[Spencer]

My picky eater is back.

He must not feel like he is starving anymore (he had a bout with worms about 4 months ago and we could never get the weight back on him), and is back to his picky ways. He refused to eat breakfast this morning, turning his nose up at the food he wolfed down just last night for dinner. Perry is now picking through his bowl, piece by precious piece, and eating the kibble one at a time... hiding what he doesn't want to eat in the crevices of his bed. Minus that it is ALL THE SAME FOOD, unlike Blue Buffalo. (You know what I mean... BB has those little kibbles and big kibbles, he hates the little ones.)

Now that his weight is somewhat back (EVet felt him and said he feels more healthy than any toy poodle he has seen... meaning THEY are usually pudgy, and he is nice and lean... so no worries with weight anymore! Yay!), I'm very concerned with losing it again, considering it took him forever to gain .8 of a pound to put him back at "normal".

Any tips/tricks you guys have to get picky eaters to eat? I know some of you have them!

(Also... another downfall about his returned picky eating habits - he did this when I first found him and would only eat frickin' expensive wet food - I can't slip him his benadryl in his food anymore! He eats so slow that he finds it and spits it back out! MAN!)

Oh, and just as I'm finishing this post, he's finished eating for now... with half his bowl left over... and burped. I mean... at least he's eating at all!

 

[plumcrazy]

I know you've been consulting with vets, just wanted to be sure there's nothing about his mouth/teeth causing problems... Lucy has been teething (been picking teeth up off the floor for the last couple of weeks!!) :scared: But while her mouth was sensitive, she gets sort of picky too - All I've been doing is wetting her dry food with hot water (and then letting it cool and soak a few minutes) and then she'll inhale it... She's never been a real picky eater though - so this may not even work for Perry... Just a thought...

 

[Birdie]

I would soak Desmond's food in a hot beef broth (just water and broth mix) for a bit when he was teething and when he was being picky. That or chicken broth worked like a charm. It was nasty looking but he liked it enough to usually eat everything in the bowl, and it was easy to make.

 

[Spencer]

Plum - I don't think it's his teeth. If it were, I don't think he would happily chew on a nylabone and hard rawhide treats, then be picky with his food... I will ask the vet anyway, better safe than sorry! Hadn't thought about his teeth before.

Birdie - Thanks for the tip... not sure if it will make my other doggies jealous, lol.

Well, I think I will try the hot water in the morning if he doesn't eat right off the bat. If that doesn't work I guess I will go buy broth! Spoiled poodle!

 

[Mercury's Mom]

Just watch the salt content in the broth.

Mercury loves it if I mix hot water with brewers yeast and garlic powder (just a tad) and add that to his food and let it cool. Of course with soaking dog food if he doesn't eat pretty soon it needs to be thrown away because bacteria grows on it Really fast. Merc likes it when its still a tad warm. Jupiter on the other hand will eat ANYTHING I put in front of him. Jup is the scrawny one too. Funny how it works out that way.

 

[plumcrazy]

Plum - I don't think it's his teeth. If it were, I don't think he would happily chew on a nylabone and hard rawhide treats, then be picky with his food... I will ask the vet anyway, better safe than sorry! Hadn't thought about his teeth before.

Lucy will gleefully gnaw on hard bones, but still be unwilling to crunch her kibble... might have something to do with the size and texture of the bone as opposed to the small, hard, "pokey" consistency of the kibble... The bone feels good, soothing; while the kibble just pokes and hurts... Happened again this morning - Lucy turned her nose up at her bowl... I put warm water in it and she was dancing by my feet in the kitchen waiting for me to put it down - she just gobbled it all up!! As Mercury's Mom said - if Lucy doesn't eat her food in that sitting - I'll dump it and wash the bowl... I don't let it sit around.

I hope you can figure it out - I know how frustrating it can be when one of the kids isn't interesting in eating (and all of mine are average to above average weight-wise)

 

[Marian]

I sprinkle some shredded cheese on Teddy's food when he's being picky. I also sometimes give him a dollop of cat food on top of his food because he will ALWAYS eat cat food.

 

[taxtell]

When I was trying to get Flip to eat (he was starved as a puppy. In fact, when we got him he was 19" and about 20lbs, he looked skeletal. He was so used to feeling hungry he didn't know or understand how it was better to feel full.
He didn't want to touch kibble, so I tried him on raw patties from Stella and Chewy's. He gobbles them up now and is hungry enough to eat kibble in the evenings.

http://www.stellaandchewys.com/

However, I am thinking about going all raw soon, probably a prey model diet.

 

[Spencer]

Rather than starting a new thread...

I found the solution!

Thank you guys for your sagely suggestions! I soaked the Evo in warm water one day and he gobbled it up... however, Thursday, I bit the bullet and just went and bought him different food. I was going to buy him another bag of Royal Canin Puppy, since it put weight on him (and he could probably have another .5 or pound on him... even though he does look great now) but decided against more puppy food and instead bought him Royal Canin for sensitive tummies (not their name, mine ) because he had obviously done well on the RC with the puppy food.

It's not the most amazing food, but it'll do and he loves it... that, and I LOVE how it looks (small, flat, thin circles that look really easy for him to chomp up!)

Again, thanks for all your help, well wishes, and love!

 

[plumcrazy]

WooooHoooo! WTG Perry!! Hope he continues being a hearty eater!