# Picky eaters anyone?



## Luvmalts<3 (Feb 12, 2006)

Pixie has to be the most picky eater on the planet! She's been on wellness puppy her whole life, but she doesn't like it so up until 6 months old she was very skinny. At 6 months The vet recomended that we get her some 'puppy junk food' to help her gain weight. We did canned foods for about a month, and then our vet recomended that we try suplementing in some rice and cottage cheese to her kibble, and stop feeding the canned food (hey I didn't mind the food was brown and really messy! lol...white dogs...







), it's 4 in the morning, and I don't remember why other than it had to do with the fact that the canned foods are very high in protein. So we started that, and it worked, she started gaining weight. But, somewhere in there she decided this kibble thing wasn't for her. So when we got to where we thought she was becomming overweight we tried to ease her down to mostly kibble, but it didn't work. Now, she doesn't eat her kibble, and she wont eat a lot of anything else we give her. It's like she's tired of the same meals everytime. Over the past month She still eats, but in smaller portions, and she's loosing weight. I'm probly gonna call the vet this week. I posted just to check and see if anyone else has these problems.


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## louis' mom (Jul 7, 2006)

Poor Pixie! Louis eats everything but his kibble - I tried everything. He does eat eventually when he is hungry - usually in the evening. Have you tried a gravy on her food? Sometimes, I'll bring home the bone from a steak and boil it to make a broth and pour it over his food, wam it up for a few seconds in the microwave and just loves that. You might try that - it softens the kibble and adds favor. I do it with the a roasted chicken also - NO BONES just the broth over the kibble. Good luck.


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

Well...I'm a believer in if they are hungry, they will eat. Is she losing weight to the point of the vet being concerned, or is it you just being concerned? (she looks healthy to me in your pics







). 

I think animals, like skin kids (of which I have two) will get picky on you if you give them what they want for a period of time--they're NOT gonna want to go back to what they're "supposed" to eat. If I gave in to my kids and gave them pizza every night and then stopped and went back to healthier foods, you can bet they're throw a fit and go on a mini hunger strike to wait and see if I'd give in. Eventually they'd eat.

I say just go back to the kibble and don't give ANYTHING else. If she is hungry, she'll eat. It may take a few days. If need be maybe dampen the kibble a bit (I wouldn't soak it), initially, to make it easy to chew, etc. I doubt very much she'd make herself starve to death--but of course if it came even remotely close to that THEN I'd call the vet as there may be something else going on. Good luck.


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## Luvmalts<3 (Feb 12, 2006)

That's the thing. I think she would starve if I didn't give her what she wanted. I tried feeding her kibble for a long time, and she ended up throwing up bile from not eating. Thank you for the broth idea though! I think that might work. She is heading toward where she was when we started trying to get her to gain weight. I can feel the idividual vertebre in her spine, and a lot of the bones in her legs. My friends have started commenting about how skinny she's getting now. thank you guys for the ideas! I will deffinetely try them.


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## Scoobydoo (May 26, 2005)

Scooby is one of the pickiest eaters I have ever known, we raised him on home cooked food mostly because he just would not eat any kibble or canned dog food. I used Nutrical a lot to make sure he got his vitamins. He loves vegetables so I used to cook him chicken breast, rice and carrots and beans. He definately won't eat anything with gravy for some reason so it's got to be drained of all liquid.
I must say though now he will eat Natural Balance duck and potato kibble and also Evangers chicken and rice kibble in the morning and at night he will eat Evangers canned. It has taken a lot of perseverance though to get him to accept what he is given and even hand feeding just to get him to eat. We have cut back on all treats now and he only gets a treat if he eats his meal, that seems to work well too.
Good luck I know what you are going through, but one thing the vet did tell me is that we tend to make our pups fussy by giving in to them and offering our food just to get them to eat, but if all food from our table and treats were stopped they will eat their proper food, this seems to have worked for Scooby


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

> Well...I'm a believer in if they are hungry, they will eat. Is she losing weight to the point of the vet being concerned, or is it you just being concerned? (she looks healthy to me in your pics
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Unfortunately, this is not always safe for small Maltese because we have to worry about hypoglycemia with them.


