# does anyone else hand feed?



## bruinkoala (Aug 18, 2005)

Hello! I find myself having to hand feed Bruno... for some reason, he doesn't eat on his own ALL THE TIME. I work from home, so while I'm working and if he is hungry in the morning or afternoon, he eats on his own (SOMETIMES), but when it comes to dinner time, he doesn't eat and I have to hand feed him. He eats Chicken Soup for the Puppy and I recently got him Merrick (dry and canned). I can tell he loves it, but I was hoping that Merrick would be the miracle dog food where Bruno will just devoure every bit without me needing to hand feed him at all... no luck. Does anyone have suggestions? I'm going to be away from him for 2 days next month and I want to make sure he will eat all his food. The past times I was out of town, he would only eat half of his food. Any suggestions???


----------



## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

When K & C were puppies I hand fed them. I also hand fed my first Malt, Rosebud. Eventually they started loving their food and now they gobble every bite. Sometimes when they are young they just get very picky.


----------



## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

I lay down the law. They get 10-15 minutes with the food and then its up until the next meal. If I have a picky one, no treats or anything between meals. They learn pretty quickly to eat what I put in front of them.


----------



## Matilda's mommy (Jun 1, 2005)

i still hand feed my baby's Muffy is 11years, Matilda is 15 months


----------



## Suz & the Fluffs (Mar 11, 2006)

I only hand feed Bella when it is like 5pm and she hasn't ate any food at all yet. My vet thinks I'm nuts. He said she will eat when shes hungry. I just get worried I guess.


----------



## Linus McDuff (Jul 12, 2006)

> I lay down the law. They get 10-15 minutes with the food and then its up until the next meal. If I have a picky one, no treats or anything between meals. They learn pretty quickly to eat what I put in front of them.[/B]


I agree all the way. 

When Linus was a puppy he wouldn't eat unless I watched him. It made getting ready to go to work a bit of a challenge! I eventually took to putting his feed bowl by my makeup mirror in the morning. In the evenings he eats while I make dinner. Maybe this could work for you too!


----------



## bruinkoala (Aug 18, 2005)

thanks everyone! i'm just like bella's mom... if he hasn't eaten by the time I'm done with work, I hand feed him. i'm just worried for next month when i'm going to leave town... he doesn't eat as much when i'm gone. i was thinking of being strict where his food is only left out at certain feeding times (right now his food is out all day). maybe i'll try that???


----------



## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

Yes, I hand feed Toy late in the evening most evenings. She's on the thin side
and I worry








so I give her kibble by hand and she eats more.


----------



## barb (Apr 3, 2006)

I hand feed also. As a matter of fact I pretend I am eating it







Roxie doesn't eat much, she is about 2 1/2 lbs @ 7mos, so I worry. Sometimes she will eat on her own, but I like to know she ate something!!! She is super picky. I also hope that eventually she will just like dogfood and eat it all up.


----------



## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

> I hand feed also. As a matter of fact I pretend I am eating it
> 
> 
> 
> ...



For both Secret and Pocket (a year apart), I've only been successful with getting them trained to eat kibble by throwing it in the floor by my desk. After doing this for a couple weeks, they moved to the bowl with the others on a more consistent basis. Leaving them to eat on their own resulted in sugar lows, and after almost loosing Secret last year, I was more diligent with Pocket this year. I also have a bowl of kibble in my bed for Pocket. I think he eats better during the night than at other times. My handler is excited about showing Pocket, if I can get him to gain another pound and one half; therefore, I am highly motivated to help him along. Maybe he will be there by the time Secret finishes.


----------



## Mystify79 (Apr 6, 2004)

I hate to admit it but I hand feed my Yorkie. She out of the blue became incredibly picky and just about the only way I can get her to eat is out of my hand. I'd like to break her of the habit but she has a weak tummy so I can't really take up her food so lil' Miss picky will continue to get hand fed until I find a secret something to get her to eat out of her bowl again.

*Edit* - Well it's like she knew what I was typing because my husband just fed them and she ate out of her bowl! Yay!


----------



## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

I tend to be rather strict about eating. With Jolie (Bichon Frises) we put food out at a certain time and that was it. For the maltese we started doing the same......then Sassy got sick and was anorexic (totally unrelated to food). I would have turned handstands to get her to eat. Now that she is gone I admit that I am very sensitive to dogs who won't eat. I tend to freak out and presume the worst. Sooooooo, I am fighting hard to overcome my crazy tendencies. I just really need my 3 dogs to eat their meals and not give me any trouble right now! So hand feeding, giving boiled chicken, etc. are all things that I will do, even though I think that it is overkill.


----------



## Tanner's Mom (May 27, 2005)

Tanner has me trained to hand feed him, too. Because of his liver problems, I'm always worried about him not eating, so I hand feed. I found that he will eat out of the bowl when I change his food, so now we rotate between Innova Senior, Merrick Senior, and Chicken Soup senior. (The senior foods are lower in protein, that's why a 2 year old is on em). But mostly I hand feed and I don't mind at all.


----------



## Deanna (Jan 14, 2005)

I think this must be a small breed thing! I never had to hand feed any other dogs I have had. I sometimes have to hand feed Wilson, and Molly (5 months) I hand feed her usually half of both her meals and then encourage her to eat on her own. Sometimes she will, sometimes she won't.


