[MarleyBoy]

We've been feeding Marley Canidae for about two months now and he never seems to really "go at it". Unless there's some canned food or a goody on top of it, he'll just totally ignore it. We've been assuming that he was just being picky because he preferred the goodies to the kibble and when he wouldn't touch the plain kibble we took it away after 20min and brought it back again at his second feeding. And sometimes, he would still ignore it or leave some. We had him completely checked out by the vet (blood and stool) and he's totally fine and at an appropriate (slender) weight. So we've been assuming that he's just playing with us and looking for better food. However, I was wondering if it was possible that he actually might just not like the kibble. Do dogs ever go right for the kibble at all times? When we first got him from the shelter he ate like a maniac all the time, but started to slow down after three weeks with us. So how do you know if your dog simply hates his food, or is being picky and trying to hold out for better food?

[BayouGal]

I'm having the EXACT same problem. My dog is also on Canidae but has never really liked it. She will eat about a cup a day (appropriate for her weight), but she waits until the end of the day to eat it. It's like she waits to see if she'll score something else before she eats her Canidae. I'm looking to switch but haven't made my mind up yet about which food I'll try next. BTW, she's been on the food for about a year now and never has gobbled it up.

[MarleyBoy]

ugh! That's so frustrating. We've been under the assumption that he is also just waiting for something better to come along and gives it until he's basically so hungry he'll just eat whatever is put in front of him (by around 7-8pm). If kibble falls on the floor, he won't even eat it. If you try to hand feed it to him, he won't take it. It's unreal. But in the pet store, every time we pass by the Pedigree dog food bags he sniffs like nuts! Figures.

[MaddiesMom]

I know what you are going through. Maddie has been on Blue Buffalo pretty much since we got her. Now she just won't eat! I put one spoonful of canned in with the dry and that worked for a while, but then no eating again. People will tell you that is you add stuff to the food you are making your dog a picky eater. I don't think so.

I have tried putting her food in her Kong. That worked for a while until she wised up. I have tried the taking the food up after 20 minutes, that didn't work. She could have cared less. The thing that bugs me is she will go to her Grandma's house and if you put her food down there - she acts like I haven't fed her in a week.

I am not trying to force food and I do not have a fat dog. If Maddie does not eat, she will throw up. I do not need a yacking dog! She's been checked over, etc. and nothing is wrong health-wise to cause her not to eat. I think I just have a picky eater.

Today I went to a different pet food store that only sells high-end and talked with them. The owner said some dogs (esp. small breeds - which Maddie is) can be picky eaters and need variety. I bought a couple of small bags of dog kibble to try, plus she gave me some samples to try out. So, I will give this a try and see if variety is truly the spice of life for Maddie. If this doesn't work I have no idea what to do.

[Rupert's Mom]

I’m also having the same problem but in my case my dog is a large breed and a rescue so the fact that now he wont eat his food is scaring me! He will eat absolutely anything “people food like” pickles, lettuce, tomatos… but when it comes time to eat his kibble mixed with some wet food he just turns his nose to it.

We went into the pet store on Sunday and asked if we should be buying another type of food to switch him to but the guy there said that he’s going through his “teenager phase” (he’s 11 months). And that we need to keep on the same food we’ve been doing and that he’s just being stubborn, but its hard when you take it away and then put it back at the next feeding and he still wont eat!

[Chindo_Gae_Cerberus]

I rotate my dogs food every 2-5 months (depending on how well they do on it.)
Generally if a dog isn't too quick to eat it, or stops eating it after a short period then it's a good indication that they don't like that one food very much.

Rotating foods helps to prevent food addictions and pickiness.
So if you already rotate and your dog suddenly dislikes a food it's probably nothing more then that.

[borzoimom]

God I am glad to see this thread. I am going through the same thing with Logan right now. He just does not eat like the others, and nothing is wrong. Everything else is normal except he is only pooping once a day, but the vet said if he isnt eating much, that is normal. ( ie law of gravity- cant come out if it isnt going in..). He even turned up his nose at raw hamburger.. ( very weird!)..

