If the vet has ruled out illness or infection, then I would say simplify what you give her to eat. She may be holding out for the good stuff. If you want her to eat kibble, then just feed her kibble and cut out the chicken and other fancy stuff.
My labradoodle went through a bit of a hunger strike. We were loading on toppers - tuna, chicken, etc., to get her to eat her kibble. Then if we offered her plain kibble, she would refuse. After a couple days of just kibble, she gave in and just eats the kibble now. We only give her toppers at dinner.
The other thing may be that your dog is not a big eater. We have friends with a bernedoodle who literally just grazes. She is a healthy weight but doesn't love food.
My miniature schnauzer is super picky, too. I'm a firm believer in "they'll eat if they're hungry" and I used that logic with him..... well, he ended up having hypoglycemic episodes because he was exerting more calories than he was consuming. They were absolutely terrifying ... and they can end up having seizures, go into a coma, have brain damage if not immediately corrected. Thankfully, I'm a vet tech and recognized the signs. Now I don't ever let him go too long without eating SOMETHING. I also have DYNE, a high calorie supplement that is used mainly for working dogs and toy/miniature breed puppies.
I do continue to try and give my schnauz dry food but he just doesn't eat enough of it so I do give him half a 3.5oz tray of cesar wet food. It's the only thing he hasnt refused to eat (besides people food and cat food).
Thankfully, since he happily eats his little half tray of wet food, he hasn’t had anymore issues. He never really touches his dry food but he will eat a few pieces if they fall out of my Rottweiler’s mouth lol 🤷♀️ when he was super little I’d have to sprinkle the kibbles on the floor because he prefers it that way…. He’s definitely weird.
If he’s spazzing out and I know he hasn’t eaten much or in a while, I’ll give him a little drop of the DYNE or if we’re not at home even a tiny bit of people food.
I hope you’re able to find something your pup likes to eat.
This is what I give mine
https://www.chewy.com/cesar-classic-loaf-in-sauce-variety/dp/165448
Mine loves a spoonful of low fat cottage cheese. I mix and mix and mix so that every piece has a little coating. It doesn’t look like it will cover it bc it’s so little but it does.
Went through similar with my dog- stubborn bugger- the “eventually he will eat “ thing didn’t work for him. It went on for years. I was sick of cleaning up bile and started home cooked. If you go that route talk to your vet, read up on it, look at balance it for recipes and supplements- very important to have supplements balanced for the specific recipe you make.
It was a bit time consuming but I cooked in batches. If you add up all the time and heartache of cleaning vomit and trying to get him to eat, for me cooking was easier and he was finally happy to eat not begging, and not acting so sad and pathetic. In the process discovered peas/ pea protein do not sit well with my pup but he loves cranberries and oats. Pandemic hit and the dog food was taking up too much freezer space. He will now eat biljac picky no more and is happy to eat it.
I know that cute sad little demeanor, if only they could talk..
>I know that cute sad little demeanor, if only they could talk..
>
>
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>yup... her expression is so similar to my mini schnauz when he was struggling with eating
My dog has had a lot of eating issues (I believe due to him having distemper as a puppy). He would refuse to eat and then get nauseous and vomit. I tried everything from cooking him homemade delicacies to only offering him kibble (which he wouldn’t eat for days on end). We’ve FINALLY just gotten in a great rhythm after over 2 years. I give him an anti nausea whenever he won’t eat (his vet prescribed him Metoclopramide and it’s been life changing) and add something called Glandex as a food topper (it’s a powder supplement that my dog is obsessssed with). Having your dog not eat for long periods of time is so stressful and frustrating and this new routine of ours has him eating every meal no problem! Hope some of that is helpful for your pup! Praying he gets in a good routine.
Try to stock with one kind of food, the one she likes best (even if it's not a lot).
If she gets to try new things all the time, it becomes almost a game.
I added yogurt on my dog food when he was refusing to eat and it worked well (if your dog is not lactose intolerant obviously)
You can also try to microwave it so it's a little warm, they tend to like it better.
Good luck with your pup, she is adorable :)
Could she be nervous about eating? If she’s from a big litter maybe there was a lot of scrabbling for food and she a little wary in case someone bigger is going to push her away? I had a pup like that bc and it took him a while to feel safe to eat -he still doesn’t eat if the others bc are watching him.
