emi isnt eating -- is she a social eater?
ive been on mycorgi the past month looking for reasons why emi could possibly not want to eat her food! i was very prepared for her knowing that corgis were always hungry and to not over feed her!
when we first brought her home (at 12 weeks), she wouldnt touch her food, and i wasnt too concerned knowing it was her first day. after a couple days passed by, i noticed she still wouldnt touch her food. at this point i was leaving it for her overnight in her crate as well as all day. and then, i would scoop 1/2 cup in the morning (she wouldnt touch it) and then take it away eventually. same thing at night! she barely touched it EVER!
she probably eats a total of 1/4 cup of food ( or less) a day, and she seems a little bit on the skinnier side, but i dont think shes significantly loosing weight either.
here are the things ive tried!
- soaking in warm water for a few minutes
- she was 12 weeks old when i got her, so i assumed that it was a very good possibility she was teething and probably didnt want to eat her food. soaked it in warm water, and she would eat some of it, but would leave more than half of it out and eventually just stopped eating, aside from a few bites
- changing foods
- i got her a bunch of samples to mix with her food, and she LOVED THEM the first day! then the next day, she grew bored of it and didnt touch her food yet again. i bought a bag of blue buffalo hoping she would like it more than wellness and would eat! but alas, after 3 days of good eating, she stopped eating yet again
- mixing dry food with wet food (or yogurt)
- she loved this at first! but after a couple days, she started licking her food, or spitting out the kibble, and eventually lead to her not touching the food at all
- "starving her"
- of course i dont mean literally starving her, i figured that if she was a smart and healthy girl, she would eat as much as she needed to survive. so when i put food out in the morning and she didnt touch it, i would put it away. then at night, ill put food out, and if she didnt touch it after 10 minutes, id put it away. to my dismay, she WONT eat!
- sitting with her while she eats
- i always sit on the ground next to her while trying to coax her to eat, and she doesnt really care much -______- i assumed if she was a social eater, she would eat with me keeping her company, or trying to hand feed her
- not giving her too many treats
- if she wasnt eating her food, she MUST be living off of treats ! i limited treats to a couple a day (i need them to coax her into her crate) and didnt train her, but it didnt change her eating habits.
now, after ALLL of this, the only time i notice her eating, is when my cats eat her food. THATS RIGHT! she gets along particularly with one of my cats, very much so! and when i leave her food out to try and get her to eat, he always comes along to try and steal her food. of course i tried putting an end to this as soon as possible because i didnt want my cats to be eating dog food! every time i poured food into her bowl, she would leave it, and during those 10 minutes, bugs (one of my cats) comes in and tries to eat her food! i used to throw him out immediately, but i noticed when he eats her food, then she will start eating her food too!
the only sense i can make out of it, is that shes used to sharing a large bowl of food with her siblings, so im guessing that when bugs eats out of her large bowl, she eats with him (like a social eater?).
so my question is, how do i fix this? i want her to eat and love food, but i dont want to have to feed my cats dog food in order for that to happen..
the cats area is located in the living room, while i keep emi in my room thats baby gated, so that the cats and come in and out. the cats are free range eaters, so their food is left out all the time. i could try and stop letting the cats eat like that, so that i could try and feed my cats when i feed emi, but im scared that emi will try to eat cat food, or the cats will only want to eat her food etc @_______@
what should i do?!
i also want to note that there will be another puppy coming along the way early july, so if that makes a difference (maybe i could feed them together? but they would have to meet and get used to each other first) but i dont know what to do for the time being until other puppy gets here..
im going to end up pulling my hair out! HELP!
thanks!!
as noted, the breeder fed them all together, in a large bowl. emi is the one in the back.. not eating. of course -_____-
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Di, Pazu, and Mochi the Bunny on
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You could maybe put the cat's dinner bowl and the dog's bowl side by side and put just a little cat food in the cat's bowl with dog food in the dog's bowl to get Emi thinking that the cat will keep her company.. or that the cat will eat her food.
I guess it would hard to answer the question -- Is Emi eating because she thinks the cat will eat all her food, if she doesn't eat... or if she's eating because she likes the company?