----------



## FannyMay (Nov 18, 2004)

> I lay down the law. They get 10-15 minutes with the food and then its up until the next meal. If I have a picky one, no treats or anything between meals. They learn pretty quickly to eat what I put in front of them.[/B]


Fantasia was a picky eater when she was a pup but I did what JMM does and now she eats well. I also tried leaving her food out 24/7 but she liked eating so much that she ate too much and gained weight. Now I am back to feeding twice a day so she can slim down and won't eat too much.

I know alot of you mentioned health problems with your dogs so the best thing I can think of is to ask your vet how to get those dogs to eat. 

For everyone else don't panic if your dog doesn't eat, dogs don't like to starve and they will eat eventually. If you put down food twice a day and pick it up when it's not eaten after 20 mins or so, your dogs will learn to eat when the food is down. I think after about a day or two with not eating your dogs will learn to eat when their food is down. 

If they continue to be hand fed and something happens to you your dog will go hungry because no one knows to hand feed them, nor would they want to. It's easier to teach them to eat on their own now.


----------



## a2z (Aug 23, 2004)

I hand feed Zoey in the morning and evening. The rest of the day she has her buffet of crunchies. She can't seem to get started eating and will throw up (the bile thing) if she doesn't eat, so I give her a treat to get her juices flowing. And then a choice of 3 dry foods: solid gold lamb or venison and salmon, or canadae chicken. She won't eat the same food more than a few days.

I don't mind. Whatever it takes. She's a healthy happy dog so that's what's important.


----------



## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

> > index.php?act=findpost&pid=243236
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This might work for some dogs, but some will not eat. If I had gone along with the theory that dogs would just eat when food was put in front of them, I would have a dead dog now. Last year, when Secret was four months old, he refused dry food. I found him in such a sugar low that he was very close to death. The Nutri-cal wasn't enough to bring him back, and I had to start fluids. He wasn't sick this time, nor the other two when he started into a sugar low. He just wan't going to eat kibble, and would hold out for the soft food. He eats kibble exclusively now, but it was two months of working with him before he did. He is 4 3/4 pounds at a year, so he is not a tiny one like his nephew, Pocket.
I would never give the advice to just leave food down and they will learn, as I wouldn't want the responsibility if someone lost their dog.


----------



## bruinkoala (Aug 18, 2005)

bruno eats on his own sometimes during the day, but he rarely eats in the evenings when i'm with him. i think he just knows that i will hand feed him. i too don't mind but i wish he will eat on his own more often. i'm relieved that there are others that also hand feed their babies. i thought Bruno was one in a handful that need to be pampered


----------



## felicity (Jun 19, 2006)

Anassa is a very very picky eater, she will go days without eating, she has been to the vet and is healthy but she just hardly ever wants to eat









i have tried pretending to eat her food, make a game out of food, pretend she can't have it then give it to her a few minutes later (reverse psycology) and hand feeding, they all work sometimes but never all the time.....the things we do for our furbaby's lol, it's a constant battle to keep her eating and she's very active, mostly because she's a hunting breed and it's in her nature.

i feed her in the morning and some days i'll check her bowl at lunch and maybe less than half will be gone, it will be the same at dinner time.

i also make her home cooked meals, rice, pasta, mince, peas, beans, carrot.....she likes it for a while but then turns her nose up at it again, so i constantly have to try to entice her.

she will eat steak and chicken breast but obviously i can't afford to feed her that all the time.

anassa also won't eat if i'm watching her









considering how extremly fussy she is it really surprises me that she eats cat poop like it's some rare delicacy










sorry for the ramble, had to get that off my chest, she might be fussy but i still love her










felicity


----------



## maltmyheart (Jun 27, 2006)

Yes, I do hand feed Alex. I really don't mind . From what I've read, it helps them form a positive association with your hand,along with the handling exercises. When I'm not home of course, I leave some kibbles in a treat ball, which keeps him busy while having his food and some in his bowl. His a very fussy eater too. There were days that I'll come back from work and he hasn't touch anything until I feed him. Or he'll try one brand of canned food and then never want it again. Or not even try it. He's the same way with treats. It used to worry me a lot. One thing that he keeps eating until now is his keebles At the end of the day after not eating, he'll have a full meal with it.





















But,I still love my baby.


----------



## Gemma (Jan 19, 2006)

well, we play fetch with about 5 kibbles while I have the dish in my hand ( be careful not to excite them) then I put it down and he eats the rest by himself. I just have to start it for him. this is for his breakfast. at night he eats by himself most of the time.


----------



## LoriJo (Jul 19, 2006)

When my Allie was taking Lysodren for her Cushings, she wouldn't eat and I had to hand feed her to get her to eat any food at all. That was so unusual for her as she was one to eat anything she could get and was a little on the chubby side before she was diagnosed with Cushings.


----------



## kkrize (Feb 4, 2006)

I don't like doing it...but I do. I worry, especially now that Deja is going through healing after luxating patella surgery...twice! So right now she gets spoiled a little since I really don't let her walk around much. She gets most of her meals in her bed on a little plate and if she won't eat, we will hand feed her. I worry that this is going to become a habbit...one that will be tough to break.


----------