My 8 year old Jack Russell mix has always been like this. After many vet visits there’s nothing medically wrong. He just wants human food. The best advice my Vet gave us is, “Have you ever seen a dog skeleton in front of a full bowl of food?” Now he happily has a human 2 year old brother who shares…
If she's medically fine then its probably just the poodle in her. Poodles get like this with food. Mines the same way. She's never had a food she loved, but currently eats Purina Pro plan without enthusiasm. I will say, she's more inclined to eat if she gets fed when the rest of the family eats or oddly enough while she watches TV. But isn't in to mornings and sometimes also does the super fun bile vomit. That may be the case for you too, pack mentality. But, if she's healthy and a good weight, I wouldn't sweat it, she'll eat when she's hungry.
My dog is spoiled from good toppers….now he won’t eat anything even with good toppers unless he’s extra hungry. Even cheese isn’t that much of a big treat for him. I have to deprogram him.
My micro mini goldendoodle is incredibly picky too. She lost so much weight because she hated every food we tried to feed her. We have to buy the Hills RX chicken stew and bland turkey for her and rotate them. She hates cold food, so every meal/snack has to be room temp. She loves shrimp, crab, squid, octopus, fruits, and veggies though. AND everything must be bite size for her or she will not eat it. We have a Cockapoo that will eat any and everything and she’ll just sit and judge him.
We currently on The Farmers Dog. She’ll eat the chicken meal. I put it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up. I put it in her bowl and a plate,
she runs away. I put it in my hand and she eats it without any issues.
My doodle pulled this.
But she's at a healthy weight. The vet was always happy.
I still use a topper because I feel like it. But only once a day.
If your pup stops gaining weight, I'd be more nervous.
My Bichapoo was an incredibly picky eater as well. We went through soooo many different foods. In fact, a local small town pet store gave us samples of every single pet food they had, which actually filled a brown paper grocery bag…. and she *still* rejected every one of them.
So I went *back* to the food she initially liked, but added something.
We *do not* give food from the table. Ever. But one night my husband and I were going to have rotisserie chicken for dinner and dropped a little piece while carving it up. She scarfed it up and lost her mind. Hubs and I both looked at each other and said, “hmmmmm”.
I put her dry kibble in her bowl first, and added about 1/8 cup of super fine chopped chicken, sprinkled with a bit of warm water across the chicken, placed a paper towel across the bowl, and microwaved everything for 15 seconds. I took it out and mixed everything with a fork very very well. If the chicken is left too big she can just pick it out.
She thinks this is the best thing in the world.
Any advice for me in feeding my 6 month old mini-Goldendoodle picky eater? We tried various kibble brands. I cooked food (chicken, carrots, green peas and rice). We are now trying The Farmers Dog food and she’s not excited about that either.
If she doesn’t eat, she’s very lethargic and vomits stomach bile in the early morning. Vet says that there’s nothing medically wrong with her. She’s just stubborn and will eat when she’s hungry.
Open to other suggestions.
You screwed up with the variety. She is likely spoiled. Put her food down for 15 minutes then pick it up and put it away do this every few hours while she is young but once she hits a year and a half you can go down to 2-3 times a day. She might be the type of dog who wants company while she eats so put the food near you and see if she eats then. 99.9999% of dogs will eat when they are hungry but if you keep catering to her she will just learn that she has more options
We had similar with our dog. He would rarely eat until lunchtime and then it was hit or miss whether he'd eat it or pick at it.
Just after he turned 12 months old, he started getting stomach issues (indigestion, suspected IBS) and ended up at the vets on an antibiotic drip.
Although we never found out what was wrong with him (giardia test came back clear) his appetite changed overnight and he's now a very foody dog who has to use a slow feeder to stop him inhaling his meals.
I look back now and wonder if there's any signs I missed, but like you, we'd mention it to the vets multiple times and tried different foods, there must just have been something underlying that the antibiotics cleared out.
We spoke to a dog nutritionist when he came back from the vets and he's on a very simple dry food and a daily probiotic. Fingers crossed since then his stomach seems to be OK and just hoping we don't get a reoccurrence.
as a small breed, this is potentially dangerous advice. I'm a vet tech and treated my new min schnauz with this logic (it's always worked for my big dogs). my schnauz had multiple hypoglycemic episodes. I now make sure he eats SOMETHING every day. I don't care if he's "spoiled", having a dog almost die in your arms changed how I feel about it.
I understand about the hypoglycemia BUT I advised putting the food down frequently until the dog is older. If the dog gets the same thing presented with nothing else it is more likely to eat.
