# Dog won't eat dry food.



## xoxluvablexox (Apr 10, 2007)

Hey, 
I was just wondering if anyone might have any ideas about why my dog won't eat dry food? He eats anything else, usually meats like ground beef, liver, and sometimes hotdogs. My dad has a habbit of spoiling him a little. With the recent food recall we've been feeding him "natural" food. I really don't know enough about dog nutrition to feel confertable about sticking with just that kind of food. I was looking into brands like Solid Gold and Natural Balance but ofcourse no shops near me cary it. So I picked up Wellness wich I've heard is pretty good. I also saw that Nutro was sold there but wasn't sure wich was better so stuck with the most expensive. 
Anyways, I've been trying to get him to eat the dry food for the last 2 days. He ait some the frist day and really seemed to like it but today he won't touch it. I put a little warm water in it wich is supposed to release the flavor and that didn't work. I cut up some liver and put that in and he just ait the liver and got the dry food all over the floor. So I was thinking about taking away all other foods and just offering him dry food once in the morning and once at night and if he doesn't eat then it is his own fault. Does this sound like a good idea or are there any better options?


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

What is the breed? How old is the dog? How long have you had the dog? Has the vet ruled out any medical issues with the lack of appetite? Does your dog get enough exercise to burn enough calories to need much food?

Not having much info, IF the dog is healthy in every other way I would do the tough love thing. Put the food down for 20 minutes 2x/day. A healthy dog will not starve itself. I've never had a dog hold out for more than two days. 

Right now I have one picky eater. I discovered that she likes variety in her diet. So although the initial investment was more than my monthly dog food allowance, I bought a few bags of brands that I would feel comfortable feeding her anyway, and I rotate and sometimes mix them together. 

If you are going to do the tough love, you have to get everyone in the house to understand that there are NO treats between kibble meals until he has established a regular appetite.


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## xoxluvablexox (Apr 10, 2007)

He's a Poodle and they're known to be picky eaters. He's a year old turning 2 in May. I've had him since he was a puppy. Got him from a pet store that gave me a bag of Eukanuba when I bought him so I'm pretty sure thats what he got the whole time he was there but he never really liked the hard food even then. I just went to the vet yesterday and didn't think to bring up the hard food issue because he eats everything else fine. I just thought it was his picky poodle way and from being spoiled since the day he walked into the house. If it may be a medical thing I'm thinking it could be a sensative stomach or food alergies but Wellness is a good brand so I'm not sure there would be anything in it to be allergic to. He was to go for heartworm testing before summer so I'll bring it up then. He's a very active dog, extremely hyper. We don't have a fenced in yard but he's a small dog and the house is pretty big so he does all his running inside. He moves pretty fast up and down the hallway it's very amusing. 
Thinking about it though it would make sense that he has a sensative stomach or something like that. I'll try just giving him hard food and if he doesnt eat for more then a coupld of days I'll just go back to regular natural food and look into a dog food for sensative stomachs. And ofcourse I'll inform the vet about his eating problem the next time I'm there for the testing. 

Thank you.


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## squirt1968 (Feb 19, 2007)

My dog does not like the kibbles really either but think about it if you had the hot dog and other good things would you be willing to eat kibbles? Ifeed Natural balance now and also bought some raw. I mix the raw with the kibbles or maybe a helping of gren beans mixed in the kibbles. I plan to slowly decrease what I mix in until it is just the dry. With my dog I feel it is because she has had too many tastes of other food and wants to hold out for the good stuff


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

We feed a rotation of Natural Balance (fish and sweet potato because the other dog in the household has allergies to certain meats and grains, so everything I get is pretty much non-allergenic), Raw Instinct, and Pinnacle. All of them are fish based foods.

Although Wellness certainly scores high on the premium scale, I have known a bunch of dog owners who just haven't had good luck with it. Some dogs just haven't liked it and others had loose stool problems. 

Something you might try is to go to an independent food store in your area where they sell premium foods. (none of the chain stores here sell anything premium except for the Natural Balance, I can get at Petco pretty cheap) Explain your problem. They will most likely load you up with a bunch of free sample packages of various foods that they have seen work in similar cases. And if those don't work they will be happy to have you come back for other samples. It would therefore be common courtesy when you find something your dog likes and thrives on to patronize the store for a while even though many foods can be purchased online a little cheaper depending on your location.

