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Permalink Reply by CaptainCorgi on February 22, 2009 at 4:09pm

I know how you feel. My corgi went through the same exact thing. She literally went 2 weeks without eating when she was around 4 months old. I took her to the vet and she was in perfect condition, and they said the same thing to me "She'll eat when she's hungry." I walked her everyday to make her work, but she was so hungry she usually just went under a bush and lay down 5 minutes into the walk because she was utterly exhausted and starving. I too force fed her and she sometimes ate, but would refuse the same food the next day. I tried every food product there was, but many people told me not to do that because she'll learn to be picky that way. If she doesn't like what you offered that day, she'll wait until the next day to see what you dish out and keep doing so until she likes something or perhaps never.

So in the end, I kept to one food, blue buffalo biscuits with any kind of dog meat. If she didn't eat it that night within 15 minutes, I picked the food up and tried again in the morning. If she didn't eat it then, I picked it up after 15 mins and tried again at supper time. Within three days or so, she started eating it, but she didn't eat once and while or so.

Now that she is 2 years old, she eats every morning and night. She sometimes tries to stick her nose up at it, but eventually eats it. I also recently discovered, when I pick the food up and make her sit, touch my hand with her nose and do a little dance, once I put the food down, she doesn't even hesitate to dig in.

I've come to the conclusion, even though walking your dog is good, I think perhaps you should make her work for her food right there and then for it. Treat the food like a treat or something. I hope something works! I know exactly where you are coming from.

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Permalink Reply by CorgiMum on February 22, 2009 at 4:23pm

Thanks - we have played the "food game" whereby I toss kibbles out on the carpet and she chases them. She'll even eat them if our other dogs are around, but not always. Now that she's older and mostly grown, maybe I'll try the "eats when she's hungry" thing again.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on February 22, 2009 at 4:13pm

How much does she weight now at 10 months old? What type of food is she eating and what is the portion size? What is the feeding schedule? What is the longest time she has gone without food?

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Permalink Reply by CorgiMum on February 22, 2009 at 4:30pm

She eats (if we are lucky)Wolf Cub dry (1 cup) mixed with Wellness canned at each feeding (1/4 can), 7 am and 7 pm. At 10 months old she weighs 22 lbs, which is on the low side for a bitch her age. The longest I've allowed her to go without food for two days.

She gets exercise daily either at the dog park or in our back yard with our other dogs, the 11 year old collie and the 2 year old Dobie. She goes to training class and has begun to learn to herd sheep, all of which she enjoys very much.

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Permalink Reply by Patti on February 22, 2009 at 5:17pm

I know this is difficult and you care deeply for your dog, but i would rely on what your vet is telling you - she is healthy. if her blood work is ok, bowels ok and growth are ok, then she's doing good. she's a puppy, and puppy's can be like 2 yr olds, for a long time. switching the foods can only make the situation worse, sometimes and I worry that the force feeding could be giving her a negative association with food - i'm not giving you grief, but an entire dog's lifetime of forcefeeding would not be fun for either you or the dog. there are animal behaviorist's out there, your vet may know of one, who can help you. my Luna was similar when she was a pup - she was so excited with EVERYTHING that food did not seem to be important, so i stopped focusing on it - left it in the bowl and did not watch her, just ignored her, and she would go get a few bits of kibble, drop them on the floor and eat them - as if she was making her own "entertainment" with eating. gradually, she ate her whole bowl. Even now at 2 yrs old, she will still have "exciteable" days, when she drops and eats, but she is very healthy, very energetic and doing well. Good luck to you and keep us informed.

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Permalink Reply by CorgiMum on February 22, 2009 at 10:18pm

You are absolutely right - force feeding is negative in all kinds of ways and I don't want to have to do it, but she's gotta eat. I have been concerned about jumping around brand-wise with her kibble for just the reasons you cite, she can't keep going on these hunger strikes.

My husband and I decided that we are going to try something: We cooked for her today - 1 chicken breast, 1 cup of white rice and 1 scrambled egg. We divided it up into three servings and gave her one, warm, with a bit of cottage cheese for breakfast. She ate it all and was looking around for more so I gave her a bit of Wellness canned food and she ate that, too.