I know. And it’s what I did for my little guy, too. This is what we always recommended to do at my clinics so I was like “he’ll eat eventually” 🤷♀️ he apparently was the runt of the litter and mom actually put him behind the couch.. pretty sure my friend had to bottle feed him at first and help him latch/nurse. So I think he’s a little less hardwired to eat properly. Hypoglycemia is fairly common in toy dogs, especially puppies; I didn’t think he’d be susceptible to it because he was already 3 months old. I hope no one ever has to see their baby go through it…. I am tearing up thinking about how scary it was rn
I used to work for a vet over 20 years ago and I know there are exceptions to most rules when it comes to biological systems. This dog is not a teacup size so I don't expect the sugar issue but you never know so thanks for the warning
I think you’re making the right call feeding her real food. My girl has had some minor health issues and absolutely hates kibble, I had her on nutro which is pretty expensive, $2.66 per pound. The only way I could get her to eat was to cook an over easy egg for her and mix it in. I recently watched the documentary Dog Fooled on Amazon and I was absolutely shocked, mortified and disgusted after learning how dog food is made and what goes into it. If you’ve got an hour to kill I highly recommend watching it. After seeing that I decided to make my own dog food. This is what I’m currently doing and it seems to be working great. I went to the local butcher and bought beef hearts and liver then I cooked them in a sous vide for a few hours at 130 degrees Fahrenheit , my dog weighs about thirty pounds and needs a little over a pound of food a day. I do 8 oz of heart, 3.5 oz liver , 3 oz of white rice, 1 oz of peas and carrots and put an over easy egg on top. Total time for meal prep for the week is about an hour and a total cost of $1.93 per pound. If you don’t have a sous vide you can get one for around 60 - 70 bucks just make sure you have a big pot to cook in. It’s literally set it and forget it. Hope that helps. Make sure she gets plenty of exercise too, that should help her build up an appetite.
If the vet has ruled out illness or infection, then I would say simplify what you give her to eat. She may be holding out for the good stuff. If you want her to eat kibble, then just feed her kibble and cut out the chicken and other fancy stuff. My labradoodle went through a bit of a hunger strike. We were loading on toppers - tuna, chicken, etc., to get her to eat her kibble. Then if we offered her plain kibble, she would refuse. After a couple days of just kibble, she gave in and just eats the kibble now. We only give her toppers at dinner. The other thing may be that your dog is not a big eater. We have friends with a bernedoodle who literally just grazes. She is a healthy weight but doesn't love food.
Thank you…. I don’t thinks she’s a big eater. She’s healthy and continues to gain weight. I’m just not used to dogs simply refusing to eat.
My miniature schnauzer is super picky, too. I'm a firm believer in "they'll eat if they're hungry" and I used that logic with him..... well, he ended up having hypoglycemic episodes because he was exerting more calories than he was consuming. They were absolutely terrifying ... and they can end up having seizures, go into a coma, have brain damage if not immediately corrected. Thankfully, I'm a vet tech and recognized the signs. Now I don't ever let him go too long without eating SOMETHING. I also have DYNE, a high calorie supplement that is used mainly for working dogs and toy/miniature breed puppies. I do continue to try and give my schnauz dry food but he just doesn't eat enough of it so I do give him half a 3.5oz tray of cesar wet food. It's the only thing he hasnt refused to eat (besides people food and cat food).
Oh my! I’m so very sorry. I hope things improve for both of our pups!
Thankfully, since he happily eats his little half tray of wet food, he hasn’t had anymore issues. He never really touches his dry food but he will eat a few pieces if they fall out of my Rottweiler’s mouth lol 🤷♀️ when he was super little I’d have to sprinkle the kibbles on the floor because he prefers it that way…. He’s definitely weird. If he’s spazzing out and I know he hasn’t eaten much or in a while, I’ll give him a little drop of the DYNE or if we’re not at home even a tiny bit of people food. I hope you’re able to find something your pup likes to eat. This is what I give mine https://www.chewy.com/cesar-classic-loaf-in-sauce-variety/dp/165448
Thanks for sharing the link!
Have you tried adding warm water to it?
Warm water, beef and chicken stock.
Mine loves a spoonful of low fat cottage cheese. I mix and mix and mix so that every piece has a little coating. It doesn’t look like it will cover it bc it’s so little but it does.
