Picky Eater
Kirbs is 6 months old now and it's like pulling teeth to get her to eat her food! We feed her Iams Puppy. We have to add chicken bites and water and warm it up for her to eat it. Well, we did that for about a month and she caught on. Now she picks the chicken out and leaves the rest. Someone else suggested Olive Oil, worked once and not since then. She does eventually eat her kibble, but it's as if its a last resort.
Here's my question: Is this just a puppy thing or should I change her food? If I change her food, any recommendations? I've heard good things about AvoDerm, Blue Buffalo, and Wellness. Any help is much appreciated.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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I would try putting the food down for 20 minutes, and if she doesn't eat it, pick it back up. Try not to give any treats until the next meal. I know it's very hard to do (been there!), but she won't starve herself to death or anything.
I wish we would have stuck to this when my pem Henry was little, he's ~1.5 now and it's still a real pain in the butt getting him to eat. We have a 4 month old cardi puppy who LOVES kibble, so he has to be confined (which he doesn't care for!) while Henry eats and it takes him foreverrrrrrrrrrr. argh. We've been making some progress with him, but I think it would have been a LOT easier if we had just stuck to our guns when he was little, instead of feeling sorry for him.
As far as the food brand, I would suggest changing it just because Iams doesn't really have the best ingredients. Out of your list I've only tried Wellness, which was fine, but it gave Henry realllllly bad gas. I feed both my guys Fromms now which I've been very happy with. It seems like lots of people feed Blue Buffalo and like it, but they recently had a recall so I would watch out for that.
http://bluebuffalo.com/news/vitamin-d-voluntary-recall.shtml
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Permalink Reply by Cindy on
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I agree, a dog won't intentionally starve themselves and most of the time, we are the creator of the picky eater. In my house, it's eat what I put down or don't eat. There are exceptions to that as a sick dog or one that needs to eat more because they are at higher activity level. At 6 mos you could also be dealing with some teething issues. Check out their mouth and make sure that they aren't eating because of mouth/teeth issues.
If you must add something, a little chicken broth, an extruded soy bean oil(has more amino acids and vits then olive oils) or you can get some electrolite products from your vet.
Changing foods a lot can also create a picky eater. Find a good premium adult food(no need to feed corgi puppies, puppy food at 6 mos of age) that's beef or chicken based. Lots out there so do some research. Might also consider some of the prepared raw diets or going to a raw diet all together. Honest Kitchen is a great and easy to use product that I've never had a dog turn up their nose for.
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Permalink Reply by Lindsey Corkern on
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I am having a similar issue, though not quite as frustrating as yours. I did use Iams puppy, but quickly switch to blue buffalo. Please read Jane's link to the recall information in the other reply to this post. It does not affect Leia's particular bag of food, so we are not worried (but still extra observant, just in case). It is worth reading if you are considering switching to it. Leia did not seem to like Iams as much as she likes the Blue Buffalo.
So Leia's issue is that she seems to prefer to eat a little bit over the course of a few hours. She only gets the recommended amount per meal (eats two times a day), but wow, does she ever stretch it out. I plan on getting another puppy in a year or two so I don't want her to have eating habits like this. So my plan is to leave her food out for certain periods only until we eventually get back on schedule. I'll put her breakfast out first thing when I wake up and pick it up by the time I leave the house or one hour later. As she gets used to that, I will gradually decrease the amount of time I leave the food out.
I will do the same for dinner. If it doesn't work, then I will get strict about it and only leave her food down for 20 min, etc. Also, I have to admit that I have been giving her treats in between meals, though its more to train her and keep her busy than to feed her. I just started this plan yesterday, so I can't say I've seen any results yet, but will let you know if this tactic works for me. Good luck.
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So I did set her food out at each mealtime for 30 min. She's been eating all of her dinner within that timeframe. Breakfast is a different story though. I usually leave the house shortly after giving her breakfast, so I decided to feed her earlier so I have time to monitor it. After 30 min yesterday and the day before, I picked it up and threw the rest of the kibble in a Kong. Boy does she love to eat her breakfast from that Kong!
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As far as the recommened feeding rate on the bags, you actually need to go more by the body condition and health of your dog. Honestly, my corgis get much less then is recommended on the bag and are in great shape. One other dog I have in my house actually gets almost twice as much as the bag says because he is a super active dog and has a high metabolism. He also gets some oil supplements and such to make sure he's getting enough calories.
