs between raw and other food)
Might be worth a try, get him back into a routine and away from the tinned stuff, or you could try adding some sardines or mackerel (my two love Mackerel in the little tins) just make sure they are in oil.

fishfoodie

Our Yorkie used to be mad for Cod Liver Oil. If we ever wanted to get him to eat something a dab of CLO on it would do the trick. Peanut butter was another one that he'd go mad for, but we weren't sure if it was good for him.

Maybe try some tuna or some other treat mixed in with dry food, just to get him started. Then you can gradually wean him off the mix.

moonshadow

Zapperzy wrote: »

Just persevere with leaving the food down for 15-20 minutes then picking it up again.
You could also try a brand called naturediet, it's a wet food but it is very good quality, Iv a fussy dog that has never turned it down. It can be gotten in most big pet shops. It comes in trays rather than tins, I usually mash up a slice of that in my dog's evening feed with his usual biscuits, I get it up the north for 77p a tray and a tray usually lasts me about 5-6 days for a small terrier. It would be much the same for your yorkie so actually would work out much cheaper than other brands like cesar and pedigree and it's much better quality stuff than these brands, nearly good enough to eat yourself!

Many Thanks Zapperzy with regard to the tip for the "naturediet" i was down the north (lisburn) on monday of this week and popped into the Pet warehouse http://www.petwarehouseni.com/
Its a fantastic petstore with probably the most knowledgeble staff ive ever encountered and whilst ive used it before it was the first time i ever needed proper advice ,so they reccommended naturesdiet mixed with "barking heads" nuts (dry food) great stuff...(5 free samples):D
Well "rescue dog" now known as scruffy loves his new diet and is thriving.
Thanks to all who helped with advice;)