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Permalink Reply by liane, emi, and helix! on
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thats exactly what i wanted to do! but the cats LOVEE to eat food thats not theirs, especially since they've been on their food forever. im scared that if i feed them together, the cats are most definitely only going to want to eat her food, which may lead to her eating the cat food, and i dont know T_______T
i want to believe that she only eats when the cats eating out of her bowl because she likes his company. when he eats out of her bowl, she doesnt try to eat all the food, like shes scared that hes going to eat it all, but more like "oh! we're not playing because youre eating? well i guess ill eat too than!" once he stops eating out of her bowl, she wont eat because she wants to play with him ):
i really dont know what to do, because i dont want the cats eating dog food, but it seems like its the only way she will eat?? ):
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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How many days did you give putting the food down and then picking it up after 20 minutes a try? Also, did you start out with the food the breeder was giving? It takes a while for a puppy to adjust to so many changes and often not eating a lot is one way it will appear. Softening the food is a good idea in case of teething but just offer it three times a day for about 20 minutes at a time. Do not let the cats at her food or by her while she is eating. As long as her weight is good, do not worry she will come along. She is adorable! Fussy eaters are made not born. If she goes over a week or starts to get lethargic call your vet and/or the breeder for advice. Generally puppies go through periods of light eating and being pigs according to their growth patterns.
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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I agree with Bev, picky eaters are made not born. All of the things you are doing are pretty much teaching that if she holds out she might get something better than what she currently has. When you were picking up her bowl after 10 minutes, how long did you do that for? It may take several days. If she is a healthy dog she will NOT starve herself to death, I promise you.
To me, her wanting to eat when the cat goes for her food is pure competition. My pem Henry is the same way with my other dog. He really doesn't care for kibble, but he certainly doesn't want Luke to have it either. I personally would not allow the cats so close to her while she's eating.
I would also not rely on another puppy to solve these issues. Henry is a picky eater, and when we added Luke to the family it just made it even worse. Luke eats EVERYTHING, as fast as possible. So he hoovers down his food, and then goes and stands over by Henry staring him down while he eats (verrrry slowly) in case a stray piece of kibble would happen to come his way. Of course then Henry growls, gets annoyed, won't eat, etc. I have to be "on guard" constantly until he's finished. I definitely would not feed both dogs from the same bowl, no way. Each dog should have their own bowl in a quite place where they can eat undisturbed.
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Permalink Reply by Beca and Mishka on
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My bosses' dog (not a corgi) has her food left out all day (until Mishka and I come in and I put it up so that Mishka doesn't eat it). Generally she isn't interested in finishing it - she might nibble at it for a day and a half, and then eats a full meal. She has a better track record for eating at mealtimes if people stay in the kitchen with her, but mostly they scoop out some kibble, give her meds in a pill pocket, and wander away.
When she stays with me, she gets access to her food for 15 minutes, twice a day, and by the 3rd or 4th day she gets the idea and eats nearly all of the food at each meal. She keeps eating like that when she goes home for a few days, and then back to the old habits.
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Permalink Reply by Chris, Kadi & Brodie on
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I think Kadi is a bit of a 'social eater' as well, but I don't really let her 'get away with it'. I feed all mine in the basement and they each have their own spot for their bowls. Kadi in her xpen, Kipper in his xpen, Brodie in between both pens. It does allow a bit of that 'competitive' feeling for them, but they can't actually get each others' food. If for some reason Kadi is fed alone, she doesn't eat as well, as fast, or even at all sometimes. If that's the case, it gets picked up after about 10 minutes and she doesn't get another chance until the next meal time. She never fails to eat the next round unless she is sick. You might designate a spot to feed Emi that is 'safe' from the cat, but where the cat can still come around and express interest. Give it 10 minutes, then pick it up and wait until the next meal time. I don't know how often you feed, I know a lot of folks do 3 meals a day for pups, but I started straight away with two times a day for Kadi (she was 8 weeks) and that worked fine with her. The few times she skipped, it made her really hungry the next go round so she ate well.
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