When I tested my picky eater with the samples, I would give her two identical bowls, each with a different food and let her choose the favorite. The food that was not the favorite was ruled out. The next day I put the two dishes down, one with the favorite food from the previous day and the other with a new choice. I continued that way for number of days until I had gone thru all the samples and figured out which food she liked best by putting the favorite from the previous day up against a new one. I kept a list of what I fed each day and the results. The favorite food left on the last day was certainly #1 with my dog, but then I also had a choice from my notes what her next few choices were. Anything that she stuck with for more than 2 days was on my short list.


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## xoxluvablexox (Apr 10, 2007)

squirt1968 said:


> My dog does not like the kibbles really either but think about it if you had the hot dog and other good things would you be willing to eat kibbles? Ifeed Natural balance now and also bought some raw. I mix the raw with the kibbles or maybe a helping of gren beans mixed in the kibbles. I plan to slowly decrease what I mix in until it is just the dry. With my dog I feel it is because she has had too many tastes of other food and wants to hold out for the good stuff


That would make sense. My dad always ends up giving him treats during the day. I'll just have to have a talk with him and tell him to stop and then slowly get my dog from eating the other food untill he's good with just the dry. If that doesn't work then maybe I will just have to put down a bowl of dry twice a day and see how that goes. I hope that I can just get him to like the dry in a nicer way though. I'll just have to see how it works out. Thanks. 



briteday said:


> We feed a rotation of Natural Balance (fish and sweet potato because the other dog in the household has allergies to certain meats and grains, so everything I get is pretty much non-allergenic), Raw Instinct, and Pinnacle. All of them are fish based foods.
> 
> Although Wellness certainly scores high on the premium scale, I have known a bunch of dog owners who just haven't had good luck with it. Some dogs just haven't liked it and others had loose stool problems.
> 
> ...


 That would probably be the best aproach for finding a good food for him. I'll look around and see if I can find a place that would do that for me. Hopefully theres something near by. 
I'm hopeing that once he gets off the natural food diet he's used to and is willing to eat dry I can see what he likes best. If I can get him to eat some of the Wellness kibble I got him I'll make sure to ckeck that he's doing okay on it. It seems like it'll be a long prosess to get him eating healthy again. Not that the food he gets is bad but it's not made for the needs of a dog and I'ed feel better having him on a good dog food. Thanks for you help!


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

If you have a difficult time finding an independent retailer with samples, try going to the various food manufacturers' websites (google the name of the food and it will bring up the manufacturer's website) and they usually have a store locator somewhere on the site where you enter your zip code and it gives you the stores that carry their brand.

Feeding yor dog a "natural" diet of human food without an informed balance of ingredients is not healthy. (OK, it's healthier than dog food that could kill them!). But just like humans, dogs need a balance of many ingredients to stay healthy. Just pure meat foods won't meet your dog's needs. So you need to find a solution you and your dog can live with long term. 

Let us know how things are going. I have a picky eater in the house as well and would like to know what is working for you when you find something. Right now I am rotating for variety. But there are still days when she doesn't eat.


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## ericsfox (Apr 9, 2007)

Hello, The Artemis Company makes a good line of dry as well as canned food products. If you are having trouble getting your dog to eat dry kibble you can mix something that you know your dog likes to eat in with the dry kibble and then gradually reduce the amount of what ever you are adding until the dog is switched over to dry entirely. Dry is better for the dogs dental health as well.


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## Weebles (Feb 12, 2007)

I switched my dog to Artemis a few weeks ago and it's the first dry food that he actually eats. Before that, I tried mixing in a little chicken or turkey baby food (just enough to coat the kibble and flavor it) and he absolutely loved that. 

Also, when I went to the pet food store (an independent one with the natural foods) they gave me samples of several dog foods, including one made with Kangaroo meat. It weirded me out a little at first, but I've been giving him the Kangaroo kibble as a training treat and he loves it.


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## xoxluvablexox (Apr 10, 2007)

briteday said:


> If you have a difficult time finding an independent retailer with samples, try going to the various food manufacturers' websites (google the name of the food and it will bring up the manufacturer's website) and they usually have a store locator somewhere on the site where you enter your zip code and it gives you the stores that carry their brand.
> 
> Feeding yor dog a "natural" diet of human food without an informed balance of ingredients is not healthy. (OK, it's healthier than dog food that could kill them!). But just like humans, dogs need a balance of many ingredients to stay healthy. Just pure meat foods won't meet your dog's needs. So you need to find a solution you and your dog can live with long term.
> 
> Let us know how things are going. I have a picky eater in the house as well and would like to know what is working for you when you find something. Right now I am rotating for variety. But there are still days when she doesn't eat.