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## Gemma (Jan 19, 2006)

Sparkey is very picky too. what I do is I put his kibbles in his dish and just put a few drops of water in it then a little bit of boiled chicken ( I shred it so that it covers some of the kibbles ) I'm talking about like one square inch. then put it in microwave for 10 seconds and mix it well so everything smells like chicken. he will eat it every time.


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

sprite would MAYBE eat 10 pieces of kibble per day. all three of my dogs wouldnt eat enough and then would throw up and it was just a cycle. we tried different dog foods and nothing worked. thats why we do the homecooked diet. i tried doing the "if they're hungry they'll eat" but it didnt work for me. sprite and ellie were underweight while on dog food, they were just skin and bones. 

good luck on finding the right food for her


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

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Thanks--I can't believe I didn't think of that--especially since I do keep it in mind even for Ollie.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

Toy is not a good eater either. She did beef up on the Organic NB but now she's slipping again. It's old news I guess. I know she loves it when I hand feed her but it isn't the answer to her being too thin. I guess I am going to have to put her on some canned food too. The perils of maltese!


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

It's an ongoing battle trying to get Sophie to eat. I've tried all kinds of dry and wet dog food and she seems to just not be interested in eating all that much. Sometimes she will eat if we hand feed her and then sometimes (like today) she'll just eat everything in her dish. She weighs six pounds and doesn't seem too thin. But I worry about her just the same. 

Linda


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I was a believer in the "if they're hungry they'll eat" theory until I met Lacie. She would rather starve herself than eat something that she doesn't like. I've changed her food so many times that I've stopped counting.









At this point I still have her on Royal Canin Yorkie and this is the longest she's ever been willing to eat one kind of food. Of course she still has to have a little boiled chicken breast on top of the kibble to get her started eating.









Whatever it takes.









Tilly, the Moose, on the other hand will eat anything and usually does. Not just her food, but anything else she can put in her mouth.







I hope she outgrows this soon.


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## Carla (Aug 30, 2005)

Shotzi can be a picky eater if I let her. When I fed her twice a day, she would eat very little and occasionally she wouldn't any of her food for a whole day and sometimes the next day too. I switched her food from Nutro Ultra to Wellness, which she seemed to really like. After a few days of Wellness she had diarrhea and her rectum was swollen and bleeding. The vet said she was allergic to something in the Wellness. He also instructed me to slow-cook skinless chicken breasts and sweet potatoes for a week. He also gave me meds for her sore little bottom. She recovered quickly and is now eating Solid Gold and doing well.

The point I'm trying to make is, be sure to add or change only one food item at a time. This way if you have problem it can be quickly identified.

Carla & Shotzi


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## May468 (Dec 5, 2006)

I feel so spoiled.

Cotton eats like a PIG.. She even tries to eat my GRAPEFRUIT!!! She gets her head hung over my arm, and goes for it. I haven't found anything she won't try.

Moppy isn't a picky eater, but he doesn't pig out. He has put on a little weight since Cotton moved in. He thinks he has to taste test her food. (puppy food)

Sam and Junior would eat Wood. They don't even taste it. Junior does smell everything first. Susan once offered him an Onion. He ate it!!!! Then realized he didn't like it. LOL


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## bellasmommy (May 8, 2005)

Bella used to be picky, but now she loves loves loves Natural Balance duck and potato. Maybe you just haven't found the perfect fit yet. Bella still likes to eat her kibble mostly at night, but I give her a little boiled chicken every morning and I'm pretty sure thats why. I find her grazing now and then though on the NB and thats the first food she has ever been interested in enough to bother with during the day. New Balance used to send out free samples if your intersted, they probably still do.


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