Hi all

Need abit of advice about my staffy, she is coming up to 7 months old. Still her normal , hyperactive self in every way apart from she has stopped eating dog food. I have tried different brands etc but she won't touch it. She will eat the cat food if i let her and any left overs we give her, she is even partial to the odd pear! Has anyone got any advice please:help:

Yep. Choose a dog food, stick with it.
Don't feed left overs, don't change brands everytime she decides she doesn't like it.

A dog will not starve. She will eat it when she's hungry enough. If you change brands when she won't eat, she knows that through scaring you by not eating, she'll get something better.
She also knows that if she doesn't eat her dinner, it doesn't matter because she gets your left overs.

Feed her only her normal dog food and after 20 minutes pick up anything that's been left (even if it's the whole meal). Don't feed her again until her next meal (although if she's hungry you can bring the next meal forward a little bit). Eventually she'll learn that she either eats what she's given, or goes hungry.

Don't worry, she won't starve herself, she's testing you.

It's a typical age for them to do this so I wouldn't be worrying too much :thumbsup:

However, if you're happy to, adding certain things to their normal food can entice them to eat. We used to mix in sardines which are very good for their bones and coats and they encouraged her to eat it, or you could try putting warm gravy on the normal dry dog food. Once she's eating normally again, gradually reduce how much gravy/fish you're mixing in until she's back to her normal food.

Takara went through this btw, she did lose a bit of weight but once I stopped pandering to her and fed her the same thing removing it after 20 minutes (if the dog was in a pack of dogs, the food would be eaten) she started eating normally again.

thanks for the advice, will give it a go. She's not losing weight yet so will try all your ideas and did think she was testing me, as staffies do sometimes. Will let you know how i get on.

hi hun mine is the same only he wont eat cat food he as to av mince liver n that we have tried alsorts but wont av it:thumbsup:

My boyfriends staffy is exactly the same and she's 4 so i don't think they ever grow out of it, unfortunately Jess is spoilt so if she doesn't eat her food, she gets something cooked for her :rolleyes: she's in for a shock when she moves in with me and its dog food or nothing!! :D

Ok im being good.

lol Jabberwocky.

pinkdolphin - when we got our 11 year old rescue dalmatian his previous owner told us: 'he won't eat his biscuits without meat on them'

I said 'yes he will!' We cut down the food gradually and now he eats the dry food as it is, didn't take long for him to realise that if he didn't eat, Takara ate it instead and we made no special allowances for him so if he didn't eat it, he went hungry!

She will test you and it will probably return throughout her life, but she will be fine, don't worry. Just don't pander to her and she'll learn that you mean business! :thumbsup:

hi pinkdolphin3 sorry to gate crash this thread but for some reason i cant pm you.. yes i could easily beat that quote.. please pm me your details and i will come out anc quote you

Just wondered do you think she may be coming into season? that sometimes makes them go off their food a bit.

Just wondered do you think she may be coming into season? that sometimes makes them go off their food a bit.

That's true actually, and the heat forced Takara off her food too...

Hi all
just an update on my Stella, wouldn't eat any dog food last night...tried a little experiment this morning. Put the dog food in the cats bowl and hey presto she is eating it...Dogs! worse than kids sometimes. Could be right about the season thing....she is rubbing herself up on everyone so she might be coming into a season

How would you like to be eating dry biscuits for every single meal of your life ... don't be so mean, give em a little variety jsut for the hell of it!

:D

ruby - it's easy to say that but they cotton on and will decide not to eat until something nice is in there!
(Not to mention dogs don't think the same way as us... food is food is food).

Pinkdolphin3, do you have a dog cage? When Takara actually started losing weight through not eating and I got worried, I put her in her cage with her dinner and as long as she ate some of it (even just a mouthful) she could come out.
That way, even if she didn't want it I was getting something into her.
Slowly you can refuse to let her out until she eats a little more and a little more.

They're stubborn but they do get there.

As far as dog food in the cat bowl - that's a typical dog thing isn't it?! Always wanting what isn't their's! Just be careful because she will realise soon that she's allowed to eat from the cat bowl and then the novelty will wear off!

Do you feed her from the floor? Perhaps try raising her food bowls? Takara eats better if her bowls are raised off the floor (which also helps prevent bloat in big chested dogs). You could always try it, you don't need to buy a bowl stand straight away, just put her dish on a box so that she doesn't have to bend down to get to it... (not too high though!)

We went through this with our dog, and persevered with the food he was refusing. Yes he eventually eat it because he was hungry, but it was clear he wasn't enjoying it (which condidering he's a labrador is very unusual!)
Eventually we relented and tried him with a different brand, which he really likes and is happy with.

I know that really, Lotti - I've had dogs all my life, but I just like to indulge my canine friends, who because they love us and want to please will eat any old rubbish we force them to :D

Cats, now - they'd starve to death before they'd give in ..... :help:

I know Ruby, it's just that your dogs probably eat what they're given too!
If the OP's dog didn't have this issue with not eating I'd agree that the odd left overs etc weren't a problem (my dogs get them!) but although I knew you were having a laugh I didn't want the OP to think the odd indulgence would help the issue in some way :D

You're right cats are incredibly stubborn but ours have never been too bad for it! Our dogs are the stubborn ones - but I suppose that's what you get for having dalmatians!

