# Food/Feeding Advise Please!!!



## AbbysMom505 (Jun 16, 2012)

My Golden, Abby, is 11 months old...and is by far the pickiest eater I've ever met! I don't know what to do!! We have given her... Taste of the Wild, Blue Buffalo, Nutro, Halo Spot's Stew and now Science Diet. I make some chicken, brown rice and veggies to put on the top...sometimes she'll eat...sometimes she won't...and we don't get it!! My 3 other pups eat anything I put in front of them...but not Princess Abby!! She sniffs it...turns her nose up in the air and walks away!! It's a 30-40 minute chore to get her to eat...sometimes with her eating very little unless I hand feed. She seemed to like the Spot's Stew most of the time...but frankly....with 4 dogs it's a little spendy. Science Diet is much more reasonable. I am thinking I may try the 'Ideal Balance' as soon as they get it at out local Petco. I just can't figure out what we are doing wrong!! Any advise you have would be appreciated very much!! My husband thinks I need to just be more firm and stern...lol... He says she's too spoiled....maybe so... ;-) Thank you!! 


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

11 months old and she's tried all of those foods already?! Lucky pup, she's a spoiled princess. 

I'm with your hubby on this one. Stick with one food. Put it down for 10 minutes, pick it up. End of meal. Your dog won't starve herself. She'll get the hang of it soon enough. Of course, if for some reason she DOES begin to starve herself... I'd head for the vet for further advice.

Good luck!


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## CITIgolden (Mar 9, 2013)

Same issue, my 14month old has gone through several foods, my vet thinks that some foods may just upset his stomach. While I agree with Florabora that she won't starve herself, I tried that, and KC just wouldn't eat for days at all and I'd get worried. I started making gravy from the Nupro powder and adding it on top of his food and he started liking the food more but I did switch to a less rich food from Orijen to Acana. Sometimes I'll throw some apple, or even open a few Omega 3 pills and sprinkle on top. Sometimes even sprinkling a bit of water on top of kibble works (just make sure she eats it right away).


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## Leslie B (Mar 17, 2011)

Instead of switching food, try adding very warm chicken broth on top. If she doesn't eat, pick it up and wait till the next meal time.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

She's got you trained pretty well. 
Pick a kibble, put the bowl down for ten to fifteen minutes, then pick it up. It won't take long for her to realize when it's meal time, it's time to eat.


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## rainnes storm (Apr 2, 2013)

Same situation with my pets, it happened that they became very choosy to the type of food they eat. I don't switch food, instead I just add some meat and then they started liking it. Besides, taking care of a dog is more than just a ton of work, It can cost you a ton of cash. This is specifically true if you get the pet at a young age. You might even want an instant pay day loan to cover crisis vet visits when your pet gets hurt or sick. It may cost a lot of cash, but owning a pet that loves you is always worth it.


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## lynn0624rj (Mar 27, 2012)

*Food/ feeding advice*

I put extra virgin coconut oil on my dog's food and she loves it. She doesn't care for it without the extra virgin coconut oil. You can buy it at Rite Aid or health food store. Just make sure you start slow with 1/2 tsp. then work it up to a full dose. My dog weighs 65 lbs and she get 1 to 2 tablespoons a day.


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## AbbysMom505 (Jun 16, 2012)

Thanks everyone! Princess Abby is still on her Halo Spot's Stew. We've decided we are not going to change foods again. The bottomless bowl program through Petco helps cost-wise...and after cost analysis...it's really not that much more than the others...and they all do seem to enjoy it. She's still being a spoiled little thing when it comes to food...but I am working on being more stern with her. I have tried the broth...the meat...the rice...you name it...we've tried it! I do have some extra-virgin Coconut oil in the cupboard...may have to try that, next! A part of me wonders if it's a problem with the eating arrangements? My Chihuahua is a rescue who was severely abused...and is terribly food aggressive. We've tried feeding them separately...but she runs upstairs looking for the rest of her pack....so we quit the feeding the Goldens downstairs and the other two upstairs... We're at our wits end most days! Feeding time has become such a fight and such a chore with Abby. There's just no rhyme or reason sometimes! I appreciate all of your advice. It really helps to hear your experiences...and your opinions. We'll keep working on it! She's so healthy and busy...just eats only on her terms! I am such a worry wart! I want her little belly full.  

