Dog won't eat!

[GroomerHasIt]

This has been driving me crazy and I would SOOOO appreciate any words if wisdom!

Here's the problem. We are trying to sell our house. We live out in the country and have a lot of thick woods around us where it has been VERY muddy. We've been trying to keep the dogs out of the house as much as possible while we're trying to sell it to try and keep it clean and "show-ready".

I have always fed Nell (a small BC female) in her crate. She was never a very good eater, and would take ALOT of encouragement to get to eat. She just wants attention and could care less about the food. So I started feeding her in her crate so she had nothing else to do but eat. She will sometimes still miss meals, but she'd usually eat atleast once a day.

Now I have been trying to get her to eat along with the other dogs. I put the bowls down and supervise so nobody gets what they shouldn't in our enclosed porch. She absolutely will not eat a kibble. Another reason for me trying to change this is that it is such a pain in the rear when we take the dogs somewhere with us, I HAVE to bring the crate so that she will eat. She otherwise doesn't need the crate anymore.

I figured that she will get hungry eventually and I'll just have to wait her out. However, I'm getting worried now, she hasn't eaten anything besides her regular medications in a little piece of hotdog twice a day since Saturday night. Any suggestions or should I just give in and drag the stupid crate around for the rest of her life?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

[gcv-border]

How many other dogs do you have?

 

This may not be much help, but one thought that popped into my head was that you might be asking Nell for too much, too soon. i.e. she has been eating,by herself, in a crate, and now you want her to eat with other dogs. Is it possible to try and adjust her eating habits more gradually? - for example, try to get her to eat in the presence of one other dog a fair distance away. Then gradually introduce the other dogs, one by one. I know it is a lot of trouble and is not a speedy solution.

 

I understand your need to keep your house "show-ready". I have seen those shows on TV where the real-estate expert comes in and advises sellers to remove evidence of pets. It would be nice if potential buyers would look beyond the pet crates/beds/bowls, but apparently many can not.

 

Jovi

[in2adventure]

I agree, too much too soon. I have one that won't eat if there's is just the slightest bit of stress to be found. He will eat in or out of his crate, but there can't be anything else going on, no other dogs fussing around him and by all means no ther dogs staring him down to hurry up and eat because they want what's left.

 

I would put her back in her crate to eat regardless what the realitor says. It's still your house and your dogs. The new buyers need to get over it. If she is anything like my Grady, it's pretty obvious when they miss a meal

[juliepoudrier]

Not a solution really, but it's possible to get nice folding crates made of heavy-duty fabric. They are lightweight and don't take up much space. Consider the fact that you have made a pretty drastic change in the dogs' routine (not letting them in the house), which is already causing stress, and then add to that the stress of expecting her to eat with everyone else, and it's not surprising she's not eating. Honestly, if dragging around a crate for the rest of her life is what it takes, then that's what I'd do, especially since you can find crates that fold and so don't take up much space.

 

I used to have nothing but Hoover type dogs, but now have a couple of picky eaters who go off their feed at the first bit of stress. I do my best to accommodate them, even if it's a PIA, because I realize they can't help themselves if they are stressed out.

 

J.

[Chantal]

Have you tried changing food?

 

When I fed kibble I was free-feeding Jude, it was the only way to make sure he eat. He would never finish an adaquate amount of food unless I did that. No tough love, or feeding schedules worked for him. Food just wasn't interesting enough to eat for more than a couple bites here and there. So leaving the food out throughout the day helped. But a bit hard in multiple dog households...

 

When I switched to raw Jude became a different dog to feed. He now loves eating, and now I think my former skinny dog might stand to lose a couple pounds!! Hahaha

[GroomerHasIt]

Thanks for the great advice!

I have 4 dogs inluding her. All of them eat like hoovers except for her.

The realtor was actually very understanding, he said his little piece about how it's better to be pet free and yada yada yada, and then said it was understandable and we'd just work around it. The big issue for me is that they go outside and get FILTHY with all the mud out around our place right now. I'm talking huge mud clumps and feet that are completely black. It's really a pain to have to basically hose them off from the belly down every time they go outside, so I was hoping to change the routine to make it easier on me. The big problem is keeping the mud outside and not all over my floors.

I think maybe what I will try is starting with shutting her alone with her food in the room that her crate is in, then maybe once she is eating well again, start leaving the door open a crack, ect. She is the one that stays the cleanest anyways... Miss Princess doesn't like to get too dirty ya know!