[Darkmoon]

When I tried Canidae on Carter, he didn't like it at all. He would eat it but not enjoy it the way he did Solid Gold. Switched back to Solid Gold and donated the Canidae to the humane society.

Nubs came home on Science Diet and HATED the food. He just down right refused to eat it. I think that is the reason why he came to be so underweight. He just only ate his food because he didn't want to starve. After a day and a half of not eating, I gave him some Solid Gold and he ate it up really fast. I even tried mixing the science diet with Solid Gold, but he refused to even smell it. Talk about knowing that a dog doesn't like his food!

[borzoimom]

Well I just found out what the problem was with logan- it wasnt the food- it was the metal bowl! I put it in a dark blue ceremic bowl and he dove right into the food.. ( jeez..) Try that- maybe change bowls?

[BayouGal]

I don't know why I didn't tell you this earlier, but I've used supplements to entice my dog into eating her kibble and it has helped. I've used salmon oil and Missing Link Plus. Even though she doesn't like her Canidae, she WILL eat it if I use the Missing Link Plus...the salmon oil not as much. If you find a food you REALLY like, you might try one of these the help your dog get interested. Just a suggestion.

[MarleyBoy]

oh man - I feel so relieved to find other people having the same issue! Marley isn't underweight - he's pretty much exactly right, but now he's skipping the kibble two meals in a row and it makes me nuts. We got a bunch of sample packets of other kibbles and I tried them out as "treats" and he wouldn't touch a single one of them, so I'm thinking it's kibble, period. Ugh!! I don't want to make him into a picky monster, but not sure what else to do.

[Sunshyne]

I have the same problem! Chloe was on Solid Gold puppy, then Wee Bits, then Barking at the moon (all switched gradually). She wasn't into any of them. I tried adding yogurt, fish oil, some bits of Natural Balance Roll (she just picked it out!) and finally some Solid Gold wet which gave her runny stools. She is at a normal healthy weight for her age and breed, but only eats just enough.

I didn't want to raise a picky dog, BUT I also wanted her to like her food and eat appropriately! I went to a higher end dog food store and got Merrick Turducken yesterday along with about 8 samples of other Merrick and Wellness flavors. She LOVES Merrick! She has been eating around her dry Solid Gold that I am mixing with it (for the switch). It sucked, but the trial and error process may have finally ended! I totally feel your pain.

Good luck!

[sn0fl8k3]

This is so funny but Mochi is the exact same way. But whenever i talked to other people about the food they seem to agree that the dog won't starve themselves, and its probabaly false to think that the dog needs to be fed constantly everyday if it not a real "working" dog.

We feed Mochi Evo Small bites. And since its such a high quality food, she gets a lot of nutrients and energy when she eats it. It pains me when she skips a meal but i know that she's just regulating herself, she knows if she needs the food or not.

For example, when we drop Mochi off at doggy day care, when she gets home she gobbles up her food, because she knows she needs it. she played all day. But sometimes if she doesn't go for a week, she's start skipping meals because she won't have such a high energy day.

I think bottom line the dog, if healthy will know when to eat and when not too. Some dogs, like my old lab, used to inhale anything put in front of her, and she was overweight btw.. ha ha

I just wanted to say that try not to feel SO bad when your dog doens't eat... but i know i have to keep working on that too...

We are still working on the feeding schedule thing, i think it works the best.

[MaddiesMom]

We may have found the answer to Maddie's picky eating habits. I mentioned above that I got samples of high-end dog foods (Fromm, Wellness and a New No-Grain Merrick). I also bought a can of Merrick wet (buffalo) and some new kibble they had called Canine Caviar.

I have been using the samples along with one spoonful of the Merrick canned and she's eating like crazy! She only gets 2/3 of a cup a food a day, but now instead of not eating and yaking up - she eats it all down! She likes the Fromm and the No-Grain Merrick the best. She didn't like the Wellness. I thinks it's because the kibble is too big for her. She also likes the Canine Caviar too.

