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Picky Eaters

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Indee

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I've read snippets of other peoples fussy eaters and always been glad that my two haven't been like that. Anyhow since moving into 1st floor flat back in march Riley has become very, very fussy. He wont eat breakfast anymore (used to have weetabix, tried shreddies and some others which the first couple of times he ate but then stopped. At the moment he is on toast!) He used to have dried food in the evenings but since moving he just picks at it slowly over a few hours but never ate very much on the whole. Again tried a number of different brands.

He will eat all manner of treats and is a sneaky thief when he thinks he can get away with it and will steal "our food" if given the tinest chance. I have started him on cooked chicken and rice or pasta which for the time being he is eating.

So, anyhow, was just wondering if anyone had any words of wisdom for this little monster.

(btw he has been to the vet and checked over incase there was any underlying problems- he has a clean bill of health!)
 
Sounds like he's bored with dried food. You don't want to pander to him too much, but if he's eating the chicken and rice why not try him on a moist pet food that's similiar, like Nature diet. My two love it, and they get bored of dried food very quickly. It's about 75p a pack (fred eats about 1.5 packs a day, sometimes a tad more), but you could always bulk it out with some wholemeal biscuits if necessary. If he doesn't eat his food when you put it down, I'd recommend taking it away. He should get the idea that if he doesn't eat it straight away he'll go without.

Good luck :luck:
 
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Nicola said:
Sounds like he's bored with dried food. You don't want to pander to him too much, but if he's eating the chicken and rice why not try him on a moist pet food that's similiar, like Nature diet. My two love it, and they get bored of dried food very quickly. It's about 75p a pack (fred eats about 1.5 packs a day, sometimes a tad more), but you could always bulk it out with some wholemeal biscuits if necessary. If he doesn't eat his food when you put it down, I'd recommend taking it away. He should get the idea that if he doesn't eat it straight away he'll go without.
Good luck :luck:

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I have to agree with all that Nicola has written.

I have a ten-year-old whippet who has always been picky; we tried all sorts of tricks to try to get him to eat. We always cook our own food each day so that we know what is in it and can vary what they (5 of them) are getting. I reached the stage a few months ago when Roger was leaving everything, and I decided that if he wanted to starve, he could - if it wasn't eaten by the time the others had finished theirs he would have to go without, and I threw it out for the seagulls. Also I didn't feel that, with the new puppy to concentrate on, I could afford to faf-about trying to get him to eat. Since then, he has not left a morsel.

Sometimes I think we can make too much fuss of them and worry too much - and of course, they love the special attention.
 
Nicola said:
Sounds like he's bored with dried food. You don't want to pander to him too much, but if he's eating the chicken and rice why not try him on a moist pet food that's similiar, like Nature diet. My two love it, and they get bored of dried food very quickly. It's about 75p a pack (fred eats about 1.5 packs a day, sometimes a tad more), but you could always bulk it out with some wholemeal biscuits if necessary. If he doesn't eat his food when you put it down, I'd recommend taking it away. He should get the idea that if he doesn't eat it straight away he'll go without.
Good luck :luck:

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I agree - I used to feed Blue on Burns complete food but he got fed up of it so now he has Nature diet and Wainwrights (very similar to the nature diet but some different flavours for variety so I mix and match both brands). He eats one and a half packs a day too :thumbsup: It's great to have found something that he actually looks like he's enjoying and will eat with gusto - especially the Wainwrights tripe one - his favourite :D
 
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My 2 have Forthglade and Arden Grange, both of which they absolutely love. Molly used to be very picky when we just gave them dried food so we added the moist and we've never had a problem since. Another breakfast treat is whole meal bread ripped into bits and covered with a tin of sardines or mackeral in oil. Also, she will eat anything covered in cheese - including worming tablets :- "

We have completely the opposite problem with Lenny, especially since his castration - he is nightmare, eats anything in sight :( I looked at him last night, roaching on his back and I felt like crying, he really is fat now so he is going on a diet. I'm just in the process of looking for a new 'light' version of biscuits!

Good luck with Riley :luck: do you think he has become depressed in your new house?
 
Diego is what I would describe as a fussy eater, some days he will eat everything in sight, others he manages a couple of mouthfuls. I have really perservered on the 15 minute rule - if it wasn't gone by then, then in the bin and nothing at all until his next meal. I think it is finally sinking in and he now eats pretty well, still a bit up and down but on the whole pretty good. It wasn't an over night success and he has spent several months looking a real skinny minnie, which I hated.

