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Dog Taking Ages to Eat his Food

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How do!

 

Parka used to love feeding time, got reallye excited and ate it all in one sitting. Now when he gets fed he has a moment of excitement, then looks at the dish and walks away (I just feed him now, he looked at me, watched me put the bowl down and was completely uninterested), it can take him literally all day from being feed at 8:00am till bedtime at say 11:00pm to eat it all. Hes not ill or anything that I can tell, acts the same, just takes him ages to eat his food.

 

Is this normal, I only ask cause all my family dogs used to eat everything that was put in front of them in one go (but then they were all big dogs and parka is only small) and we are trying to control when he eats and when he doesnt.

 

Hes being fed Nutro Choice Medium (Puppy) and has been since we got him, the amount to feed him is very confusing to be honest, hes 10kg and it says for his age range he should be feed between 130g-245g (quite a range) so we give him 180g, hes not getting fat at all so we assume this is right and if we gave him any more god knows how long it would take him to eat it.

 

Even when I put it in his food ball he gets bored after a while and stops eating.

 

Over christmas though he had a Roast Dinner at my mums and he scoffed the lot right there and then...

 

Perhaps hes just being a food snob.... perhaps I worry to much.

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Have you checked his teeth and mouth? He may have a tooth problem or even have something stuck between his teeth that's become infected.

 

Best of luck - I'm a 'cat person' so know little about dogs, but I remember that this happened for a while with my dog when I was a kid, and it was actually some tartar on some back teeth irritating him.

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As he scoffed a Christmas dinner it could be that as Joe says, there could be a problem in his mouth. This may mean that soft food causes him no problem (hence wolfing down the Christmas soft dinner) but hard food like his nuggets is painful for him to eat so he'd rather not and thus it takes him a long time to eat it. I would get a vet to take a look at his gums and teeth to rule out a medical problem before going any further.

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I'm used to dogs who eat anything and everything that's put in front of them too, but Molly's just not like that. It's taken months to find food that is both good for her delicate stomach and which she'll eat. She's now on Wellbeloved biscuits with a little hot water added to soften them up (she doesn't like crunch) and with something for interest added too (from yoghurt or cheese chunks to fresh meat, tinned dog meat or fresh stock).

 

If Parka used to love feeding time I'd look at what's changed. It could be something to do with Parka (sore mouth, upset stomach, developmental change) or something to do with how or when you feed him (Molly took an extreme dislike to stainless steel bowls for instance, but things got better once we bought different bowls). Have you redecorated, changed where you put his bowl or who's there when he eats?

 

It's worth getting him checked out at the vets, but that's not the only thing I'd look at.

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He has his buiscuits and chews no problem, and they are bloody hard things. He has no issue eating anything at all really, just doesnt seem to get excited abut his normal food at all.

 

Was just talking to the gf and she reckons he stopped eating when his food went down when we started his training and used to hand feed him his meals, now we dont do that and just use treats instead of his main meal.

 

I have checked his mouth and all looks fine, like I said above, he has no issue talking the pressed bones and chews he gets given from time to time and his big bonio biscuits.

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Maybe he is waiting for you to hand feed his dinner to him? Training and using his main food is going to change how he regards his food isn't it?

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Hi

 

I have a staffie X and as a pup she used to scoff everything straight away but as she got older she took her time and sometimes ate most of it then came and laid down and then went back to finish it.

We then got another dog and they just swapped teas all the time.

 

If there are no signs in his mouth of ulcers’ broken teeth Etc I wouldn’t be too concerned unless he is not eating at all.

 

I wouldn’t recommend hand feeding as I did this when ours came back from the vets and she then wouldn’t eat unless I hand fed her then I refused to do it for abit and she didn’t eat until the next day. (although sometimes it is necessary)

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I'd suggest that you put his food bowl down at the normal time, and if he hasn't eaten it within, say, 10 minutes, take it away, and don't offer him food again until his next normal meal time, and do the same again. You can do this for a few days without doing him any harm, and if it's just a bad habit, you'll break it that way. Dogs can use mealtimes to challenge your authority, oddly enough, and it can lead to other behaviour problems if he gets away with it.

 

If a couple of days of this doesn't get him back to normal, I think a trip to the vet is in order.

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Yeah, i was thinking that, but didnt want to harm him by not feeding him.

 

I just tried to hand feed him and he took a bit of food, then spat it out, not impressed. Perhaps hes just confused since we used to hand feed him it, but this was like 4 months ago.

 

Ive just taken up his food, we only feed him once a day in the morning when we get up, so basically I dont put it back down till tomorrow morning?

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I wasn't meaning that you should go back to hand feeding him really! It's not a solution for the future really is it?

 

All of this may coincide with him needing a bit less energy from food if he's finished his major growth spurts anyway.

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I'd suggest that you put his food bowl down at the normal time, and if he hasn't eaten it within, say, 10 minutes, take it away, and don't offer him food again until his next normal meal time, and do the same again. You can do this for a few days without doing him any harm, and if it's just a bad habit, you'll break it that way.

I would tend to agree with this, and from what the OP said about his xmas dinner etc, I wonder if Parka gets quite a few treats and tit bits? if so it could just be that he prefers these, and human food to his own, also treats will fill him up.. perhaps don't give him anything between meals?

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He won't starve himself, Benneh. I'd do as ladyacademic said and take it up again. It's what would happen if he was still with his litter.

 

I'd try feeding him twice a day, just half the size of each meal. This way, he's got less to contend with at once and you can put it down for him twice a day, so he gets more chance to eat it.

 

It could be just that he's had better food over Christmas so he's waiting for something better. My dogs stopped eating over Christmas too, and have only just got back their appetite.

Disturbances in routine can put them off their food, so it could be the stress of Christmas.

 

I'd say feed him twice a day if you can, morning and afternoon/evening, put it down, pick it up after 20 minutes and put it down again at his next mealtime (the same food).

 

Don't change his food or add anything to it unless you want to try warm water and if it works gradually cut it back down to dry.

 

Don't hand feed him.

 

Experiement to see whether he eats better with you there, or away. If he's better with you away from him. Feed him, leave the room and come back later. If he's better with you there, you can stay and watch him.

 

My oldie sometimes refuses to eat. Sometimes it's a lack of appetite sometimes it's because my youngest is around and he won't eat when she's too near him, I shut her out with her food and stand with him, praising him for eating. It could work for Parka?

 

Good luck, I seriously doubt there's anything really wrong. He'll just have had an upset routine lately (isn't it his first Christmas?) and maybe waiting for something better!

 

Cutting his food in half and feeding him twice a day may work as it could be that one large meal is overfacing him a little? Even my tummies on legs get a bit daunted if there's a lot in their food bowl!

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