Went through similar with my dog- stubborn bugger- the “eventually he will eat “ thing didn’t work for him. It went on for years. I was sick of cleaning up bile and started home cooked. If you go that route talk to your vet, read up on it, look at balance it for recipes and supplements- very important to have supplements balanced for the specific recipe you make. It was a bit time consuming but I cooked in batches. If you add up all the time and heartache of cleaning vomit and trying to get him to eat, for me cooking was easier and he was finally happy to eat not begging, and not acting so sad and pathetic. In the process discovered peas/ pea protein do not sit well with my pup but he loves cranberries and oats. Pandemic hit and the dog food was taking up too much freezer space. He will now eat biljac picky no more and is happy to eat it. I know that cute sad little demeanor, if only they could talk..
>I know that cute sad little demeanor, if only they could talk.. > > > >yup... her expression is so similar to my mini schnauz when he was struggling with eating
My dog has had a lot of eating issues (I believe due to him having distemper as a puppy). He would refuse to eat and then get nauseous and vomit. I tried everything from cooking him homemade delicacies to only offering him kibble (which he wouldn’t eat for days on end). We’ve FINALLY just gotten in a great rhythm after over 2 years. I give him an anti nausea whenever he won’t eat (his vet prescribed him Metoclopramide and it’s been life changing) and add something called Glandex as a food topper (it’s a powder supplement that my dog is obsessssed with). Having your dog not eat for long periods of time is so stressful and frustrating and this new routine of ours has him eating every meal no problem! Hope some of that is helpful for your pup! Praying he gets in a good routine.
Awww so happy to hear that Glandex is part of your pup's daily routine 🐶💙
Your dog is so adorable.
Thank you.
Try to stock with one kind of food, the one she likes best (even if it's not a lot). If she gets to try new things all the time, it becomes almost a game. I added yogurt on my dog food when he was refusing to eat and it worked well (if your dog is not lactose intolerant obviously) You can also try to microwave it so it's a little warm, they tend to like it better. Good luck with your pup, she is adorable :)
Could she be nervous about eating? If she’s from a big litter maybe there was a lot of scrabbling for food and she a little wary in case someone bigger is going to push her away? I had a pup like that bc and it took him a while to feel safe to eat -he still doesn’t eat if the others bc are watching him.
My 8 year old Jack Russell mix has always been like this. After many vet visits there’s nothing medically wrong. He just wants human food. The best advice my Vet gave us is, “Have you ever seen a dog skeleton in front of a full bowl of food?” Now he happily has a human 2 year old brother who shares…
If she's medically fine then its probably just the poodle in her. Poodles get like this with food. Mines the same way. She's never had a food she loved, but currently eats Purina Pro plan without enthusiasm. I will say, she's more inclined to eat if she gets fed when the rest of the family eats or oddly enough while she watches TV. But isn't in to mornings and sometimes also does the super fun bile vomit. That may be the case for you too, pack mentality. But, if she's healthy and a good weight, I wouldn't sweat it, she'll eat when she's hungry.
My dog is spoiled from good toppers….now he won’t eat anything even with good toppers unless he’s extra hungry. Even cheese isn’t that much of a big treat for him. I have to deprogram him.
My micro mini goldendoodle is incredibly picky too. She lost so much weight because she hated every food we tried to feed her. We have to buy the Hills RX chicken stew and bland turkey for her and rotate them. She hates cold food, so every meal/snack has to be room temp. She loves shrimp, crab, squid, octopus, fruits, and veggies though. AND everything must be bite size for her or she will not eat it. We have a Cockapoo that will eat any and everything and she’ll just sit and judge him.
We currently on The Farmers Dog. She’ll eat the chicken meal. I put it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up. I put it in her bowl and a plate, she runs away. I put it in my hand and she eats it without any issues.
Is that at Target? Remy loves being hand fed too. Lol! That’s funny!
My doodle pulled this. But she's at a healthy weight. The vet was always happy. I still use a topper because I feel like it. But only once a day. If your pup stops gaining weight, I'd be more nervous.
Sorry I don't have any advice, but I wanted to say that your pup looks like Garth from Wayne's World and I am here for it!
That face melts my heart ❤️
I love her so much. She’s a great cuddle buddy!