Are dogs supposed to have human left overs or not then? I give them to our dog but only in her own dish and after we have finished. My moms neighbours dog was fed purely on human food as it would never touch dog food and it was over 20 years old when it died, well not died, they had it put to sleep. It was deaf, blind and couldn't walk.

Lotti, I wasn't having a laugh, I really meant it.

You are talking to a woman who's daily sat and hand fed a dog that was too autocratic/lazy to stand over a bowl, bought rump steak and "feathered" it delicately into pieces, roasted chickens, bought whole rabbits, made giblet gravy to pour over biscuits. You name it - I've done it. At one point we had four dogs and three cats, and they all had their little foibles ... it was worse than having a houseful of picky teenagers! But they all lived to ripe old ages.

I'm a pushover for a pair of pleading, soft brown eyes ....

just an update i do give my stella a variety of dog food not just dried biscuits! she has different brands (when she eats them) dry food, tripe, chicken mince, she has more variety than me sometimes. The cat bowl worked for one day and shes back to not eating anything for 2 days now. Ive told the rest of the family not to give her left overs just to see what happens. A lot of this dog food is going to waste as its been in bowl that long i don't blame her for not eating it. I usually leave it till the next day then throw it away and try a different brand she just has a sniff then walks away. But if i make myself something she sits begging with the big puppy eyes! then feel very guilty when i don't give her any

Lol it seems like SO many staffies are fussy like this!

My Gadget is the same so we pander to him - we put all sorts of lovely 'human food' leftovers mixed in with his dinner. We also pretend to eat a little out of his bowl before we put it down, saying "Mmmm yummy yummy" cos this gets him all excited about the food.

Dont do what I do I'm very norty! You really should follow Lotti's advice!

You do need to look at what you are feeding them. I bet you any money that if you put tuna and buscuits down, or nice mince meat and buscuits down - they wouldn't 'play you up'. Often they don't eat it because the food tastes horrid, bland and maybe like cardboard.

I bet all those dogs that you say 'will eat it if they are hungry' are thinking ' my god - i wish i could escape and go and eat a loaf of bread, or a few weetabix.

I try to think what is nice for my dogs - feed yoghurt, and eggs, and mince and tripe - and if they need filling up - a plain buscuit with herbs in. Once of the easiest is pilchards in oil or water and a plain buscuit - sprinkle a multi vit on - see if they like it? and its not much more expensive or harder work than feeding a complete? Just worth a try.

Kittenta

Most human leftovers are ok to give them and like you I always give them in a bowl not from the table etc
However, some human foods aren't good for dogs and I recently found out that pork is difficult to digest and some veggies aren't good for them.

Rainrescue,
I have to disagree (because I'm difficult :D - ask Strix)
You will find that most dogs that do what the OP has described will quite happily eat their food and then one day decide they don't like it. (To see what else they can get)
Few dog foods now taste like cardboard, particularly the better, more nutritional brands.
Don't get me wrong, my dogs get the odd thing put on their food for a bit of variety, or stuff that's no longer up for human consumption but not gone bad. But that's because they're no longer fussy eaters.

Takara used to be a fussy eater and I tried putting sardines on her food, gravy, minced meat and I just found that I wasted a lot of expensive food because once it was mixed in with fish etc. it couldn't be put back in the bag when the dog left it.

When I went back to feeding her dry food as it comes and put it back in the bag if she didn't eat it, she soon got the message and now eats it quite happily and gets the odd treat on it occassionally.

Good dog foods are always taste tested by dogs and if you change brand to find your dog wont' eat it then I agree you shouldn't force them as they probably don't like it but if they've been happily eating it for a while and then one day they decide not to, I don't agree with making it more appetising. They'll soon have you wrapped around their paw!

Also - just to add,

Anyone considering doing as Rainrescue said and feeding a variety rather than a complete food, please read up on it carefully.

A complete food provides all the nutrients and daily ingredients that your dog needs. It is correctly balanced scientifically to provide your dog with good nutrition.
Making your own diet is fine as long as you know what your dog needs to eat to stay healthy and you get the balance right.

Once you know what you're doing it can be a very good idea, but you do need to do your homework.

Yes I know what you mean about the reading up things - I sometimes feel i am going round in circles - is this right - is that right, should i do this should i do that. Each dog is so different - you just have to know your dog i suppose.

If i don't feed completes - i use SA37 as a supplement. My worst nightmare is how to get greedy dogs to loose weight - cos i find that nothing will eat those 'loose weight quickly and feel full' diets.

Out of the many different dogs that we feed here - the majority are off their food mostly due to stress - once they feel more settled into a routine - they will eat. I try to feed a very good quality complete - and just go for tempting things to try to trigger off the taste buds.

The feeding lark is a nightmare to go into - and like you say - best stick to the completes - but make sure its a good one - and that your dog likes it.

Takara used to be a fussy eater and I tried putting sardines on her food, gravy, minced meat and I just found that I wasted a lot of expensive food because once it was mixed in with fish etc. it couldn't be put back in the bag when the dog left it.

When I went back to feeding her dry food as it comes and put it back in the bag if she didn't eat it, she soon got the message and now eats it quite happily and gets the odd treat on it occassionally.

Seconded :thumbsup:

If your dog is being a picky eater, don't leave food down indefinately.... pick it up after 10mins, and wait until next feeding time. You'll be surprised how much they enjoy their food if they think it's in short supply ;) (except Brude picked out all the 'peas' from his Bakers :roll: )