I do apologize for the typos in my original post....hard to type on an ipad when you are frustrated...lol! 

Have a great evening! 





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## CITIgolden (Mar 9, 2013)

I know this may sound dumb but for whatever reason this worked for me - change food bowls, change the location of food, try using one of those toys that dispenses kibble, mix up some canned food with kibble, try throwing in a can of sardines in the food bowl, can of tuna. My prince KC has stopped eating Acana recently so I switched him back to Orijen regional red and he was nuts the moment I brought in the bag of food he was sniffing all over and going completely nuts, he cleaned the bowl in 30seconds. 

Ultimately they'll eat, look at it from the bright side I guess, at least you won't have a chubby dog  I decided to leave his food bowl full in the morning and let him snack through the day. The fact is really that kibble isn't that appetizing...I know it's worrying, but I've been discussing this with a number of vets and other pros at work and they made a good point about dogs being scavengers and eating all sorts of unsavory things when forced to survive so you shouldn't worry too much. Good luck!


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## AbbysMom505 (Jun 16, 2012)

Thank you! We've even tried switching bowls...she is funny about the way certain bowls look if that makes sense? Lol Maybe her bowl is too big? Might look at getting a bit smaller bowl and see if that helps. Her current bowl is quite large...I sorta under-estimated it's size at the store! Lol. We've moved her around the room...and she acts confused and distracted....she walks around the room and tries to inspect everyones bowl. Sometimes I think she wants it exactly the same every time...then she totally flips and proves me wrong. I can imagine kibble is not very appetizing...we've tried canned as a supplement...Abby seems to be pretty disgusted with the canned lol...while everyone else gobbled it down... I'm telling you...this little girl is a mess!! Every dog I've ever owned...besides this little spoiled pup...have eaten everything in site. This little girl just doesn't seem interested most of the time....so much better things to do than eat...it's just no fun! 


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## AbbysMom505 (Jun 16, 2012)

Oh...and leaving the bowl down and letting her eat at her leisure is out of the question....I would love to do that...but my food aggressive Chihuahua...would eat until he burst...and would not leave a morsel for anyone! 


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## Finn's Fan (Dec 22, 2007)

Try an experiment to lessen the chaos around mealtime. Each of your dogs goes into a room with a door for mealtime. Close the door. Wait 10-15 minutes and everyone gets to come out of their individual rooms. Perhaps your picky eater doesn't like the tension associated with mealtime since you have a food-aggressive Chi. It's worth a try.


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## CITIgolden (Mar 9, 2013)

Haha, she sounds like quite a handful, reminds me of KC he will walk around my place eat a bit and then walk again, play tag with my other dog then eat a bit more. Well, you've done your best. Luckily my other dog wont really eat much anyway so i can just leave the food all day but i get the chihuahua issue. I mean there's probably nothing medically wrong with her and she'll eat eventually. Oh, another thing - and I know this may be tough for you but I've also noticed KC loves to eat at night too. I'll wake up and his bowl will be empty, also both of my dogs are exclusively eating from their own bowls - it's so weird. 

Have you tried these toys or other smaller toys stuffed with food:

KONG Wobbler

Peanut butter also helps and beef or chicken liver, yoghurt. I'll try to think of anything else I've done, I remember i used to also microwave his kibble for 30sec but someone told me it may lower the nutrients. I couldn't find much about it online so no idea if it's true.


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## AbbysMom505 (Jun 16, 2012)

Thanks so much for all of your advice!! She finally ate tonight!! I made a doggie meatloaf...ground turkey...grated carrot...grated potato...an egg...chopped a slice of wheat bread...chopped tomato...350 for an hour...and it worked like a champ!! Mixed a slice with her kibble...and she ate like a little piggy!! Fed her in the kitchen...so she and my little aggressive boy were separate...and it worked!! So elated!! We'll just keep doing this...mix it up a bit...different veggies etc...and continue to feed them separate...I just want to keep this girl eating...so we'll do whatever we need to do!!  Thanks again! You guys were great!  


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