Another issue I have with her not eating well in general is because she doesn't like the food she is on, but she has an allergy to gluten so my options are a little limited due to that and the fact that there aren't many places that carry food that she can have out in my rural area. So that's been a struggle most of her life.

Thanks again guys!

[Chantal]

 

Another issue I have with her not eating well in general is because she doesn't like the food she is on, but she has an allergy to gluten so my options are a little limited due to that and the fact that there aren't many places that carry food that she can have out in my rural area. So that's been a struggle most of her life.

Thanks again guys!

 

Sounds like a raw or homemade diet would be perfect for her.

[pammyd]

Have you tried changing food?

 

When I fed kibble I was free-feeding Jude, it was the only way to make sure he eat. He would never finish an adaquate amount of food unless I did that. No tough love, or feeding schedules worked for him. Food just wasn't interesting enough to eat for more than a couple bites here and there. So leaving the food out throughout the day helped. But a bit hard in multiple dog households...

 

When I switched to raw Jude became a different dog to feed. He now loves eating, and now I think my former skinny dog might stand to lose a couple pounds!! Hahaha

My boy Ben was just the same. Even now he wont eat if anyone is in the same room as him - but he will sometimes bring big chunks of food into the room where I am once I have left him to eat

and yup before raw people commented on how skinny he was, last week my mum pointed out that he is getting a leetle chubby - but easy to fix

[juliepoudrier]

Another vote for raw of homemade. My two picky eaters are both on a half raw diet (they get a kibble meal and a raw meal each day). Raw or homemade would certainly allow you to avoid the gluten issue and very likely would help with the pickiness.

 

P.S. Hi Pammyd! It's been a while--good to see you back!

 

J.

[pammyd]

Another vote for raw of homemade. My two picky eaters are both on a half raw diet (they get a kibble meal and a raw meal each day). Raw or homemade would certainly allow you to avoid the gluten issue and very likely would help with the pickiness.

 

P.S. Hi Pammyd! It's been a while--good to see you back!

 

J.

Aww thankyou good to be back. Guess I should stick up some new fotso of the hooligan pair

[GroomerHasIt]

I guess I have considered it, but I'm not sure where to find stuff to feed her. I also worry about feeding her a balanced diet. What do you guys feed, and where do you get it? Suggestions for reading material I could check out?

[Chantal]

I guess I have considered it, but I'm not sure where to find stuff to feed her. I also worry about feeding her a balanced diet. What do you guys feed, and where do you get it? Suggestions for reading material I could check out?

 

I would recommend feeding PMR (Prey Model Raw) as long as you do it right (which is pretty easy) you are feeding her a balanced diet. 10% organ, 10% bone, 80 muscle meat Because your feeding human grade food you can buy it at any grocery store, butcher, market, etc. You can also find co-ops to get cheaper food. You start with feeding chicken (backs) and then slowly introduce new foods into the diet. It's about variety over time that balances out the meal.

 

http://preymodelraw.com/ great site to get started

http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/raw-feeding/ great forum, so much helpful people and info.

[rushdoggie]

I have a friend with a Basenji who since she got him as a young pup was a "picky eater." He was healthy enough, vet said he was fine, he was just described as "non-food-motivated." My friend found this odd and frustrating because every other Basenji she has known or owned was a hog. But she went through multiple foods, treats, raw, and dutifully used a "feeding protocol" and always assumed her was just finicky.

 

When he was over a year old, he got a really bad case of gastroenteritis. He was given a very bland, minimal ingredient prescription diet. He suddenly started eating with gusto. Turns out that he has a pie of food sensitivities and he didn't like to eat because it made him feel sick. Shes working her way through a bunch of foods to try to figure out what he can eat and what makes him sick.

 

Your girl's issues may be behavioral in nature, but it may be worth considering food sensitivities as a reason. An elimination diet may be useful.

[cjohanna]

I guess I have considered it, but I'm not sure where to find stuff to feed her. I also worry about feeding her a balanced diet. What do you guys feed, and where do you get it? Suggestions for reading material I could check out?

 

I've fed raw for 10+ years. There are a lot of choices for you; an easy place to start would be at The Dog Food Project website. http://www.dogfoodproject.com/ You can also use that resource to find good premade foods that will work for your dog's diet needs.

 

Also, the woman who runs that has a degree in canine nutrition and she will formulate a diet plan specifically for your dog for what I think is a very reasonable consult fee. Her name is Sabine Contreras, and her contact info is on there.

 

Good luck! I've never had a picky eater -- I have Shelties who chunk up by just looking at their food bowls, and my BC is skinny but always ravenous -- but I know what a worry it can be.