HELP>>>Anorexic Doodle!

[Lee Seidman]

We just returned from our vet with Lexi, our 35 pound eight month sweetheart Goldendoodle. She does not like to eat. She was tested, and x rayed, blood test, stool test, and is in perfect health. She will not eat Kibble at all. I tried at least a dozen different brands from Orijen to Whole foods. She is active, affectionate and a perfect little gal. The Vet gave her Purina EN in a can and in Kibble form. She gobbled the canned food and will not touch the remaining kibble. We tried her on raw and she stopped eating that after a few weeks, tried chicken and beef broth, she does like marrow but only will lick it off kibble and then walks away. She likes barbecued chicken, but that is not a healthy diet. I guess it is a canned diet for her, no kibble.
Can anyone suggest a high quality canned food and how much do you feed on a daily basis. Poor baby is hungry and needs to be plumped up!

[Charnell Havens]

My two-year-old standard poodle Paisley is equally picky. I've started mixing Nupro (nutrient supplement) with a little warm water to make a gravy and putting it over 1 cup of dry dog food. I keep it from her until the food becomes a little soggy. Then I mix in about 1/3 can of Solid Gold, which is a high quality dog food. Innova just came out with a new dry dog food which she will eat using the recipe I described. I also discovered that I need to prime the pump to get her to eat. I do that by sticking a few small chunks of bread (which she loved) into the mixture. She will pick out the bread, which by then has soaked up some of the liquid, and slowly but surely eat some of the real stuff. Sometimes I even hand feed her with a spoon to get her started eating. My gosh, the things we do for our babies!

[Barbara Burrows]

We have the same problem with Abby. I started mixing a tablespoon of Evo canned meat in her food. At first she licked it off, after a week she started eating it. This is after a year of trying every food and cooking for her.
She is underweight at 20 pounds and 18 1/2 inches tall. She has gained 1 pound since she started eating. Her vet isn't concerned because she is healthy.

[2SCdoodles]

I have one doodle that does not have much of an appetite, but one that eats like a ravenous wolf! I feed raw (CANZ or Blue Ridge Beef) and Honest Kitchen or Sojos. I rotate the foods. One of my doodles clearly is not motivated to eat. He is extra lean, and at the last vet visit he was underweight. That is Capp, who looks like a big poof ball on my page. He was really too skinny under the fur, and I was shocked when the vet showed me how thin he was. I have had repeated episodes of Capp turning up his nose at foods. It took me almost 9 months to find the combination that seems to suit him (raw+ carbs). I also began buying freeze dried liver as the training treats I use to see if I could put some weight on Capp. It seems to be working.

Good luck to you! I know that it is worrisome when your doodle will not eat.

[Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom]

one thing I forgot to mention....I buy big packages of boneless chicken breasts, and use them boiled for his protein, when I am eating something he cannot share (Chinese, anything with onions, doesn't like Salmon or any other fish). Really very easy, and I believe economical too.....I was spending at least as much on the dog food, and who knows what I was giving my baby to eat? LOL But then again, I don't have kids...this is my kid, and my chance to nurture and be a Mommy. He surprisingly loves chicken parmeggiano.

[Moose&Mica]

I'm lucky in that my two doodles have lab appetites. Ha! Sojos (Sojourner Farms) makes both grain and grain-free freeze dried mixes that you can use to make up your own food if you want to go that route. My sister feeds a raw diet and she mixes in the grain free to boost the veggies in her dog's food. Moose and Mica just love the grain free so much they would eat it before it is rehydrated if I let them. It's basically a mix of freeze dried fruits and veggies along with some herbs and such. I like it mostly because it keeps really well and it travels easily.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Have you tried WholeMeals? My puppy won't eat. He may eat every 3 days if I hand feed him!! Spoiled. I refuse to give table scraps. My neighbor runs a doberman rescue and many times when her dogs come to her they have trouble eating so............. her rescue provides a bag of WholeMeals. She gave me some to try and it works. They have different types and nutrition amounts according to the dog. Here is the website link for more information. www.wholemeals.com

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

If the vet says she is healthy, I would try to put mealtime in a lesser priority if you can. You obviously have done enough right for all these months to have a healthy, active, affectionate pup.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

The real trick to get Lexi is to eat is to have Aunt Adrianne hand feed her. Oh, alright Lee, you twisted my arm. I will go back my bags and hop in the car. Get my room ready!

[jane robinson]

ours was the same, hes a little better now but he would always chose canned food over kibble. we feed 2.5 cans per day of butchers supreme which is 45% real meat which as far as i know is much higher than any others ive found. Nugs has loads of energy, a wonderful soft non shedding coat, white strong teeth and has only visited the vets twice in a year (apart from jabs) once for eating ink and once for neutering so the food seems to be doing some good. would love to have him on Burns kibble as it has such good reports but i want a happy boy who looks forward to his dinner!!! we give him dental chews and bisciut bones as supplements and hes doing fine.

[Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom]

Hi Lee and Barbara!
I had the same thing with Beau at about the same age that Lexi is now. He was on Canidae for about his whole first year. It was shortly after his "hunger strike" that all the dogs were dying from the wheat gluten nightmare of 2006. I came to the conclusion that since he hates all of the kibbles, except on a rare occasion, I had better start giving my baby a healthy diet that I would make myself....I couldn;t stand to see him going hungry for days on end. So I cook up a big pot of rice once a week, and keep it in the fridge. Every night when I make my own dinner (or eat our and bring home leftovers) I add in some of whatever protein I am eating to a half handful of the rice,, some frozen mixed veggies, microwave that, and then add a crumbled dog vitamin (Nu Vet canine ones are highty recommended by all the doodle breeders), and sometimes a little oil, olive or vegetable. Sometimes I add a little sweet potato, or white potato. He does not tolerate turkey very well, althought he enjoys eating it. Chicken chopped meat, steak, etc. all get eaten with gusto. I will not feed him from a can, since so many dogs died right in front of our eyes. The doctor wants him on a kibble diet, but he is very healthy and I want him to eat and enjoy his food.