Won't Eat Unless...
It's been a week since Bento joined us, and he's wonderful (of course). There is this one thing that I've noticed that concerns me a bit. He won't eat unless I hand feed him.
Everyday, I place his food in his bowl, and he'll nibble it, but then he ignores it. 30 minutes later, and he only ate that little nibble. I take the bowl away and no more food until his next meal. When it's time to eat again, he does the same thing
At first, I thought he doesn't like the food. But, he'll eat it if I hand feed the kibble to him.
What should I do?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on
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What are you feeding him? He may not like his food...
Waffle will eat anything if I give it to him as a reward, and I have had to make him do tricks for pieces of his dinner on multiple occasions. -_- But, if I just fix it and put it down, he won't touch it, sometimes for days. Normally I would say let him get hungry, but he is a puppy and he really should be eating lots. Can you try getting sample bags of food from the pet store and seeing if he will eat any of those uncoaxed?
Additionally, it may be stress that is causing him to not eat. Changing homes and being separated from his litter is a HUGE change, and he is still adjusting. Try to wear him out and make him a comfortable as possible before meal time and see if that helps, too.
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Permalink Reply by Kim Ales-Yan on
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We're feeding him the Blue Buffalo Puppy line. He'll eat the kibble when we use it as a reward, which is great, but it's still hand feeding him. He doesn't seem to dislike it since he will eat it. It just that if the food is left in the bowl, he ignores it.
We'll try to wear him out before his next meal. Thank you!
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Permalink Reply by Suneera and Emmy on
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Emmy does the same thing but it isn't every day. I've had her for 3 weeks now. What I've started doing is hand-feeding her like the first few bites and then she will realize that she likes it and she will eat it by herself. She eats when it's a reward too but instead of giving it to her from my hand, I'll put it on the floor in front of her. Sometimes when she isn't eating, I'll put some of her food in a Kong so that she can play that way and eat it.
I learned the hard way though not to force her to keep eating if she isn't interested. She regurgitated some of her food. The vet told me to make her eat 1 cup a day, but she eats about 3/4 cup and then she is done.
Emmy also likes to put a piece of kibble in her mouth and then run to her bed to much on it, so I've put a baby gate up in the kitchen and put one of her beds near her food bowl so she is close to her food and she'll be able to continue eating and resting.
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Also it helps Emmy if I sit with her while she eats or if I'm in the same room with her. The first week, everytime she would get distracted, I would tap on her food dish or swirl my finger in the water so that she would hear it and come investigate and pick up some food while she was at it.
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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I would put some warm water in the kibble and give it to him for 20 minutes. If he doesn't eat it, pick it back up and don't offer it again until dinner time. He will eventually learn to eat when you ask him to. A healthy dog will not starve itself next to a full bowl of food.
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Permalink Reply by Karen Dadisman on
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Yep, picky eaters are made by concerned owners. He'll eat if he's hungry. The trick is to NOT feed them between meals. No snacks, no treats, no "I'm starving" eyes can work!! Be strong. They won't starve themselves. Sitting with them is not a good idea either. My sister in law has a sweet little cocker, 3 years old, that still has to have mommy sit by her before she'll eat!! Give me a break!
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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Agreed! picky eaters are made not born. However at his age his teeth may bother him a little so wetting his food might help. Putting food down for a set time period and then picking it up between meals will work.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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How old is he? It could be teeth and I also would try warm water and let it sit at least 5 min. I always notice this with my pups if they're teething. Just imagine those sore gums:(
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Bento is 9 weeks old. Do corgis teeth at 9 weeks? It'll be hard to abstain from treats; we're trying to train him, but we'll try it out. We'll definitely try the warm water route. Thank you all!
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Usually around 12 weeks but I suppose they are like kids and could be early or late. Their gums may hurt before they actually start teething also. Let us know if he's better with the softened food:)
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The softened food helped tremendously! He didn't finish his full .5 cup of food, but he at least ate half of it before he went to take a nap. I'm going to soften his food again tomorrow.
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Wonderful...you'll have to do this for awhile:)
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