He is fed a raw diet of tripe, mince, sardines etc with wholemeal biscuits and chicken wings and lamb ribs every other day (he will always eat these strangely enough!) We weaned the pups on to a raw diet at 3 weeks too so has never had a different diet. He is just not a greedy git like the rest of them! :- "
 
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jezza said:
My 2 have Forthglade and Arden Grange, both of which they absolutely love. Molly used to be very picky when we just gave them dried food so we added the moist and we've never had a problem since. Another breakfast treat is whole meal bread ripped into bits and covered with a tin of sardines or mackeral in oil. Also, she will eat anything covered in cheese - including worming tablets  :- "
We have completely the opposite problem with Lenny, especially since his castration - he is nightmare, eats anything in sight  :(   I looked at him last night, roaching on his back and I felt like crying, he really is fat now so he is going on a diet. I'm just in the process of looking for a new 'light' version of biscuits!

Good luck with Riley  :luck: do you think he has become depressed in your new house?

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I know both my boys loath our new home. 1st floor with no garden but unfortuantly with the area we live its all we could afford rentwise and the landlord was really nice about the dogs. These poor boys were used to a house, gardens and wood across the road, so were pretty disappointed with the move. Anyway, we are keeping a look out for a new place!

Thanks for the advice, I had tried the "if its not gone in ten it's thrown out" but i'm too soft and got worried when he hadn't eaten more than a mouthful for two days! I'm going to have a look about at some of the brands you've all suggested.

Jezza I have the same problem with Milo being fatand eating anything and everything. Unfortuantly my boys haven't been out for the type of walks the were used to for a few months and its gone straight to milos waist! And it didnt help when he tore his pad open. Thankfully now we are slowly getting back into the swing of things and managing to get a couple of old favourites back in. Hopefully 2009 will see them back to old form.
 
Good luck with your house hunting then! Thats one of the reasons I'm not interested in moving, because I'm worried the dogs wouldn't like it :b That and the fact that we are skint so couldn't move if we wanted to anyway :lol:

I hope you can get Riley more interested in food again, but if he's anything like big sis Moll he will be quite stubborn :angry: For some reason she has turned into a right little winger, everyday when we are eating our dinner for the past couple of months she starts barking and acting up to get attention. Of course we've just ignored the performance - at which point she flounces off into the kitchen to chew on one of the plastic dog beds :wacko: she is so weird!
 
I can't really comment on the food issue, but perhaps to help the little chaps settle in you could get some DAP? It might just make them feel more at ease, which in turn might get their appetites back again. Sometimes if they are feeling stressed they'll stop eating.
 
Indee said:
Jezza I have the same problem with Milo being fatand  eating anything and everything. Unfortuantly my boys haven't been out for the type of walks the were used to for a few months and its gone straight to milos waist!
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. . . should also have said that my husband has also started taking Roger out for a short walk on his own before breakfast and giving him a sneaky bowl of milk when he gets back.

Perhaps your boy is missing his walks and feeling a bit left out after the move. Just a thought.
 
My Sidney is nearly 1 now. He is really fussy. He dislikes dried food and will not go near it. I have him on a food called Nature's Menu (similar to Nature Diet which he doesn't like as much) of which he will eat 1-2 sachets each day. He loves chicken or any fresh meat but won't touch veggies or any carbs mixed with it. I, like some of the contributors, cannot just let him go without when he goes into fussy mode-which is often.

My other dog Millie on the other hand is a real gannet even though she is 7 months his junior. I spend most of my time stopping her from bullying Sidney into giving up his food to her.

I have found that if he does have a lot of exercise then he will eat better so maybe more exrecise will do the trick.

Good luck
 
All very good reading, at the moment I don't bother with breakfast anymore and am putting his dinner down later. I've been out and brought some fresh meat which I'm going to mix with his dry food tonight (so he doesn't get the runs! :x ).

I had thought about a DAP, but have read so many mixed reviews it seems to be 50/50 whether it works brilliantly or makes no difference. I will think about it some more.

I can't wait to burn some fat off milo! I wish he'd go a little picky, lol. I'm glad that even though I can tell Riley has lost a little weight, he is still well toned and pure muscle.

Before March they were on one hour long brisk walk and one thirty minute walk a day with a couple of four mile plus walks on (my)days off. Now they are on either two twenty minute walks a day or one forty minute walk and one twenty. With the longer (hour longs and sometimes two hours ambles) thrown in few and far between. I can't wait for my life to settle back to some kind of normality!
 
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