I got my Yorkie/Shih Tzu about 10 months ago from a shelter, he was about 1.5 years old when I got him and he had been in that shelter, then adopted, and then returned to the shelter again.
No idea why he was returned to the shleter, because he is the best dog. Totally house broken, trained to sit, give paw and lay down, completely well behaved, loves to fetch a ball and brings it right back every time…couldn’t ask for anything better, except for his eating!!
When I got him the shelter had been feeding him Iams, so I kept feeding him that for a couple of weeks, until I learned how crappy all the big name dog foods are. I then switched to Hollistic brand food, which he didn’t seem to like very much, so after a while with that I swithced him to Innova.
I have pretty much stuck with the Innova for the last 8 months or so, but he has never really liked it, and has been very picky about food since I’ve gotten him. At first I mixed wet and dry food, he would mostly pick out the dry and eat only the wet. Then I started just giving him the dry with some water, he never really liked that and would only eventually eat it after 2 days of not eating.
Then it got to the point where I would just give him a bowl of wet food (Innova) and he would gobble it right down. This worked well for a while and now he won’t touch that either.
He’s not annorexic, he will eat treats all day long if I would give them to him, which I don’t, or eat whatever I am eating, no matter what it is, which I generally don’t give him, but sometimes give him some bites. He’s been to the vet and there is nothing wrong with him.
It is so frustrating that he won’t eat, especially when this is what he used to eat, I mean he was picky, but once I started giving him just the wet food, he would eat it right down. Now he is picky about that too. It doesn’t help that my wife snekas behind my back and hand feeds him either.
The only switch I have made is that every now and then I would give him some Evo wet food, but he would always eat the regular Innova the next time after the Evo.
But now he won’t eat any of the Innova at all, wet or dry.
I left him at my sister’s the other day and she feeds her dogs Beneful wet and dry food….she won’t listen to me about what crap they are.
Anyway she said he gobbled it right up. I took some home with me, just to experiment, and the next meal he gobbled the Beneful right up.
I DO NOT want to feed him that crappy food, but he loves and eats it no problem, which makes my life easier, because I don’t have the time to sit and deal with him being picky in the morning before work.
Why does it seem that dogs like the crappy food more than the good food? And why did my dog stop eating his food, and what can I do to get him to start again?
Thanks.
Answers:
I have tried a bunch of different brands of organic foods. We first used Wellness, then Hollistic, then California Natural, then Innova, also have tried Eagle Pack, and some others that I saw in the store. The pet store by me only sells organic foods, she won’t sell any big brand food.
He has never been crazy about any of them really. So I figured I’d stick with Innova since it seems to be one of the top rated. He gets Evo also for the raw diet, at first he would eat that right up, but has become picky about that too.
I have never tried Blue Buffalo, I may give that a shot, but not sure if the store sells it here.
I think he is just a picky dog, I think I will just have to be tough and give him the food and pick it up after 15 minutes and that’s it.
He throw’s up when he doesn’t eat for 12 hours, so I have been trying to avoid that. Sometimes when I come home, he has thrown up, but it’s just the stomach acid or green bile or whatever it is.
Related Sites
