[sharonlewis]

I have a four year old male dog who is the baby of our family we have no children. This might sound crazy but I have spoon feed him his whole life outside of a few vacations were he was boarding. I am going on vacation next week for 7 days and I am afraid that he will not eat. I have been putting his food down and he just walk away in hopes to get him to eat on his own. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to get my dog to eat on his own and also will he starve hisself to death while I am gone for a week if he doesn't eat

[Rottie]

Originally Posted by sharonlewis

I have a four year old male dog who is the baby of our family we have no children. This might sound crazy but I have spoon feed him his whole life outside of a few vacations were he was boarding. I am going on vacation next week for 7 days and I am afraid that he will not eat. I have been putting his food down and he just walk away in hopes to get him to eat on his own. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to get my dog to eat on his own and also will he starve hisself to death while I am gone for a week if he doesn't eat

Sharon,

Dogs pick up our actions and it is possible that your preparations for going away has been sensed. In that case, a dog would show it by sulking, going off it`s food etc. They get worried that their world of love and comfort is about to change just like us.

Try Pilchards in tomato sauce, sardines in tomato sauce or Tuna chunks/flakes in brine. These are usually persuasive, but if he thinks you are going to leave him and he loves you enough, it becomes a sad affair of pot luck on both sides.

Just give him lots of love and affection before you go and hope that will click in his mind that you will be coming back.

[CorkyMax]

Quote: Try Pilchards in tomato sauce, sardines in tomato sauce or Tuna chunks/flakes in brine.----Not familiar with this food but it sounds very salty!---It doesn't take much salt to be too much for a dog! What is the breed of your dog--I have a suspicion that it is a small breed and weight-wise even less salt wanted.

It sounds like you have a few more days to see if your dog will eat on his own. I also suspect that he is pretty use to getting his way. I hope you are ignoring him and not trying to 'coax' him to eat----Best to just put the food down--call him to eat and then ignore him--walk away! I would think he would get hungry enough to finally eat and in enough time before you leave on vacation. What kind of food do you feed? I feed raw and home cooked so it would be easy for me to add something to it to get him to eat. Hmmm--Maybe you could cook a little hamburger (no salt/pepper please!)--Boil it in some water --just enough to have some liquid left after cooking---Put the liquid in a small plastic container--After it has slightly cooled--not good to put hot 'stuff' in plastic! Refrigerate this so that the fat rises to the top (Give it enough time for this to happen. Skim off the hardened fat. Of course you would refrigerate the meat too--separate from the liquid----Then add it to the liquid after skimming off the hardened fat. Best to do all this a few hours or more ahead of feeding time so you can get all that fat off, etc. May want to warm it up a little or not. Mix it in with your regular dog food.

You could also try cooking--boiling--some boneless skinless chicken breast in the same manner and you wouldn't have to mess with getting rid of any fat. Cut cooked chicken in small pieces/chunks--Add it and the cooking liquid to his food. Make sure you get chicken without too much brine/salt solution added--The cheaper bigger frozen bags seem to have too much salt added--Check the labels!

Could try adding a little dab or two of peanut butter to his food.
Lol, When he finally eats on his own--I hope you will no longer spoon feed him!

I hope you are not giving him extra or any treats for that matter just because he is refusing to eat his food---That would be going against what you want to happen!!

I am curious---Is he refusing to drink water too?

(I spoil my dogs too--They eat better than I do for one thing!!)

Hey, let us know how things go---Hope he starts eating soon.

[Rottie]

@Corky/Max

Salt in excess is bad, but nobody is talking of excessive amounts. A significant salt intake over a long period and you can make your will. Short periods of more salt than recommended ? No problem at all, that applies to us and animals.

To concentrate on a high risk salt factor for short periods is hysteric. It is the same as non-smokers smelling tobacco smoke and thinking they are going to die of passive smoking. Preposterous.

Nobody is saying to give the dog unhealthy levels of salt. All I am saying is that Pilchards, Sardines and Tuna in tomato sauce, brine, water or whatever are very attractive lures to get an animal to eat. It does work. When the animal has eaten a few meals of these appetisers, then go back to the normal diet.

Tomato sauce : salt - 1gm per 100 ml.
Tuna chunks : salt - 185 gm tin, 130 gm drained - a mere 0.4 gm per 100 gm.

In all cases you DO drain off the liquid.

The levels are so minute that for short periods, the adverse effects of Salt (Sodium) are insignificant and laughable.

Just get the dog eating and basically it does not matter how you do it. What else do you do ? Let it starve to death ?

[Yogi]

There is also the common sense method, like humans when left to fend for themselves even the domesticated dog will eat anything left out for it.
A dog will not starve to death when there is food for it to eat. Let it figure it out for itself. I have gone through this before and within a day the dog was eating.

[Rottie]

It`s no big deal. Yogi, Corky/Max and myself give the answer. Never mind the obsessive neurotics on diet and ingredients, just go for it whatever it takes. The dog will not die whatever you give him providing it is not a recognised poison.

Just get the dog to eat. Give it Caviar on toast if you like, but anything that coaxes him to eat is a GO-GO.

Once he has tasted the tester and it looks promising, then give him his normal food.

Gee Whizz, there is no skill about it. just putting anything in front of him that entices him to eat.

All these posts are valid - just get the guy to bite it.

[sharonlewis]

I thank you for your response and I am going to be consistant this time and do it. My dog is very smart and he knows that I am leaving this is not my first time nor will be my last it is time for him to get of the spoon and eat on his own and that is what I plan on doing

Originally Posted by Rottie

Sharon,

Dogs pick up our actions and it is possible that your preparations for going away has been sensed. In that case, a dog would show it by sulking, going off it`s food etc. They get worried that their world of love and comfort is about to change just like us.

Try Pilchards in tomato sauce, sardines in tomato sauce or Tuna chunks/flakes in brine. These are usually persuasive, but if he thinks you are going to leave him and he loves you enough, it becomes a sad affair of pot luck on both sides.

Just give him lots of love and affection before you go and hope that will click in his mind that you will be coming back.

[cigwyllt]

How you treat your dog is no one's business but yours - so long as you are not being cruel or harming him. So you feed him from a spoon - is that any different from feeding and aggressive rescue by hand so that it bonds with the new owner and learns who controls the good things in life? I don't think so. The only time it causes potential problems is times like this.

I just want to encourage you though. My parents had a friend, an elderly lady, who had a pekenese. This dog was everything you would imagine the doted on pet of an elderly lady to be. Her food was freshly cooked each day and she would be coaxed to eat it from her owner's fingers. She was never left alone, even coming to church in a wicker shopping basket.

The time came when the old lady wanted to go on holiday and couldn't take the dog with her. My parents' happily agreed to care for her on the understanding that she would be treated the same as the family dogs - commercial dog food placed on the floor, walked with the others and left at home with the others when they went out. All this was agreed and the pampered pooch was left behind. From the moment her owner left the pooch became a dog and lived a happy dog's life for a week until her owner returned whereupon she returned to being pampered princess until the next time she went away.

My point is she switched between the roles in her life without any stresses for anyone. Just trust the kennels to care for her and she will be fine.