[Jen2010]

Pepper is 5 1/2 years old and the past couple of months she's lost interest in certain foods she used to love before. She still has a normal appetite - she lets you know about 2 hours in advance that dinner time is coming up and she won't settle until she's been fed. We often give the dogs pieces of fruit and vegetables as treats when we are eating them ourselves or when preparing dinner and they normally love it! However, Pepper has refused fruit several times now, which for a food-obsessed dog like her is unusual.

The first time was a couple months ago - my husband gave her a strawberry and she spit it out and left it. I laughed and thought she was just waiting for something better to come along (since he was having his lunch when he offered it). The next time was when he tried to give her a piece of banana and she also wouldn't eat it. I recently noticed it myself when I cut up an apple for the dogs. The apple had a big bruise so I cut up around it for the dogs, but Pepper refused to even take it. I figured she could smell the bad part and didn't want it, but it's happened a few more times since then with different fruits/vegetables.

Other than that she acting normal and eating her kibble quite happily. So I'm starting to wonder if her tastes are just changing?

 

[NadiaK]

I have been wondering the same about our dog recently. Our dog will be 5 in August. The last few months he has been a really picky eater. He will run to his food bowl when I place it on his mat, smell it and walk away. However, when we are eating breakfast he will sit next to my chair just begging for something to come his way and happily eat it. He can also be at the opposite end of the house and if I take out the cheese from the fridge to put it on the counter, he is at my feet in seconds. Sometimes I notice he will take a few pieces of his kibble and eat them and then not eat the rest until hours later. I actually went and bought a different brand of food the other day to maybe try changing it up a bit. I am also wondering if now that he is a little older maybe his kibble amount needs to be cut down. He also loves apple like yours used to.

 

[Sands18]

Some dogs just get really picky with their food. Hell will freeze over before our french bulldog refuses any kind of food, but my miniature dachshund went through a phase over the span of a couple years where she would get sick of a brand of dog food after a while of eating it. She’s currently on her 4th brand of dog food. My grandparent’s chihuahua is the same way. Some days Belle will eat anything that comes her way, including fruit and veggies, and other days she wants nothing to do with them.

 

[Jen2010]

I have been wondering the same about our dog recently. Our dog will be 5 in August. The last few months he has been a really picky eater. He will run to his food bowl when I place it on his mat, smell it and walk away. However, when we are eating breakfast he will sit next to my chair just begging for something to come his way and happily eat it. He can also be at the opposite end of the house and if I take out the cheese from the fridge to put it on the counter, he is at my feet in seconds. Sometimes I notice he will take a few pieces of his kibble and eat them and then not eat the rest until hours later. I actually went and bought a different brand of food the other day to maybe try changing it up a bit. I am also wondering if now that he is a little older maybe his kibble amount needs to be cut down. He also loves apple like yours used to.

Strange. Was there any difference when you switched kibble?

Some dogs just get really picky with their food. Hell will freeze over before our french bulldog refuses any kind of food, but my miniature dachshund went through a phase over the span of a couple years where she would get sick of a brand of dog food after a while of eating it. She’s currently on her 4th brand of dog food. My grandparent’s chihuahua is the same way. Some days Belle will eat anything that comes her way, including fruit and veggies, and other days she wants nothing to do with them.

I've heard of these mysterious picky eater dogs before but have never owned one before! Haha! But seriously is it normal for her to be 100% food obsessed for 5.5 years, then decide to be picky?

 

[NadiaK]

Strange. Was there any difference when you switched kibble?

Not sure yet as we are finishing the older bag before opening the new one.

 

[Jen2010]

Not sure yet as we are finishing the older bag before opening the new one.

Maybe you just got a bad bag. Don't forget to mix in his new food with the old one for at least a week to gradually introduce the change

 

[spittoon]

Hello Jen2010. I don't want to alarm you AT ALL but I have had this experience with both my partner and a pet. Pancreatic cancer's have a very specific signal usually years in advance [in humans] and a shorter time in dogs. With humans it is usually coffee ,sauces, and sometimes fruit and in dogs it is usually [ noticed in mine] fruits. My dog was a Lab [4.5 years] and ate anything put in front of her, until one day she started to leave certain items untouched.[ she always ate her kibble though] Now again I really hope this is not the case [very rare in dogs] but I wanted to inform you of the possibility in case things get worse for you. The loss of my partner was recent but my dog was years ago and I am sure they have better testing for such things in this day and age. There may be swelling and tenderness in the area if you press, or get you're vet to check at next visit. Good luck and again I hope and doubt this is the case but I would hate to have not said anything.

