[Gypsy'sPerson]

My 3 and a half month old puppy doesn't want to eat out of a bowl anymore. This started about a week ago. I washed her bowl, which I'd been doing regularl anyway, and I tried different bowls. She just won't eat out of the bowl. If I put the food on the floor, or in her kennel, then she eats it. She's been eating less than usual (down from about 1 cup a day to 1/2 cup a day) for the last week-week and a half as well. Any ideas on how to get her back to using her bowl? She drinks water out of an identical dish to her food dish, so I don't know what the deal is.

It's not a big deal for me to feed her off the floor or dump food in her crate at mealtimes. However, she will have to board and/or stay with friends when I travel for work and life would be easier for everyone if she'd just eat out of her bowl.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[rosemaryninja]

What material is her bowl made of?

 

[Cobalt]

Lilly was losing weight and not eating when I switched to a stainless bowl and we figured out that her dog tags were making a "scary" noise on her bowl. Could that be it? Your dog has to drink water so you will see her use the water bowl but she may not like it.

Dogs are certainly odd sometimes aren't they??

 

[x3ro]

My pup did this.. Except he would eat out of a paper bowl. We finally put his other bowl out again, and he's eating out of it now.

Sometimes I just think they want to be picky or something. Who knows.

 

[FourIsCompany]

Find something that she will eat out of. A paper bowl (good idea, x3ro) or a paper plate, plastic bowl, pie pan, cardboard box and then use that for a while and then go back to the bowl.

She might have gotten spooked or something and associated it with her food bowl. Hopefully, that association can be broken.

 

[emily445455]

My Belle had some problems with this when she was little, Penny never did...she would eat anything and everything you gave her, lol.

But for Belle, it was kinda easy to fix. I would let her eat out of my hand near the bowl, then put my hand closer to inside the bowl, until it was laying on top of her food. Then took my hand out, and I had to stand in the kitchen when she ate, lol. I did that for a few days and it worked...except the standing in the kitchen one, I had to do that for a looonnnggg time, lol.

 

[Teela Brown]

If it is plastic, some animals have a bad (allergic-type) reaction.

My cat cannot eat or drink out of anything plastic.

 

[Gypsy'sPerson]

Thanks everyone! Her bowl is ceramic. I tried a couple of other bowls, but hadn't thought to try paper or a paper plate. I'll try that and let you know how it goes! Sometimes if I get her started by putting some on the floor by her bowl or in my hand, she'll eat a little after her bowl after that, but not much at all. I'm excited to try a paper plate and/or bowl and see if that works.

 

[zimandtakandgrrandmimi]

I had a dog that did that.

I put her food in a cleaned soda bottle so she had to bat it around and only a few pieces of food would fall out at a time. it would take her hours to finish a meal.

id periodically pit a bit in her bowl as well as in the bottle...she decided she preffered the bowl. easier to get actually full.

they also make puzzle toys that are similar..Buster Cubes spring to mind.

and hey I did get quite a bit of chill time waiting for her to finish her bottle.

 

[winniec777]

Our dog will eat wet food and drink water out of her bowls, but not kibble. So we put her kibble on a plastic mat on the floor and she eats it from there. Got the mat at Petco - it's one of those mats you put under dog bowls to help keep the floor clean. If you can't retrain the puppy to eat from the bowl, you could try the mat.