For dinner I gave her another serving of the above concoction, with a little Wellness on the side. I laid it out like a human would - warmed chicken mixture, separate on the plate from the canned food and a tablespoon of cottage cheese next to that. I wanted to see what if she would eat all three or just the one. She ate all three. I'll give her the third helping tomorrow for breakfast - I hope she eats it.

Right now she's checking everyone else's empty bowel to see what they got. That's good.

If we have hit on something she'll eat, we'll do that for a while and gradually add kibble to it, until it is mostly kibble and she is eating regularly and reliably. I'm not into feeding human food - I don't wish to court pancreatitis, but the chicken/rice/egg thing with the Wellness for D3, etc, will be fine.

Thanks, folks, for what you have offered so far. Any more suggestions are very welcome - the above may or may not work.

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Permalink Reply by Sam on February 22, 2009 at 10:14pm

At ten months of age and weighing 22 lbs unless she is extremely large she is right where she should be. Does she appear to be underweight? Is her coat healthy? Are her eyes sparkly? Is she active and playful? Does she have normal stools?
If she is eating more than a cup a day it sounds like she is getting plenty. At this age she should have nearly reached her adult height. She will still fill out. Some dogs are just picky eaters though that usually does not describe a corgi.
If she is quite underweight and doesnt seem to display typical energy and playfulness perhaps you could ask your vet for something that may stimulate her appetite.

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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on February 23, 2009 at 1:01am

Sidney is an 18 month old male and 28 pounds. He gets about 1/2 cup kibble (Wellness Super5) with a couple spoonfuls Merricks canned food in the morning, and then the same portion again at night. Sometimes he eats it all, sometimes he'll leave up to half of it behind. So at most he gets 1 cup of food a day and he's doing very well.
It seems the dog food companies often tell us to feed more food than the dog actually needs.

One of our other dogs is a corgi mix who is fighting kidney failure. I have a recipe for low-protein food that I make for him, to supplement his prescription dry kibble (and to keep things at least a little interesting for him). It is basically white rice, white bread crumbled, a hard boiled egg and some cooked hamburger. He loves it though and it did my heart a lot of good to see him scarf it up. So I know how awesome you feel knowing your girl ate her meal right up!

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Permalink Reply by Lou Ann Lemaster on February 23, 2009 at 8:10am

Have you tried putting her kibble in one of the treat dispensing balls? Maybe the noise of it rolling around will interest her and the kibble when it drops out, is a reward. From experience, be sure to get one that isn't small enough to roll under the furniture, you'll spend all day getting it out for them.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Wilson on February 23, 2009 at 10:04am

Two things spring to mind on this girl who doesn't want to eat. First, that a 10 month old corgi should probably be on 2 meals a day. I'd suggest 2 feedings a day with 1/2 cup per meal. You can always increase this if her activity & weight warrent it later. If she doesn't eat in 5 minutes, pick it up and try again in 5 minutes. If not, try some broth or V-8 juice and wait for the next feeding. Does she eat well with other dogs or does she prefer to eat alone?

Look for things which are distracting her from eating. You can try a kibble game with rolling a kibble quickly across the floor. The dog "captures" it in this game and after a couple of rounds, will often eat afterward. A constant time schedule is helpful for both feeding and potty issues with corgis. Is she excited by mealtime? If not, try being interactive and make it fun. Drop a few "hors d'vours" from the kitchen counter while you're getting food ready.

Corgis like rituals - for example, one of our males was trained to eat in his crate (because he could be snippy with others when eating). We get the bowls ready and he patiently waits until we say "Go to bed." He tears off to his crate full speed to another room & you can hear him hit the crate. He's trembling with excitement when we give him his food.

My main suspicion is that she's probably still intact and it may be hormonally related. We've had two girls in the past who periodically had this issue before they were spayed. Once spayed, they developed typical corgi meal habits - 12 second mealtimes and looking for more. If bred, these food challenged girls can give the owner very scary times with hunger strikes during pregnancy. Type of food shouldn't be too important as long as it is a high quality diet. Our dogs and any rescues fostering take Purina Pro plan very readily

Look for where she may be getting other food. Is she raiding dog or cat bowls (or cat-boxes) elsewhere or is she eating feces in the yard? Is she bugging & begging from the older dogs to the point that they "feed" the puppy by vomiting?

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