Barkley won't eat

[Alli and Barkley]

he skipped dinner the other night, ate his breakfast fine, then skipped lunch and dinner- what's going on with him?

 

He seems healthy/normal.  Sleeping, running, playing, and his stools have looked normal. 

 

This morning he still wouldn't eat so I stirred in a small spoonful of yogurt, and finally he ate his bowl of food.  

 

He was on diamond and switching to TOTW Wetlands- and the switch over seemed to be fine.  We worked up to half and half and no change in his stool.  Just a few days ago he would devour his food now he seems completely disinterested unless we are playing games with him (throw a piece of kibble across the floor and he will chase after it and eat it)

 

We stopped other treats and have only been giving him his kibble as his rewards which he will then eat.  

 

confused!

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

This sounds just like Rooney was.  He was never very interested in his Orijen kibble.  Sometimes I would take a tiny bit of warm water and sorta mix that with the kibble - it would work for about 2 days, then we tried sprinkling some ground up chicken jerky, that did help for a little while.  Now we are mixing 1 oz raw food (Primal) in his food and he is finally acting like he wants to eat. Eats every bite, poops more regular.  Some dogs just arent' big eaters so don't worry about Barkley - he won't starve but you might have to get creative - lol.  I'm not saying you should give Barkley any raw - Rooney is older at 9 months.

[Alli and Barkley]

Do you think I should try a different formula of Taste of the Wild?  They also have high prairie, pacific stream, and sierra mountain

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Are you feeding him 2 x day or 3?  I never fed 3, just breakfast and dinner.  As far as switching flavors - you could try I guess.  I'd do the warm water first.

[Gayle Miller]

for whatever it's worth (as I don't even have my pup yet) in reading over all the notes I gathered in my notebook, my section on "eating raw" repeats that dogs are carnivores, that puppies can most definitely be fed raw as they would out in the wild.  (I'm not going the raw route myself) but some other helpful tips, in my  notebook:  Things to put on top of kibble if not eating:  Sprinkle:  eggs, rice green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes (freshly cooked0; scrambled eggs, chopped hard-boild egg, finely cut-up chicken, turkey or beef, canned or fresh cooked fish, grated low-fat cheese.   (As a matter of fact, I think I got some of this info from one of your posts, Jane!!!).  Hope this helps Ali!

[Lindsey]

Oh no, we just switched our dogs to TOTW too...but so far they are still eating it. (well Molly didn't eat any the day she got spayed, but other than that she eats it).
I only feed twice a day too, maybe he is just used to getting food so often, he's only eating when he really wants it. Try taking his lunch out.
I've been putting a spoonful of yogurt on top of the TOTW too.
It could also just be a stage he is in, just like human boys(kids in general), one minute they won't eat a thing the next they are eating you out of house and home.

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

Barkley sounds a lot like Lachlan too, Alli. Dunno what it is with some of these doods, but I've never had a less food-oriented pup. The first time he stopped eating I raced him to the emergency vet at 5am on a Sunday morning. They were kind enough not to laugh at me. I've since learned not to stress about it as long as he's otherwise acting normally (which, for him, is trying to eat any non-food item he can fit his mouth around) and he doesn't seem to be losing weight. I've tried a few different foods, and he's currently on TotW Pacific Stream. If I feel like he's missed too many meals, a spoonful of yoghurt mixed in always has him polishing his bowl.

[Gayle Miller]

I've been reading over and over that yogurt seems to do the trick....i don't know about any of you, but with previous dogs I've owned, I would never have thought that yogurt would be so loved!  (steak, ground beer, yes, but yogurt??)  I keep learning here!

[Lindsey]

Hey Gayle, what exactly is ground beer...sounds like something my DH would be interested in ;-) kidding!!!!!!!

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

It's when you lay on the ground and drink beer, LOL! 

[Gayle Miller]

hahhaha....very cute!

[Gayle Miller]

hahaha....was hoping the typo wouldn't be noticed!!!  Little ground beer might go a long way for the pup, however!!!  :)

 

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

Clover eats TOTW on rotation using a different formula each time I buy a bag.  It hasn't caused any problems with her stools.  I have heard of people that feed a different formula at each meal or day.  With grain free it takes less food to get the same amount of calories as grain based diet.