[JulieLovesJack]

Hey All,
Jack, my toy poodle, (age 7 mos, weight 6 pounds) doesn't really like any dog food. He will "dabble" in different types, by having about 5 pieces of any one dry dog food and then looking at me. These are the types I have tried on him...

Dry Food: Royal Canin Indoor Puppy 27, Royal Canin Babydog 30, Merrick, Evo Small Bites, California Natural, Purina Puppy Chow, Blue Buffalo, Eukanuba, Artemis Fresh Mix, Solid Gold, (that's all I can think of right now).
Wet Food: Nutro Puppy Mix with lamb and chicken, Cesar Puppy, Blue Buffalo Beef, Mixables

I have also tried mixing wet and dry and he seems to like neither. However, I do realize I give in and give him treats (like homemade ones, chicken filets for dogs, bil jac lil jacs (which he loves).) Occasionally, he will eat a decent amount of something but mostly not. And he has a 1.7 pound half brother yorkie poo who eats more than he.

Does anyone know of another food I can try or something that poodles might like to eat? I really do not want to do the raw food diet (even though I have heard good things about it).

Thanks!
Julie

 

[highhorse]

I went through the same experience with Inca. I spent so much money on stuff that she ate for a while and then just walked away from it. The vet said I should starve her into eating otherwise I would have a fussy dog. Five days later and she still hadn't eaten so I did give in and now I make my own. I feed her very well cooked rice, chicken or ground lamb or raw tripe. I put a vitamin and mineral supplement in and something called Easygreen that I get from a doggy herb place. Both my dogs also have Royal Canin Junior and Adult mixed, as they won't eat the Adult on its own. Our second dog, Coco, came to us eating Royal Canin Puppy so we put the two mixed down as about half their daily requirements. Both are healthy. Although Coco is a lazy lap dog who just chases and brings back balls (until you get fed up and hide them), Inca does agility, obedience and we dance at home for a bit of fun. We also play games and do tricks.

I must admit that having a second dog has increased Inca's interest in food. Coco came from a breeding home and was one of 8 so she doesn't hang around thinking about eating.

One other thing, here in the UK we don't seem to have half as many choices of dog food as in the US.

 

[WonderPup]

When you feed your poodle do you free feed or do you time the meal?

In my house you have 15 minutes (20 if I'm busy) to eat your dinner. Thats plenty of time to eat without rushing. After the time is up then the food goes away.
Wonder was VERY picky and would eat this or that for a little while and then decide is wasn't good enough for her and would quit. I was living with my mother at that time. I found solid gold wee bites and wonder seemed to like that for the most part though she was still really picky. My mother would try all sorts of thing added to the food.
Honestly when you start adding things you make the picky problem worse. They learn that if they don't eat you'll come up with something better to give them.

When I moved out I started enforcing the dry food only rule and wonder lost about 2 pounds the first month we were on our own. I stuck with it though and gave her the food for only 15-20 minutes. Now she knows if she doesn't eat that there won't be anything else offered until the the next time dinner rolls around and I am happy to say I have no more issues with pickiness. Every once in a while she will skip a meal but one or two meals skipped isn't really a huge deal. I also don't give my dogs treats all that often which probably helps too. I am happy to say that I even switched dog foods reccently to Blue, which is a food Wonder previously refused to eat, and had no problems with her being picky.

Maybe go and see if you can find some nutrical and give your dog a little bit of that, just smear it in his mouth. That will keep his sugar levels up and give him some energy if he misses a meal or two and see if you can try and teach him that this is his food take it or leave it. Nutrical also has the added benifit of stimulating the appietite.

 

[PonkiPoodles]

I had exactly the same problem! I went through just about every brand of dog food (wet and dry)! I mixed and matched dry and wet, I had her on a raw diet, and I have used the "15 min to eat your dinner" technique Wonderpup talked about (without success - she just vomits bile a few hours later because of her empty stomach).

She is the typical "hyperactive dog"... and even thou she hardly eats, she's not skin and bones. After she started vomiting bile, my vet recommended Nutri-cal, which I give her twice a day (a high energy source of calories and protein) on the tip of my finger to supplement her diet. (sometimes she licks it right up and other times I kinda have to force it a little like medication). At least if she doesn't eat that day, she still gets some supplements/vita's from the nutri-cal.