 I've tried that when I was looking for Natural Balance and Solid Gold and it ended up with petstores that only sold some products but not any actual dog food. Maybe some other manufacturers will have different results.

I know, that's why I'm so concerned about him not eating dry food. I can't keep just giving him random meats just because he likes them.  

I only put out dry food today. One time this morning and earlier this evening. He didn't eat any in the morning but he was eating some for dinner. Then when we started eating he came over and started begging for food so I led him over to him food and told him to eat and when he wouldn't I took it away. I'll do the same thing tommarow and hopefully he'll relize that what he's giving is what he needs to eat. I've read that Poodles really do act like they think they're human so that's probably part of the problem. He's been giving "human" food for atleast over a weak now so he thinks he deserves nothing less. I'll tell you how things go tommarow. Thanks for all the help 



ericsfox said:


> Hello, The Artemis Company makes a good line of dry as well as canned food products. If you are having trouble getting your dog to eat dry kibble you can mix something that you know your dog likes to eat in with the dry kibble and then gradually reduce the amount of what ever you are adding until the dog is switched over to dry entirely. Dry is better for the dogs dental health as well.


I've tried mixing in foods, making grravies and different things like that but he really doesn't except that he has to eat the dry food. He usually just eats around it, pushing it around the dish and out onto the floor and eating the wet food or w.e else I put in with it.


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## xoxluvablexox (Apr 10, 2007)

Weebles said:


> I switched my dog to Artemis a few weeks ago and it's the first dry food that he actually eats. Before that, I tried mixing in a little chicken or turkey baby food (just enough to coat the kibble and flavor it) and he absolutely loved that.
> 
> Also, when I went to the pet food store (an independent one with the natural foods) they gave me samples of several dog foods, including one made with Kangaroo meat. It weirded me out a little at first, but I've been giving him the Kangaroo kibble as a training treat and he loves it.


I'm gonna try and find a independent place that we'll give me samples. I'm gonna search the internet for something near by and if I can't find anything then I might go driving around or something. The only thing I have close to were I live is a Petsmart, Petgoods, and a Pet Supply. Other then that I have no idea. I don't think I've ever heard of Artemis but if I could find it somewhere then maybe that would work great. 
Kangaroo kibble? Poor Kangaroos . I don't think i could feed my dog that. I'm a vegetarian so I usually stick with chicken as a main ingrediant in dog foods cuz I don't like them. My dad used to have them and I got atached by a rooster to many times as a child.  
Thanks for the help, I'm deff goin to look into Artemis.


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## bluesbarby (Apr 10, 2007)

Don't forget to check out the Feed Stores in your area (not listed under pet stores). That's where I get my cat and dog food. They also give out sample packages.


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## ericsfox (Apr 9, 2007)

xoxluvablexox said:


> I've tried that when I was looking for Natural Balance and Solid Gold and it ended up with petstores that only sold some products but not any actual dog food. Maybe some other manufacturers will have different results.
> 
> I know, that's why I'm so concerned about him not eating dry food. I can't keep just giving him random meats just because he likes them.
> 
> ...


 Hello again xoxluvablexox Have you tried making any of the gravies warm before you add it to the kibble and stirring it in real good sometimes that gets them to eat the dry kibble with whatever you are adding. Good luck. Take care, Eric


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

ROFL! Oh, how well I know this story! I have two Standard Poodles (well known for their discriminating palates!), who like to turn their noses up at their dry food. Not to worry, because they won't starve themselves! 

When Wellness changed their formula, however, my two would no longer eat it. (I finally gave up!) I feed them Innova EVO and Natural Balance dry in addition to their food roll, the latter mainly as training treats. I used to include canned food as well, which sent my food bill soaring over $200/month and then some. Now, I poach (never fry) fresh ground meats and poultry (ground sirloin, lamb, venison, bison, chicken breasts) and add it to brown rice (cooked in low sodium chicken or beef broth) with steamed vegetables, and mix that with the dry. You don't need a lot, and they lick their bowls clean. It's healthy, too.


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