Getting dog to eat
Ok, I’m am having a small problem getting my dog to eat lately. He used to dig right into his food, but now he nibbles at it over a few hours. The nibbling would be fine if he was allowed to roam the house all day, but he’s kenneled while we’re at work. If he doesn’t eat his breakfast, he doesn’t really eat until we get home for supper. It gets to be a nasty cycle because eventually he skips meals. Of course, I want him to eat regularly, and enjoy it!
He currently eats a high-quality dog food, and gets 4c a day of it. I’ve tried adding canned food, or other “treats” to his meals, and he’ll eat the food if there’s stuff added to it, but apparently not if it’s alone.
I’m not sure what to do at this point. He’s healthy, fairly high energy, and appears to be happy. I would not like to get into the habit of feeding treats at every meal to get him to eat. Does anyone have any suggestions?
If your dog is in good shape generally, and is happy with what he is eating, I would’nt sweat the food thing quite so much.
How big is your dog? Four cups a day may be more than he needs, especially if you are using food for training. Also, the better quality foods will be more nutrient-dense, so a switch to a better ration might get you more calories/meal with smaller intake, if needed.
Offer your boy what you would consider a reasonable (in terms of amount and what you can live with adding to it) meal. Let him have access to the food for 20 minutes, then remove any uneaten food. Offer the next scheduled meal with no extras “because he did’nt eat all his breakfast”. Remove any uneaten portion after the 20 minutes, and so on. Minimize snacks and treats between meals (you will train him to hold out for something better). As long as you are low-key, don’t hover and fuss, and don’t offer goodies at the first sign of chow-time slow-down, most dogs will adapt very quickly to eating when and what you offer.
You may find that your boy only REALLY needs 3 cups/day, or that he never finishes breakfast, but he loves dinner (in which case, give 2 unequal meals), or that he will eat anything with a bit of cat food on top! Whatever works.
The majority of dogs I see in practice are overweight. Even working dogs can get a little pudgy if we’re not careful, so make sure that you know how to evaluate his body condition.
That’s a very good question to raise. Probably many others on the list have a similar worry.
I don’t know where you live, but possibly your dog has a decreased appetite because he’s affected by the summer heat and humidity. I hope that he’s also exercising less in the summer heat. Thus, his caloric needs would be reduced accordingly.
But if summer temps are *not* a consideration, then perhaps try adding one to two tablespoons of canned dog food (the same brand as the dry kibble) to the kibble, mix with a little water, and then give it to the dog. I’ve noticed over the years that *many* dogs seem to need such flavoring added. Perhaps kibble isn’t very palatable to dogs.
I’m not suggesting that you get into the habit of adding table scraps of human food to the dog food bowl, or you could build a habit which would be near impossible to break.
Why not try experimenting by reducing the quantity at the first meal by one-third. Then pick up the bowl after 20 minutes and do not give him food again until his next regularly-scheduled mealtime.
Are you subtracting from his daily portion the amount which you use for training treats?
I recommend that pet owners weigh their dogs once a month and keep a chart of the weight. Oftentimes we’re extremely surprised to discover weight loss or gain of which we’d been unaware. A long-coated breed can suffer weight loss which indicates a medical problem, so we need to monitor our dogs’ weight.
A couple of things you might use on his kibble … fat free, low sodium chicken or beef broth (i keep a small rubbermaid drink container in the fridge so I can just give the kibble a squirt) OR (Rosie’s current favorite …) a small amount of olive oil !! Rosie only gets about a half cup of kibble so I put probably a half teaspoon of olive oil and shake the bowl to coat the kibble. Good for her skin and coat (I think … hers has gotten nice and shiney) and doesn’t make the kibble mushy!
hope this helps…