Now I leave her food out and she eats when she wants... I've not had any bad experiences with leaving her food out (yet) so I guess it's what ever works for you and your dog - but I will say the "15-20min to eat" technique worked with all our other dogs... just not with Ponki.

 

[Purple Poodle]

My GA has made her dog into a picky eater and the only way the dog will eat is if she is hand fed. So instead of giving her a bowl of food she gets 5 or 6 pieces every few hours. She leaves a bowl for her husbands dog and Little Bit won't touch it and will beg for her "treats" instead. Crazy dog :loco: So you might try treating her with the dog food you have chosen to feed.

 

[JulieLovesJack]

Thanks for all your replies

Thanks everyone for giving me advice to help Jack not be as picky. I know poodles in general can be quite finicky, so I will try to cut down on giving in to giving him treats. I have been for the past couple days and he is eating more.

 

[spoofan]

Just a tiny bit of parmesan cheese...the dry one...sprinkled on the food.

 

[Poodle Lover]

I feel your pain. While my standards are great eaters, my 12 lb Havanese is the pickiest eater ever!!!! He just won't eat any kibble or canned or the combination of the two. A holistic pet shop owner recommended I read Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats and it forever changed the way I feed my dogs. It's an awesome book for making your own dog food and all sorts of natural remedies for dogs and cats. I have been home cooking for my Havanese for most of his life and my standards get about 70% kibble and 30% home cooked or raw mixed into their kibble. If I could afford to feed them all home cooked I would. Here's the link if you want to see the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Pitcairns-Complete-Guide-Natural-Health/dp/157954973X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=bo

HTH,
Julia

 

[Poodleroni]

It seems to me that some of you have been peeking in at our dog through the blinds! He is just as bad as you all have described! We lived in Ohio when we got Shadow and he ate just fine. It wasn't until we moved to Missouri that he started to refuse to eat and then throw up bile! We resorted to kind of flinging the food across the floor (dry food), to make it a game for him, we've hand fed him, given him wet food, mixed wet and dry. It's insane. Every new thing is just about the best food in the world to him, but not for long. He even refuses treats! We have just started trying Nutrical. We are also going to just stick to dry and try the 15 minute thing. It's amazing that we never realized we were only pawns in Shadow's schemes to get what he wants to eat! Guess that's what we get for picking an intelligent breed? (By the way, this forum is the reason we joined the site! My husband did a google search for picky poodles and ended up here)

 

[FUZBUTZ]

I wonder if it may be the water instead of the food, since he didn't have any problems until you moved? If you are using tap water, why don't you try bottled water instead and see if that helps, just a thought.

 

[FUZBUTZ]

The above post is for Poodleroni, (Shadow)

 

[Poodleroni]

That's a really good idea Fuzbutz, but we've always given him filtered water. We figure that since we don't drink tap water, we won't give it to him either.

 

[FUZBUTZ]

Thats cool, was just a thought.

 

[Poodleroni]

Spoofan thanks for the parmesan cheese idea. We just started him on strictly dry food. He has been so stubborn and not eating it. My husband just decided to try the cheese and now he's eating! Do you put that on the food for every meal?

 

[Poodleroni]

Fuzbutz (I feel so silly calling you that! lol). We really appreciate all the opinions we can get. If we didn't give him the filtered water, I would believe that was most likely the cause. We've just really spoiled him to the point that he feels he should be able to tell us how, when and what he eats.

 

[FUZBUTZ]

Poodleroni, I understand completely. I think most poodles are spoiled to that point. Sometimes when ours decide they want to gorge their kibble, they seem to get really thirsty afterwards and if we don't stop them from drinking to much water just after eating they will vomit. We have been giving them tap water, but have thought seriously about giving them filtered water as you do, just in case it is the water as well as over eating and drinking to much all at once. We too do not drink tap water, we do not care for the taste of our tap water here, in fact when I think about it neither do our dogs. They prefer sneaking drinks form our swimming pool, which has chlorine added to it and that kind of scares me. Maybe our fur friends know something that we do not, like "don't drink that awful water, unless you chlorinate it first". I think I'll try the filtered water and see if our dogs like it any better. Thank you for the idea.

 

[Poodleroni]

lol It's good to see that other people have crazy poodles