Puppy Refusing to Eat...Used to Eat Well

[Nina]

Hi Everyone,

My 7 month old puppy has stopped eating her kibble. I read in the Food Group that this happens....I feed her Solid Gold Puppy Food which she loved until about 2 days ago. Nothing is medically wrong with her, she free feeds and has done so since her time w/the breeder. How long do I wait her out? She's become more picky about treats, too. I was supposed to change her food to Solid Gold Barking at the Moon at 10 months. Maybe I should change her now. I think that Solid Gold is a good brand, don't want to cook for her, etc. I don't feed her any table/human foods. She gets a bully stick or a real bone once a day. HELP! I think she must be hungry.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Have you tried mixing some wet food with the dry?

[Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom]

mine did the same thing at about the same age. He was originally on Canidae, which is another quality kibble. I went to Natural Balance after a stint of cooking chicken breasts and rice. He is now three and after the dog food scares a couple of years ago, I started giving him some of whatever protein I was eating, mixed into rice and some diced veggies, adding in a NuVet vitamin....which I swear by. I recently bought some dry again, but he really doesn't like it too much after a few days on any of them. He does eat with gusto when I give him steak, or chicken or turkey or hamburger, mixed w the rice. It seems to me that the dogs who eat all dry have better teeth, but they don't enjoy their food as much, which was important to me....I don't have kids....this is my kid.

[Nina]

Hi, Thanks for the info. I have been putting in plain yogurt, but Sadie licks it off and leaves the kibble. I really don't want to go the regular food route....

[Denise, Winnie, and AngelAbby]

Try pouring some salt free chicken broth over her kibble - that may help.

[Terri]

We had this happen and putting about 2 T of plain yogurt on Coopers food helped. It also keeps their tummies healthy, too. A bonus!

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

Dexter went through a stage like this. We did not want to add to his food so we just waited it out. If he refused a morning meal he would eat at night. We fed him from our hands a few times, we put food in his kong, we even put some on the floor for him to hunt - he liked all these things. We just didn't want him to get in a habit of thinking he would get something better if he refused his meal (he is a sneaky little guy).

The stage didn't last very long.

[Dot, Maggie and KoKo]

Rosie is/was a fussy eater. I can't tell you how many brands we tried and she just sniffed them and walked away. I am now cooking for her every Sunday, it doesn't take long to do and lasts all week. Just put it in the freezer. She jumps up and down when she sees me heading for the refrigerator in the morning. I give her about a cupful in the morning and again at suppertime. The rest of the day I do leave kibble in her dish for her to "snack" on. This morning I had run out and hadn't started cooking so I gave her a scrambled egg with cottage cheese which she devoured. Last week I tried a chicken and veggie mix and added some salmon and a little garlic. She ate it but you could tell she wasn't crazy about it, not sure if it was the salmon or the garlic but, since I have more in the freezer so she will be getting it alternating with this week's beef based meal. You should give cooking a try, one big pot and just keep adding "stuff".