[crewmeal]

I have a 6 year old JRT bitch and for the past week she is refusing her food, at least in her usual place in the kitchen. She won't eat dog food but only wants to be fed by hand in her bed in the lounge which I refuse to do. Now she refuses to eat anything that is put in front of her. This morning I gave her a chicken wing which she tried to take into the lounge to eat but I took it off her and put it back in her bowl. She is fit and healthy and shows no signs of any problems. She drinks water regularly and enjoys her runs around the local park. I'm getting worried as she hasn't eaten properly for a week.

Her background was that she lived with an old man who hand fed her with human food. After the man died the dog then lived with a family with other dogs and then after a few months I had her in 2009. We quickly got her to eat from a bowl giving her a variety of food with the usual chews biscuits etc.

The vet's advice is to change her diet and she will eat if she's hungry, but I'm fed up of wasing so much food. - Any help would be appreciated.

[cigwyllt]

If she has seen the vet and he is satisfied that there is no underlying medical cause then perhaps it would be right to change her diet. What do you feed her now? If you are feeding a dry food there should be little worry about wastage. If she was mine I would make a decision about food and stick to it. Ignoring whatever the packaging says about portion size put a small amount into her bowl, no fuss, no coaxing and walk away. Whatever is left after 15 mins take the bowl away. I would probably offer it to her three times a day with no other food, certainly no treats and no hand feeding. A healthy dog will not starve if appropriate food is available and by removing the bowl after a set time you will encourage the dog to eat when you say rather than graze.

Another thought - what would happen if you took the bed from the lounge and put it in the kitchen? I'm thinking particularly with regard to the chicken wing. I have three dogs - a mutt, a JR cross and a JR and they all have different eating styles. The mutt will not eat fresh meat in the house - she takes it straight out to the garden, the JR cross wants to eat hers in the dog bed and the JR eats his wherever I am. I don't know if anyone else would agree but it seems that a different instinct kicks in with raw meat.

[crewmeal]

Thanks for your advice. Yes I've taken her bed to the kitchen and yes the chicken wing disappeared but not the dried food.

For now I'll try putting her food down and taking it away if she refuses to eat it after 15 mins. There are certainly no treats from now on. When I eat my dinner she sits in front of me looking pathetic as if butter wouldn't melt!! When I go to the kitchen she follows me and hopes I'll hand feed her, but I don't.

As a footnote I'll be having here spade next month. Maybe she knows it!!

[cigwyllt]

If she is not yet spayed it could be a hormone driven thing - are you sure she's not coming into season? That can make them more mopey.

[lange]

I can only tell you about one of my own dogs. He goes through periods where he eats less, about 1/3 of what he normally eats. This usually lasts about a week. I keep up the same routine & eventually he just starts eating normally again. At these times, if I were to give him a tasty treat he would eat them so I always figured it wasn't anything medical.

When it comes to real foods or big treats, my dogs usually walk away with it to find a more comfy place to eat them at.

[crewmeal]

Her season ended just before Christmas, mind you she didn't eat much turkey either.

My dog likes to take things away to eat in her bed and she usually plays with it and tries to cover the food up with her blanket.

I will keep you posted

[DoggieVogue]

My mini dachshund/rat terrier mix recently started doing the same thing with her food. She is just so scatter brained she watches you put it down then walks away and finds something else to do. But she would eat it if I hand fed it to her. It's just bizarre because she's always loved to eat and loves her food. So I started giving her a command and saying "eat your breakfast" or "eat your dinner" and would point. If she didn't do it I'd take it away after a few minutes. Soon she started to realize that it would be taken away and as soon as my hand came reaching for the bowl she'd run up and start eating. So that's just what worked for me!

[crewmeal]

And so the problems still go on. I took her to the vet again last weekend and she had her booster jab and the vet prescribed 2 worming tablets (2.50 each) and said there was no point in any further examination. He complimented her on how well she looked with a nice coat (thanks to the cod liver oil capsules). I will have her speyed towards the end of Feb.

She still won't eat her own dog food and hopes something better will come along. I've tried taking the food away trick but she just looks at me as if to say 'you can eat it'

[jameserickson80]

Oh that was awful to see your dog acts that way even if you seek help from a vet. I guess she wants to a new place to eat. You could tour the house and experiment.