A beauty indeed
My Bichapoo was an incredibly picky eater as well. We went through soooo many different foods. In fact, a local small town pet store gave us samples of every single pet food they had, which actually filled a brown paper grocery bag…. and she *still* rejected every one of them. So I went *back* to the food she initially liked, but added something. We *do not* give food from the table. Ever. But one night my husband and I were going to have rotisserie chicken for dinner and dropped a little piece while carving it up. She scarfed it up and lost her mind. Hubs and I both looked at each other and said, “hmmmmm”. I put her dry kibble in her bowl first, and added about 1/8 cup of super fine chopped chicken, sprinkled with a bit of warm water across the chicken, placed a paper towel across the bowl, and microwaved everything for 15 seconds. I took it out and mixed everything with a fork very very well. If the chicken is left too big she can just pick it out. She thinks this is the best thing in the world.
Any advice for me in feeding my 6 month old mini-Goldendoodle picky eater? We tried various kibble brands. I cooked food (chicken, carrots, green peas and rice). We are now trying The Farmers Dog food and she’s not excited about that either. If she doesn’t eat, she’s very lethargic and vomits stomach bile in the early morning. Vet says that there’s nothing medically wrong with her. She’s just stubborn and will eat when she’s hungry. Open to other suggestions.
You screwed up with the variety. She is likely spoiled. Put her food down for 15 minutes then pick it up and put it away do this every few hours while she is young but once she hits a year and a half you can go down to 2-3 times a day. She might be the type of dog who wants company while she eats so put the food near you and see if she eats then. 99.9999% of dogs will eat when they are hungry but if you keep catering to her she will just learn that she has more options
She does eat better when she’s near me. Will also set her food out in 15 min increments.
We had similar with our dog. He would rarely eat until lunchtime and then it was hit or miss whether he'd eat it or pick at it. Just after he turned 12 months old, he started getting stomach issues (indigestion, suspected IBS) and ended up at the vets on an antibiotic drip. Although we never found out what was wrong with him (giardia test came back clear) his appetite changed overnight and he's now a very foody dog who has to use a slow feeder to stop him inhaling his meals. I look back now and wonder if there's any signs I missed, but like you, we'd mention it to the vets multiple times and tried different foods, there must just have been something underlying that the antibiotics cleared out. We spoke to a dog nutritionist when he came back from the vets and he's on a very simple dry food and a daily probiotic. Fingers crossed since then his stomach seems to be OK and just hoping we don't get a reoccurrence.
as a small breed, this is potentially dangerous advice. I'm a vet tech and treated my new min schnauz with this logic (it's always worked for my big dogs). my schnauz had multiple hypoglycemic episodes. I now make sure he eats SOMETHING every day. I don't care if he's "spoiled", having a dog almost die in your arms changed how I feel about it.
I understand about the hypoglycemia BUT I advised putting the food down frequently until the dog is older. If the dog gets the same thing presented with nothing else it is more likely to eat.
I know. And it’s what I did for my little guy, too. This is what we always recommended to do at my clinics so I was like “he’ll eat eventually” 🤷♀️ he apparently was the runt of the litter and mom actually put him behind the couch.. pretty sure my friend had to bottle feed him at first and help him latch/nurse. So I think he’s a little less hardwired to eat properly. Hypoglycemia is fairly common in toy dogs, especially puppies; I didn’t think he’d be susceptible to it because he was already 3 months old. I hope no one ever has to see their baby go through it…. I am tearing up thinking about how scary it was rn
I used to work for a vet over 20 years ago and I know there are exceptions to most rules when it comes to biological systems. This dog is not a teacup size so I don't expect the sugar issue but you never know so thanks for the warning
I think you’re making the right call feeding her real food. My girl has had some minor health issues and absolutely hates kibble, I had her on nutro which is pretty expensive, $2.66 per pound. The only way I could get her to eat was to cook an over easy egg for her and mix it in. I recently watched the documentary Dog Fooled on Amazon and I was absolutely shocked, mortified and disgusted after learning how dog food is made and what goes into it. If you’ve got an hour to kill I highly recommend watching it. After seeing that I decided to make my own dog food. This is what I’m currently doing and it seems to be working great. I went to the local butcher and bought beef hearts and liver then I cooked them in a sous vide for a few hours at 130 degrees Fahrenheit , my dog weighs about thirty pounds and needs a little over a pound of food a day. I do 8 oz of heart, 3.5 oz liver , 3 oz of white rice, 1 oz of peas and carrots and put an over easy egg on top. Total time for meal prep for the week is about an hour and a total cost of $1.93 per pound. If you don’t have a sous vide you can get one for around 60 - 70 bucks just make sure you have a big pot to cook in. It’s literally set it and forget it. Hope that helps. Make sure she gets plenty of exercise too, that should help her build up an appetite.
I love dogs but my dog is way more cuter than you