 

[Canyx]

I noticed with Soro that when he was 4-5 pounds heavier than average he was slightly pickier. He's fluctuated between 65-75 in his adult life. He's been 75 lean and muscular when he lived in the Tetons and was on a raw diet. When he was 75 with a less intense lifestyle, he still was by no means fat... Clear waistline, easily felt his ribs, easily saw his ribs when he turned or was extended, great energy... But sure enough, he was just slightly pickier about his kibble and about lower value treats like fruit. With kibble, he would excitedly go to the food bowl (there was a period I fed him out of a bowl) but then stop and look at it, look at me, refuse to eat it for a while, then very slowly eat it if I ignored him. This was strange, as he usually inhaled his food like there's no tomorrow. He still went crazy for high value food.

Soro has been a vacuum all his life, so I was worried. I took him to the vet and got blood panel. It was perfect. I noticed he was ~75 instead of ~70 so I ever so slightly lowered his daily intake. And that pretty much immediately fixed the problem. He went after kibble and treats again like he's never been fed. And these days he goes crazy for his food puzzles, and is so 'hungry' he even started eating a raw potato he found yesterday night, before I took it away.

Moral of the story for me is, after ruling out medical... I realized that just a few 'unnecessary' pounds on a dog who still for all the world looked LEAN... was enough to affect appetite.

 

[Jen2010]

Hello Jen2010. I don't want to alarm you AT ALL but I have had this experience with both my partner and a pet. Pancreatic cancer's have a very specific signal usually years in advance [in humans] and a shorter time in dogs. With humans it is usually coffee ,sauces, and sometimes fruit and in dogs it is usually [ noticed in mine] fruits. My dog was a Lab [4.5 years] and ate anything put in front of her, until one day she started to leave certain items untouched.[ she always ate her kibble though] Now again I really hope this is not the case [very rare in dogs] but I wanted to inform you of the possibility in case things get worse for you. The loss of my partner was recent but my dog was years ago and I am sure they have better testing for such things in this day and age. There may be swelling and tenderness in the area if you press, or get you're vet to check at next visit. Good luck and again I hope and doubt this is the case but I would hate to have not said anything.

Thank you for the information. I recently asked our vet about the possibility of cancer (Pepper has a lump and a rash), but he said it wasn't. He didn't do any tests though so I guess I could always get a second opinion.

I noticed with Soro that when he was 4-5 pounds heavier than average he was slightly pickier. He's fluctuated between 65-75 in his adult life. He's been 75 lean and muscular when he lived in the Tetons and was on a raw diet. When he was 75 with a less intense lifestyle, he still was by no means fat... Clear waistline, easily felt his ribs, easily saw his ribs when he turned or was extended, great energy... But sure enough, he was just slightly pickier about his kibble and about lower value treats like fruit. With kibble, he would excitedly go to the food bowl (there was a period I fed him out of a bowl) but then stop and look at it, look at me, refuse to eat it for a while, then very slowly eat it if I ignored him. This was strange, as he usually inhaled his food like there's no tomorrow. He still went crazy for high value food.

Soro has been a vacuum all his life, so I was worried. I took him to the vet and got blood panel. It was perfect. I noticed he was ~75 instead of ~70 so I ever so slightly lowered his daily intake. And that pretty much immediately fixed the problem. He went after kibble and treats again like he's never been fed. And these days he goes crazy for his food puzzles, and is so 'hungry' he even started eating a raw potato he found yesterday night, before I took it away.

Moral of the story for me is, after ruling out medical... I realized that just a few 'unnecessary' pounds on a dog who still for all the world looked LEAN... was enough to affect appetite.

Well I'm glad Soro was just fine You know I've actually been wondering if Pepper is just simply not hungry. I just noticed a couple weeks ago that both dogs had put on a couple extra pounds and when I asked my husband how much he's been feeding them I found out he's been giving them half a cup more than usual. So he's cut back to the normal amount, but they still need to lose the weight. We'll see if that changes anything.