I think switching up the kibble at every meal is the answer for Maddie. We have had no ill-effects from this. She hasn't had the runs. In fact her poo is firmer and not so smelly. The gas is virtually non-existant.

My suggestion is go to a store that sells high-end kibble and talk to them. Tell them your situation and get samples. The store I went to was so helpful and gave me a ton of samples! They know what they are talking about and now have a customer for life!

So, I am keeping 4 small bags of different kibble in the house along with Merrick canned and hopefully the hunger strike is over!

[MarleyBoy]

Yup - we've tried the different kibble route and Marley seems to just not like kibble, period. But, we're finding that feeding on a later schedule helps a lot! We used to feed at 8am and 6pm, and he kept skipping the 8am meal. So now we're feeding at around noon and 8pm and he eats at both meals. I think maybe the morning meal was just too early? oy! Who knows - maybe he just likes driving us nuts. We've been mixing a bit of chicken or tuna pieces shredded into the kibble with some broth and that seems to be working well for now. Hopefully it will continue! Maybe he's just in his cranky adolescence phase??

[Rupert's Mom]

Originally Posted by MarleyBoy

Yup - we've tried the different kibble route and Marley seems to just not like kibble, period. But, we're finding that feeding on a later schedule helps a lot! We used to feed at 8am and 6pm, and he kept skipping the 8am meal. So now we're feeding at around noon and 8pm and he eats at both meals. I think maybe the morning meal was just too early? oy! Who knows - maybe he just likes driving us nuts. We've been mixing a bit of chicken or tuna pieces shredded into the kibble with some broth and that seems to be working well for now. Hopefully it will continue! Maybe he's just in his cranky adolescence phase??

Yes! MarleyBoy, Rupert is definitely doing the exact same! He wont eat early, but if we leave it outside with him when we go to work or on a weekend if we feed him later it seems like he has no problem with it!? What’s with that! I know sometimes I don’t feel like eating when I first get up, but can they really be as picky as us? Haha I guess so!

Right now we’re (very) slowly switching from Rupert’s old food to the new Orijen and some mornings he loves it and some he doesn’t, it seemed like at first he was like oh new stuff this is great and now that it’s become regular he’s saying okay now I want sometime new again. I’m definitely thinking it’s a “teenager” phase, I just hope it doesn’t last years!

[jesirose]

I'm glad to see so many other people's dogs don't like Canidae. I bought a huge bag and Sadie doesn't love it like she did Calif. Naturals. I am thinking of switching back later. It's more expensive but IMO it's just as healthy for her.

[MarleyBoy]

JesiRose - we've tried the Calif. Naturals too. It seemed to go over much the same way as Canidae. Go figure. Although strangely enough this week it seems that Marley is going for the kibble. Maybe it's an age/stage thing? Who knows!? I think I probably just over-analyze this dog to death! Marley's thinking, "hey - it's just kibble, who wouldn't rather have some human food!"

[Durbkat]

Snoopy is just like that. He dislikes canidae but when we ran out a couple of days ago and all we could get was something from the grocery store we got purina puppy chow and he gobbles that up. He sniffed the bag like crazy when we got it and he never acted like that with canidae. But if I squirt alittle bit of kong stuffn' peanut butter filler he will eat canidae when I put it down. But I found that he will eat it if he has had alot of exercise or had alot of visitors over it seems to make him hungry.

[FriendsOfZoe]

I would stop adding in other treats for now, until you know he will eat what you give him. Get samples of a bunch of different kibbles, including different ingredients--try a fish based, beef based, chicken, lamb, etc. I believe the company called Timberwolf Organics (Ginny's poodle Riley was in an ad for them) that has interesting flavors, like cajun or bbq or something. I would get something radically different and stick with it for awhile with no treats to see how he does. You may also want to consider raw, or at least a grain free food like Innova EVO.