You might also make smaller meals more often during the day. So feed 1/2 the current amount in the morning, maybe the other 1/2 as soon as you get home from work and another small amount later in the evening. Each dog is different in how they use their food. Also watch the amount of treats you give, those can affect how much kibble your dog eats. Maybe substitue some of their daily kibble ration as treats or use one of their feedings as filler for a treat toy like a Kong, buster cube or those cool treat bottles.
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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She could be teething and need her food softened a little but don't worry too much if she doesn't always want to eat.Growth spurts at this age will affect her hunger level too. 20 minutes and then pick it up. As long as she is healthy and growing don't worry too much. Picky eaters are made not born!
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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Boy does she have you trained! :-)
She'll eat if she's hungry. I used to worry about Seanna, but then once her weight started creeping up and I looked at all the people on here, I realized I was WAY overfeeding her. It's way easier to keep them from gaining than it is to take it off! Seanna gets 1/4 cup Wellness Healthy Weight in the morning and night. I got her trained to eat when I wanted her to by putting the food down, and giving it 5 minutes, then taking it up until the next feeding was due. She got the hint real quick when she lost out on a couple of feedings. She always liked the Wellness OK, but rest assured, no dog (especially a corgi) is going to let themselves starve. I think she's just playing you!
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Permalink Reply by Casey Mason-Foley on
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We are having the same problem!
We give her science diet kibble and this all natural wet, but she has to be starving nearly to eat it. Every time we try something new, she gets sick of it in a day or two and starts only eating when she is realllllllly hungry. We've had her checked for worms, and she just doesn't have them.
We're not sure what to do either. Emma is on the small side, and I wonder if she just isn't a big eater?
I am always told it is good she doesn't eat much because corgi's tend to gain weight too easy, but I'm not finding that to be true. We're picking up the food after it has been down a while, so hopefully she will start catching on...
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Permalink Reply by justine moeller on
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We created a picky eater. We have also "cured him". If your happy with the brand and what it stands for, ingreidents, etc, then stick with it and do 20 mins food down in the morning, then pick it up and do not give the option to eat until the evening (always leave water available) If you want to switch, go for it! Mickey learned within 3 days that it wasnt a joke..ha! He gobbles it up now. We went through a few month of slow eating etc... but we also caused that. We would sit by him and try and force it...geez...he sure did get alot of attention during those months! Now I give him a big GOOD BOY when he is done. :) He went two days without eating, which FYI is not starvation. Dogs bodies are designed to go for longer periods without food. We often skip evening meals if their activity for the day is not high enough.
Our other corgi has NEVER had a problem with eating, ever.... even when he is sick and throwing up he would still eat a full bag I am sure (along with socks, underwear, kitty litter, etc! :) )
Good Luck!
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Permalink Reply by Jeni Martin on
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Thanks everyone for your great tips! I tried putting the food down for about 20 minutes and picking it back up. When I picked it up I said it was "all gone" our phrase for when her treats etc are gone. Thursday night she didn't eat, Friday morning it took her a while, but I think because she was so hungry, she ate, reluctantly still, but ate. Friday night I put her food down, tried to get her to eat. She looked at me, looked at the kibble and turned her head. (Ha ha! I know it shouldn't be this funny, but it was so cute-our little brat of a dog). So as soon as she did that I picked up her food and said it was all gone. She immediately began sniffing around where the bowl was and barked at me. I put the food back down and after a moment's hesitation, she ate it! And she ate it quickly! As if it would be gone in a few minutes!! Yippee! Thanks guys!!
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Quick Update:
Kirby has eaten her kibble as I've told her the past couple days. Twice she has thrown it back up. (Not feeding her much, it's 1/2 cup at most twice a day) Tomorrow we are going to get her some new food. I don't know if it's the bag of Iams I got or what. But we're switching just to be on the safe side. I did a little reading and found that some people have found when they go to get Iams Proactive it's no longer on the shelf, with a few different explanations from Iams and Petco. Err...yup, we're definitely switching.
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One more quick update. We switched Kirbs to AvoDerm. The difference is AMAZING!! She gobbles up her food, no hesitation, walks away when done, waits a minute, then goes back to lick the bowl. I am such a dork-apparently she knew all along this bag of Iams was no good. She would argue with me, now I know why. Yippee! So happy she's eating, and eating something I feel good about giving her. :)
Side note, I'm taking the bag of Iams back to the store, something is apparently wrong with (in my opinion). We'll see what happens. Probably nothing, but if more people have problems withe this batch, someone will do something, eventually.
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